"…not your sister. Emil Prodna was our brother. Still is, if Gordon didn't have him snuffed out before I shot him."
Marissa released a breath she didn't realize she'd been holding. If anything had happened to Emil, it had nothing to do with her.
"Not Johanna?" Marissa found her voice and wanted to confirm that she was hearing Alex correctly.
Alex shook her head. "No. Our mother's name was Mihaela Prodna. She gave birth to Emil after marrying his father five years after we were born."
Hanna nearly growled at Alex. "How dare you make Marissa think she'd killed her own sister?"
Alex shrugged. "It was her conclusion, not mine."
Hanna glared at Alex.
"Now what?" Marissa asked.
"Now you know the truth. Who I am. Why I saved you. I saved you because John asked me to. That and the fact that if Gordon wanted you dead so badly in the end, then one of the best ways to get revenge on him is to go against his wishes. You and I, we were just pawns. But now you know everything. Isn't that what you wanted?"
Marissa sighed. "I suppose so. You played us well, but I do owe you thanks for saving my life."
"John and I," Alex said.
"Gordon really was out to get us all in the end," Marissa thought aloud.
"He was. Doesn't it feel a little better that such evil has been extinguished? Gordon, Utrax…"
"It does," Marissa admitted. "Maybe these kids can live normal lives."
"Maybe," Alex agreed. It was as close to a regular sisterly exchange as they were going to get. Gordon had poisoned not only Alex's body but also the possibility for her to ever be at ease with her sister. But the one thing he hadn't bet on was John… Alex was supposed to be alone by Gordon's design, but one person had broken through.
Marissa knew that it was the last time that she or Hanna would see Alex again after the uneasy resolution to their questions. They walked back to their own hotel room in silence. The next day, Alex checked out of the hotel.
Four days later, Marissa received a panicked phone call from Carl Meisner, her longtime associate, upon hearing the news that a body matching Marissa's description was found in a park a few blocks from the hotel. She reassured him that she was fine and made him promise total secrecy when she told him about Alex.
"How do you feel about learning all of this?" Carl asked.
"I don't know," Marissa admitted to her friend. "She was a complicated individual, but she's also the reason that I am okay. I also feel even closer to Hanna, knowing that we have a biological tie as well. Maybe I could sense it all along. If that's her legacy, I'm alright with that."
They hung up and Marissa turned to face Hanna, who had just come into the sitting area to grab her suitcase and pack.
"Where are we going now?" Hanna asked, a smile on her face for the first time in ages. Alex had been right, the end of Utrax meant a lifting of so much of the dark cloud that had settled over everyone involved.
"I was going to say Paris, but how do you feel about a trip to the States?" Marissa asked. "It would be your first time to visit and my first time back in years. I'd like you to meet my mother and my sister."
"Really?" Hanna was amazed. She was going to have something like a family after all. "Is this a normal life? Visiting family? Having one to visit?"
Marissa laughed. "Yes, honey, it is. At least it's the beginning of it for you. Then I thought maybe we could stop in Canada afterwards and meet my teacher, the one you were going to live with as Beatrice. He was curious about you."
"After that?" Hanna was clearly enjoying Marissa's itinerary.
"Then we'll go to Paris. What do you think about living there with me after we have a crazy shopping spree? And you can go to university if you like. Anything you want to do in a normal life."
"I'd like that." The teenager grinned.
"Very well. That's what we'll do." Marissa felt a sense of contentment that she never thought she'd know in her entire life. She felt oddly grateful to Alex for part of the feeling. When Hanna was otherwise occupied, she'd walk down to the park and leave some flowers on the park bench where Alex had succumbed to the poison. They had been kept apart in life, but Marissa could honor the fact that Alex had existed now after her death. It was still quite confusing, but things were going to be better than she could have imagined. After all, life can change in a split second.
The End