AN: Thank you all so much for the continued reviews and support – so glad to have you guys along with me on this journey. Hope you continue to enjoy.

If you want a refresher about Sara's brother Liam and about her family in general, Chapter 12 in Foxholes is the place to look. To make things easier, here is the relevant section if you want a refresher:

"My older sister died when I was young. Addison was my best friend, and she was the pride and joy of my father. She had gone away to school in Connecticut, and was staying with my Aunt and Uncle who lived there. When we got the phone call that Addison had died, my father turned into someone else. He became an addict and a drunk. When we later learned that Addi had been abused and raped by my Uncle for the last two years of her life, my father turned his anger towards my mother. After all, it was her brother that had violated his adored daughter. My mother became his favorite target, but when that wasn't enough, he turned on his kids. After all, we were half of our mother's blood, right? He abused my brothers to the point that I was afraid I would lose them, too."

She looks away and stops.

"Did he abuse you also, Sara?"

"My mom couldn't take it anymore," Sara continues, ignoring my question, which is answer enough. "She killed him one night, stabbed him 13 times without a word. She went to jail, where she proceeded to kill herself a short time after. My brother Parker became abusive to his family until he hung himself on his 27th birthday. Liam turned into a drug addict, and is currently serving a joint sentence for first degree murder and armed robbery. He shot and killed someone for their fucking watch."

Take care.


CHAPTER 19


CATHERINE POV

Raising my head slowly, I let out a groan at the pounding in my skull.

God, how much did I have to drink? I silently question.

Then, going to rub my temples, my eyes shoot open when I find my hands restrained.

Looking around frantically, the reality of the situation comes crashing back to me.

Pulling against my restraints, they don't even budge, holding me tightly to a wooden chair that I recognize as one of the chairs from Sara's kitchen table.

Sara.

Looking around again, I draw in my breath when I spot Sara no more than ten feet away from me.

She is sitting in an identical chair, restrained similar to myself.

She has a blindfold tied tightly around her eyes, however, and her body is hunched over limply.

"Sara," I call, trying to keep my voice low, but desperate to rouse her. To hope she is simply asleep.

Judging from the trail of blood streaked down the side of her face and a similar one coming from the corner of her mouth, though, I highly doubt that is the case.

Looking her over further, I see smears of blood elsewhere on her body, and I find myself renewing my efforts to rouse her.

"Sara!" I plead, desperate for her to lift her head, to tell me she is okay.

"I don't think she can hear you right now," a male voice calls from the back hall.

When he steps into view, I nearly have to do a double take.

One look at him, and it is clear that this is Liam. That this is Sara's brother.

The resemblance is almost eerie. The same dark hair, same pale complexion, even the same hazel eyes.

It's funny, because I expected to see some sort of malevolence in his eyes, something to set him solidly apart from the member of the Sidle family that I know. Looking at him, however, I am somewhat thrown by the fact that, if anything, his own eyes seem almost more…innocent…then Sara's usually are.

No, not innocent.

Open.

Readable.

I don't fool myself into thinking that this man is innocent by any means, I am just getting the suspicion that he tends to handle the aspects of his life a bit differently than the brunette.

And, for some reason, I find that idea worries me.

"What did you do to her?" I growl out, trying to take my eyes off the blood saturating the collar of her t-shirt.

He almost looks bothered as he glances over at Sara, again contrasting with what I expected from him.

"We fought," he says by means of explanation. "Things got…violent."

"Clearly," I mutter, noting that he also has some pretty deep cuts along his face and arms.

For some reason, it makes me glad to see that Sara was at least able to put up a good fight before being overcome.

Liam nods towards the chair I'm sitting in, "I'm sorry, I was hoping to let this particular encounter remain between Sara and I."

Again, I am struck with surprise by his comment, by the genuine tone to his apology.

As if reading my thoughts in the same uncanny way Sara often does, Liam sends me a half smile.

"You were expecting me to be different?" he questions.

"Yes," I admit. "But I don't really know much about you or your intentions yet, so we'll see."

Liam nods, "I guess we will."

He doesn't say anything more, and I'm again struck by the similarities between him and his sister, the same quiet presence, the same thoughtful expression.

"Is she alright?" I ask him seriously, concerned that Sara is still unconscious, still bleeding.

Liam lets out a small laugh, shaking his head.

"I really thought you would care less whether my sister is alright or not."

At his comment, something inside of me starts to get a really bad feeling.

