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show them what you found. Show Mom and Dad right now and Deena’s life will be over. Ruin her life the way she ruined yours and Elijah’s.
    Caelyn actually stood up, ready to yell for her mother and father to come into Deena’s bedroom right that instant.
    Even if they might be initially upset at Caelyn for snooping, it wouldn’t matter once they saw what she’d found. Once she showed them the proof—the visual proof of what kind of person Deena really was—they’d never be able to forget or brush it under the rug.
    But just as Caelyn opened her mouth, something inside told her to wait.
    Not so fast.
    Come on. Deena wouldn’t hesitate to bust you if the roles were reversed.
    But that was the point, wasn’t it? Caelyn thought. Deena was nothing but an attack dog. She had no real strategy, no real purpose. Deena caused pain because it was in her nature, and it didn’t really help her get any further in life.
    However, Caelyn wasn’t simply going to blow the whistle on her sister and get nothing out of the deal.
    You’re not going to get Elijah back. So what can you possibly get out of it?
    I don’t know. Yet. But I’ll figure something out.
    Caelyn sat back down at Deena’s desk and quickly got to work. She had to make sure she’d have access to the evidence when she needed it again.
    Be patient, Caelyn. Elijah needs you to be patient.
    It might be months or years before they were reunited, and if Caelyn was going to find her way back to him, she needed to stay calm and play the game smart.
    No hasty moves. Nothing done purely out of spite .
    She smiled as she finished emailing herself the incriminating material from Deena’s computer.
    And then she got up and left the room. She’d literally just closed Deena’s door and walked to the bathroom when she heard her mother calling for her. “Caelyn?”
    “Yeah?” Caelyn said, sticking her head out into the hallway.
    Her mother’s expression was decidedly suspicious as she walked down the hall.
    “I thought I heard you out here. Were you—were you in your sister’s room?”
    Caelyn laughed and shook her head. “Why would I go into Deena’s room? I can’t stand the sight of her, the last thing I want to do is be anywhere she spends most of her time.”
    “I don’t know, I just thought I heard her door opening and closing.”
    “That was my door. We’re right next to each other.”
    Her mother’s eyes told Caelyn that she didn’t believe the excuse, but it didn’t really matter.
    “Oh. I probably imagined it, then.”
    “I’ll be out of the bathroom in a minute,” Caelyn said. “And then do you want to take a walk around the neighborhood together?”
    Her mother’s eyes widened. “That would be lovely.”
    Caelyn smiled. “Great.”
    She wasn’t sure where she was even going with all of this. But somehow it made sense. Gain her parents’ trust. Act like she’d accepted defeat, even as she plotted her next attack.
    She ran the water and washed her face at the sink. Part of her wondered if she was going crazy. After all, Elijah was definitely going back to jail for a long time. They wouldn’t let him off the hook after he’d already had a brush with the law for violating his parole.
    This would be violation number two.
    He was in jail and Caelyn needed to accept that fact. There were no moves to make, nothing that happened between her and her parents would change that fact.
    But something inside of her told her that she needed to be on the alert for opportunities, whatever they might be. She would get her freedom and she would fight to see Elijah again and be with him. No matter how long she had to wait.

    ***
    It hit Caelyn hard later that day.
    I can’t do this without him. I can’t do it.
    She was sitting in her room again, listening to her sister and father and mother downstairs talking. Once more, she had the distinct feeling that she’d gone back in time and was somehow watching her old life with new eyes.
    Deena had been at the