EMBRACE winrina

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

Karina POV

Taking into consideration my level of confusion, I could only imagine what was going through Winter's head. I knew how much she missed her family, especially her sister, and now that it seemed there was hope she was alive, I was both happy and worried. I was happy because this meant that there was a chance for Winter to be happy again.

On the other hand, I was worried because I had no idea what was going on, and as high as my hopes were, I also had my doubts that Summer was still alive. As I drove back to Leo's house, I couldn't stop myself from continuously looking over at Win and seeing the hope in her eyes. She already believed that her sister was alive even though we didn't know anything, and if it turned out that she wasn't, I knew it would crush her all over again.

When we pulled up to Leo's house, there was no stopping her. She moved faster than I'd ever seen her move, immediately entering the house and starting towards Emma. Something had shifted inside of her.

Emma seemed to want to speak but Win didn't let her. "Don't talk," she said. "I don't want to hear you say anything except for whether or not my sister is alive."

Emma backed up against the kitchen cabinets, clearly intimidated by her adoptive daughter. She swallowed and nodded slowly. "She is."

I watched Winter from the side, seeing her expression flicker through a million different emotions before her legs gave out and she started to fall back. I was there before she could hit the ground. I held her, watching her come to it as her eyes opened and she looked up at me. "Are you okay?"

"Am I okay?" Winter whispered, a gentle smile appearing on her face. "Am I okay..." she trailed off. "My little sister's alive Karina."

I smiled at her, consciously aware of the fact that we weren't acting like I was her teacher and she was my student. I just hoped Emma wouldn't think much of it. I helped her stand up and then distanced myself, watching her attitude change again.

She stormed over to Emma. "Why the fuck would you let me go my entire life thinking that my sister died that night? Do you have a heart inside of there? Did you think I wouldn't want to know? What? What is it Emma?"

Emma's hand trembled as she tried to calm Win down. "P-Please just let me explain."

Win crossed her arms over her chest. "The floor's all yours."

"I... I don't know anything about Summer, okay? I know she's alive because she wasn't buried with your parents, but I don't know where she is or how she's alive. I've looked everywhere for her, I've asked your social worker--"

Winter took a step back and I watched even more hurt spread across her face. "Rachel knows that she's alive and she didn't tell me?"

"We... we didn't want to get your hopes up Win. I can't find her and neither can Rachel and we've both been searching for ages. I know how much you're hurting and I knew that telling you your sister's alive only to remind you that there's no way you can get to her would crush you even more..."

I could see how much anger Winter was holding back as she stood there in the middle of the kitchen with her fists clenched. Finally, she broke and stormed towards the older woman. "How sick do you have to be to keep something like that from me? I deserved to know! I don't give a shit what you think you know about me, you don't! You don't know me at all! And you clearly don't care enough about me to tell the truth to the police, but you care enough to hide my sister from me? Fuck you, Emma!"

She lashed out at the woman and I knew Emma probably deserved what she had coming to her, but I had to stop Win anyway. I ran forward and pulled her waist back, having difficulty restraining her. It was a bad idea to let her hit Emma, and I had a strange suspicion that it might come to that. Winter flailed in my arms but I didn't let her go. "Fuck you Emma!" She pried at my hands, "Let go of me!"