Meeting my eyes, Liam doesn't look away.

"What?" I get out, at a loss for other words.

"After everything she's done?" he says, raising a brow. "Shouldn't you be enjoying the sight of her like this?"

Something about his voice, the way he is watching my reaction to his words, sets me on edge.

"Liam…" I start, voice trailing off as I find I have no other words to follow.

"She cheated on you, yes?" he asks, his expression still watching me closely. "You left her, yes?"

"Yes," I state, feeling strangely off balance. "You've been watching us, sending me pictures, you know all this."

Letting out a small smile, Liam shakes his head.

"It's funny, you know?" he says quietly. "You did exactly what I wanted you to do, but I found myself a bit disappointed in you, Miss Willows."

"What?" I question, so confused now that I don't even know what else to say.

"Maybe I'm just being an overprotective older brother, but Sara would have fought for you."

Shaking my head, I give up trying to put words together.

"If you cheated on her, she would have stuck by you. Fought for you."

Furrowing my brows, I narrow my eyes.

"What did you do?" I question, feeling suddenly aware that there is something very amiss here. "What the hell did you do?"

"I hardly had to do anything," he counters, his voice dark. "It was so easy, Catherine Willows, to convince you that Sara had done the unthinkable."

Shaking my head, I feel a nauseating sense of dread welling up deep within me.

"What did you do…" I repeat, my voice now barely a whisper.

He narrows his eyes, assessing me.

"I drugged her at that bar," he eventually replies, his voice unreadable. "Took her to that hotel room. Hired a woman to pose for some…intimate scenes. I think you know the rest."

"It was all fake," I breathe out. "It was all staged. She never…"

"She wasn't even conscious, Catherine."

Thinking back to the photos, I realize I never saw Sara's face, her eyes. Just her back and the tattoo to prove it was her.

Jesus.

My mind, my emotions, they are racing and shifting incomprehensibly at this revelation. The cheating, the infidelity that first ripped Sara and I apart, that started us down this terrible road, was all a lie.

Nothing but a viscous ruse.

"The man at the bar?" I question, my voice sounding far away to my own ears.

"A random patron I slipped twenty bucks and a beer."

"Did she know?" I ask numbly, wondering if Sara ever figured out the affair never happened.

"No," he says, "Of course not."

He shrugs, "She was even easier to convince then you. She knows who she is, Catherine. She knows what lies inside her just like the rest of our family. Infidelity. Cruelty. Disregard for everyone but ourselves. All I had to do was plant the seed, and she believed every bit of it."

"That woman's murder?" I question, ignoring his other comments, needing to hear explanations for the questions I have burning in my head. "Were you trying to pin that on her?"

Something in his eyes shifts, and he almost looks uncomfortable.

"No," he says quietly. "That was a mistake."

I wait a moment, hoping he will continue.

"A mistake?" I eventually prompt, drawing his eyes back to mine.

"She wanted to turn the situation into something beneficial for herself, a way to take advantage of Vegas' law enforcement. Blackmail."

Looking up, he shakes his head.

"We argued, things got out of hand."

He doesn't say anything more, and this time I don't ask. To be honest, I think the rest of it is better left unspoken for now.

"What about the drugs," I get out, my throat tight. "Was that fake, too?"

Shaking his head, Liam looks over at Sara's prone form.

"No, that was all her, I just took the pictures. Well, mostly."

I raise a brow, and he notes my expression when he turns back towards me.

"She had a bottle of painkillers on her when I took her to that hotel," he explains. "All I had to do was remove a couple, make her think that she had taken them herself. Think that she had gotten high and ended up in bed with a complete stranger as a result."

"She wasn't using that night?" I ask, not knowing why it makes a difference to me, but it does.

"She thought she was, but no, she wasn't."

"Why?" I breathe out, "What could you possibly have to gain from all of this?"

"Excellent question," he tells me, his expression shifting. "But I really think Sara would be interested in hearing that answer as well."


Glancing nervously towards Sara, still hanging limply from her restraints, I watch as Liam approaches her.

Pulling something from his pocket, he holds it under her nose.

Almost immediately, Sara jerks upright, letting out a cough as her head angles away from him.

"Welcome back, sis," Liam tells her, stepping back towards the couch. "You have a visitor."

Sara doesn't say anything, pulling on her restraints.

"Aren't you curious to know who it is?" Liam asks.

"Not in the least," Sara gets out, her arms still pulling against the chair.

