"Hey, little sis." Michael greeted me with a smile as he waited by his car.

I dropped my bag as I threw myself into his embrace. I shut my eyes and squeezed him tight. I kept replaying what happened over and over in my mind. From the amazing sex, which still had my body tingling, to Sean dropping that little bombshell, I was at a loss.

"You okay?" Michael asked me.

I pulled away from him, tucking my hair behind my ear before I grabbed my bag and put it in his backseat. After we both got in the car, we headed towards his house.

"Well?" He prodded. "Do I have to fly over to New York and beat Sean to death?"

Even with my mixed emotions, I laughed. "No. He didn't do anything wrong. Nothing to be killed over, anyway."

"So, what has you sneaking away on his charter in the middle of the night on Valentine's Day?" He glanced from the road to me with a cocky smile. "Miss your big bro already?"

I rolled my eyes as I rolled my window down. "I didn't sneak. And of course I missed you."

Michael tapped his fingers on the steering wheel before pulling his cell phone out of his pocket. "You didn't sneak, huh? So, if I call Sean right now, he's going to know where you are?"

"Yes," I said between clenched teeth. When I saw him start to dial Sean's number, I snatched the phone from him. "Fine! I snuck away." I buried my face in my hands before I ran them through my hair. "Oh, God. What did I do, Michael?"

He scoffed as he turned onto his street. When I saw Michael's house, my mind flashed back to the night I confronted my brother. The night Sean chased after me.

"I think this confrontation is long overdue. Don't you, Michael?" I was surprised at how strong my voice sounded, considering how scared I was.

Before he could answer me, I asked the question I've been asking myself for almost two decades. "Why did you guys leave me in that hospital? You, Alex, and mom left me there!"

"Life wasn't easy for me and Alex either. They beat us, too. They left us to fend for ourselves; just like you." He ran his hands through his brown hair. "That night, mom told us that they were going to keep you at a mental health clinic or something. We didn't find out until later."

That seemed to just piss me off more. "So, what? You just accepted that she supposedly shipped me off somewhere? You never tried to call me or find me."

His voice started giving away his emotions. "We thought she was lying! She told us that in a drug haze. Then two weeks later, Alex and I were taken away and dropped into foster care. We were kids too, Lydia! She was so upset about dad and--"

"WHAT?! Are you fucking kidding me?" Before I could stop it, the dam holding back my tears burst wide open. "That sick bastard deserves to rot in hell! He almost killed our mother that night. Or what about the multiple times he snuck into my bedroom and assaulted me!" I couldn't take it anymore. I turned away from him and started to leave.

I ignored him as he yelled after me to come back. The tears made my vision blurry and I tried to run. I barely made it five feet when I ran into something hard.

As two arms held onto me, I heard that familiar baritone that seemed to soothe me. "Lydia? Are you okay?"

I couldn't control my emotions and my head was pounding from my injury. "Get me out of here," I begged Sean.

"Earth to Lyida?" Michael repeated.

"I'm sorry," I breathed as we started getting out of the car. "What was your question?"

"I asked you what happened with Sean that made you run all the way across the country?"

After we went inside his house, I sat my bag down before stretching out on his couch. "Sean asked me to move in with him."

He was sitting in the chair across from me and raised a brow. "And that's a bad thing because..."

So many different answers to that question went through my mind. I didn't know which one was the truth. I didn't know if it came out of a place of fear, or if it was real. I've never been put in this situation before, and as much as I've talked about it with Sean, it was different now that it was actually becoming real.

I looked to Michael and he raised an expectant brow. "I can't talk about this right now," I breathed as I got up from the couch. "I'm going to take a shower and get some rest."

Without another word, I grabbed my bag and headed to the guest bedroom.

The the delicious aroma of bacon and eggs woke me from a deep sleep. I dragged myself out of the bed before heading to the bathroom to do my morning routine. I was expecting to toss and turn all night and was surprised when I slept soundly. To be honest, I think the jet lag compared with everything else just wore me out.

I made my way to the kitchen and saw Michael at the stove. "Smells delicious," I said as I took a seat at the breakfast bar.

He removed the eggs from the burner and turned to me with his usual charming, slightly arrogant, smile. "Well, look who's awake." He put some eggs and bacon on a plate and sat it in front of me. "How'd you sleep?"

I grabbed a fork and looked up at him. "I slept okay, actually. I was surprised."

"Me too." He leaned forward and rested his elbows on the counter. "You know, Sean is worried about you."

My eyes met his immediately. I haven't turned my phone on since I got on the plane. I knew Sean had probably called me multiple times, and I wasn't ready to deal with that just yet. I didn't know what to say to him. I didn't even know how I felt about everything.

"He called you?" I asked with a little hitch in my voice. I wasn't surprised that Sean would call since my phone was off. For some reason, it still caught me off guard a little.

"No," Michael replied as he picked up a piece of bacon. "I called him."

Now that surprised me. "What? When?"

He chewed the piece of bacon, acting like we were simply talking about the weather. "After you called me and got on the plane."

I dropped my fork. Just when I thought nothing else could surprise me. "You went behind my back and called him? Why would you do that?"

He looked at me like I grew three heads. "Why would I do that? Lydia, you called me in the middle of the night upset, asking me to pick you up at the airport. Then, without an explanation, you turn off your phone." He held my stare and I could tell he was frustrated. "Yeah, I called him. I was worried."

This was another instance where my emotions got the best of me. In a way, I understood what he meant. On the other hand, I felt betrayed that you reached out to Sean without waiting to talk to me first.

"What did he say to you?"

"He said he asked you to move in with him. He told me that you two have talked about it before and you seemed like you wanted to do it. I also happened to mention that you and I talked about that subject as well." He arched a brow as he continued, "I also happen to remember a night a couple weeks ago when you wanted to ask him if you could move in. So, what happened?"

I held his stare for several minutes. I didn't know how to answer. I didn't know what exactly I was feeling. I was overwhelmed, scared, anxious...I kept replaying the night before in my head. But everything seemed so jumbled.

Michael was waiting patiently. It was like he knew I was having some sort of inner battle with myself. He was waiting to see what the end result was.

"What do you want me to say?" I asked quietly.

"How about the truth? Do you want to move in with him?"

I buried my face in my hands. I felt the tears coming and I couldn't stop them. When I looked up at Michael, it was like a flood gate burst open. "Yes, I want to live with him. I don't know what happened. When he asked me, I panicked. I got so scared and freaked out. I just needed to get away. I needed to think about things."

"What are you scared of?" He asked as he came to stand beside me.

"I don't know. I thought I was ready, even now I still feel like I am. I want to take the next step with him. I love him. But at the same time, I can't help but wonder what will happen if everything goes wrong. I've never been in a real relationship, let alone live with someone like that. Now that it's an actual possibility, I'm terrified."

Michael's voice was low when he spoke again, "Lydia, no one can know what's going to happen in the future. If everyone lived their lives on what was going to happen, we would never sleep. You can't think about what's going to happen. You have to think about right now." He placed his hand on my shoulder. "If there's anything I know about love, it's that it's a leap of faith. You and Sean really do love each other. I think you both owe it to yourselves to give this a shot. But you have to make that decision for yourself."

I tried to process everything Michael told me. When I really thought about it, he was right. We can't predict the future. I needed to decide this for myself. The question was: did I want to take the next step and live with the man I loved?

The answer came to me immediately. Michael seemed to realize it to. I let out a deep breath, "So, what now?"

He smiled as he handed me his cell phone. "You know what to do, little sis."