"Why don't you say hello, Catherine?" Liam suggests.

Instantly, hearing my name, Sara's motions cease, her body going completely rigid.

"Looks like I have your attention now," Liam comments.

Then, turning to me, he raises a brow.

"I was serious, Miss Willows."

Narrowing my eyes at him, I decide it is probably best to do what he asks at this point. So far he hasn't been violent, and I would like to keep it that way.

"I'm fine, Sara," I tell her. "Just a bit of a bump on the head."

I know Sara won't believe I am fine unless I am honest with her, telling her everything currently wrong with me. Which, thankfully so far, is just one hell of a migraine.

"Catherine…" Sara gets out, the concern and distress in her voice at realizing I am really here is palpable. "If he hurt you…"

I shake my head, even though I know she can't see it.

"No, babe, I'm fine. Are you alright?" I question, noting my use of the term of endearment.

Right now, I don't give a shit about anything that happened between us, I'm scared as hell and desperate to know that she is alright.

Liam laughs, his expression darkening somewhat.

"Sara's fine," he says. "Our little fight before was like a warm up in our house, nothing but a slap on the wrist to us. Isn't that right, Sara?"

"I'm okay, Catherine," Sara answers me, ignoring Liam's comment, her head turned away from his voice.

I can tell from her posture that she is more uncomfortable than she is letting on. That, despite her words, she isn't 'okay' at all.

I don't know if she is seriously hurt, or if she's uncomfortable because of the restraints, the blindfold.

Part of me wonders if it isn't a combination of all three.

Clearly, Liam doesn't need to blindfold Sara for identity purposes, leading me to believe he knows very well what restricting Sara's senses, taking away her ability to see what is going on around her, would do to her.

Either that, or there was something that he didn't want her to see.

I don't know which possibility is worse.

"Catherine wanted to know why I'm doing this," Liam states, drawing my attention back to him. "I thought you'd be interested in the answer as well. Want to hazard a guess?" he asks.

"Because you were dropped on your head as a child?" Sara answers, her words holding nothing but contempt for him, for this situation.

Liam shrugs. "No more so than you were. And not so much dropped as slammed. But that's neither here nor there."

"You bastard," I growl out, not able to help myself at his cavalier mention of the abuse from his past. From Sara's past.

Liam's eyes narrow dangerously.

"I wasn't the bastard in the family, Miss Willows. That would have been our sister Addison."

Instantly, at the mention of her sister's name, Sara pulls angrily at her restraints. "Don't you dare bring her into this. Don't you dare even say her name."

Eyes moving back towards Sara, Liam steps closer to her.

"Did you know she wasn't even our full sister?" Liam questions genuinely. "That's why dad always favored her. She was his from his 'first wife', which, really, I found out was a mistress he had on the side while he and mom were engaged."

"You're lying," Sara forces out, her body tense.

"Not at all," he counters seriously. "That's why he lost it when he found out she'd been molested by mom's brother. Why he took out his anger on us. Unlike Addison, we were her offspring," he says.

"It's amazing the things you find out about your family when you have nothing but time and carefully monitored internet access in prison," he adds as an afterthought.

"How did you get released?" I ask curiously, as much to break the topic for Sara as anything.

"I robbed someone a number of years back, shot them for their belongings. But I was high as a kite when I did it. Apparently drug addiction runs in the family," he adds with a small grin before growing serious again.

"You tell the warden you were young and stupid. Tell him you had an addiction problem, no conscious thought of what you were doing that terrible night. That you're sober now, and you want a second chance at life."

Shaking my head, I cannot fathom letting someone like him out of jail.

But then again, when you simply look at him on the surface, he has a bit of Sara's charm. His handsome features and earnest eyes could get someone like him a long way towards convincing key individuals he is a changed man.

That he isn't meant to live out his life as a convict, that he is meant for something more.

"Woe to the judicial system on that one," Sara breathes out.

Advancing on her, Liam takes hold of Sara by the jaw, letting her know exactly where he is as he stares her down.

"Hate me all you want, Sara, but you listen to me. You're no different than I am. If I'm evil incarnate, then so are you."

Sara snorts, her teeth clenched tightly. "Preaching to the choir."

Closing my own eyes at her words, I hate the fact that I think she might just be serious. After all the events recently, I wouldn't be surprised if Sara doesn't truly believe she is as dark and destructive as the man standing before us.

"Sara…" I tentatively state, trying to keep her mind from going somewhere it may not come back from.

Pushing Sara's face away harshly, Liam turns his attention on me.

"I'm sorry, Catherine, but I have some things I need to say to Sara. And I'd really rather you not interrupt them."

Reaching over, he grabs an extra blindfold from the bookshelf, but instead of covering my eyes, he places it in my mouth as a gag.

Hearing me grunt in response to his actions, Sara's head immediately angles towards the noise.

"Don't you dare touch her, Liam!" she all but yells. "This is between us."

Stepping away from me once the gag is secure, Liam again advances on Sara.

"It should be between us, Sara. But really, she's part of the problem."

He shakes his head darkly, pulling the blindfold from her face.

"I want to see your face for this next part."


Blinking against the light, Sara immediately throws a concerned glance towards me, looking me over for injuries. Her assessment is interrupted when Liam grabs her jaw and turns her face back towards his.

"I got out of prison and set out to find you. After all, you're the only family I have left," he tells her, his expression shifting between angry, hurt, and something I can't quite put my finger on.

"When I first saw you I was relieved, because, no offense, you looked like shit," he admits. "Tired, limping, even scrawnier than I remembered you. Life had been just as hard to my sister as it had to me. We were siblings again, kindred spirits trying to survive the harsh realities of this world."

He turns, now looking between Sara and I.

"But then you were kissing this gorgeous blonde woman outside the office. Kissing like teenagers falling in love," he says.

"I followed you home and I learned you were more than that. You were living together. A family."

Sara doesn't say anything, keeping her head angled down, but it is clear that she is hearing his every word.

"You broke the promise we made," he says almost softly, eyes fixed on her face.

Finally looking up, Sara meets his eyes.

"You remember our promise?" he asks her.

Nodding, Sara looks away.

"I remember."

"And what was our promise?"

Sara clenches her jaw, her eyes pleading with him when they return to his. Pleading with him not to bring up this particular topic.

"What was our promise, Sara?" he asks again. "When we hid up in our room that day, what did we promise?"

Teeth gritted together, Sara clenches her hands tightly into fists.

"We promised it ended with us."

Nodding slowly, Liam takes a small step towards her. "We promised not to do what our parents did, Sara. We promised not to force anyone else into the darkness of a life with a Sidle. If we remained alone, the legacy, the violence, it would all end with us."

Looking over at me, Liam's eyes meet mine briefly before returning to his sister.

"Does this look like what we promised, Sara?"

Reaching over, he pulls a picture frame from the bookshelf. It's one I recognize from a camping trip we had taken with Nancy.

"Does this look like what we promised?"

Eyes tense, Sara barely glances at me before her focus is back on Liam. She doesn't answer, but she doesn't have to.

In that instant, my heart, which I thought couldn't withstand much more, breaks just a bit further. I imagine a young Sara, hiding in a dark room with her older brother, listening to the sounds of her father's abusive violence raging below them. I see them sitting together, making a pact not to become what their parents were to them. Not to subject anyone else to the violence they lived with, the violence they experienced firsthand.

Shaking my head, I try to speak out against the gag, to say something, say anything, to Sara, but all that comes out is a muffled moan.

Neither Sara nor her brother even seem to hear me.

Rubbing his temples, Liam sits on the couch.

"What happened to Parker?" Liam questions her, and I search my memory for the name. I remember Nancy mentioning Sara's other brother was named Parker.

Sara doesn't answer, clenching her jaw tightly.

"He broke our promise and what happened?" Liam asks again.

"You know what happened," Sara gets out.

"So do you," he counters. "So you should know better."

Shaking his head, Liam sighs.

"Somewhere along the line you forgot who you are Sara. Selfishly living this life with these people without any regard to them, of what you would no doubt someday do to them," he tells her sadly. "So I staged that affair, sent all those pictures, and set them free of the Sidle name."

Shaking her head, Sara finally raises her eyes to his.

"Fine, you were trying to protect them from me. Is that why you're doing this, what you wanted me to understand?"

Liam stands, moving closer to Sara.

"Mostly, but this isn't all about them, Sara. It's also about you. As much as I didn't want to see their lives destroyed," he admits, "I didn't want to see you happy either."

Sara doesn't respond, causing Liam to quirk his head.

"Curious to know why?"

"Yes," Sara answers honestly.

He nods, taking a slow, steadying breath.

"Because I watched you hate our mother for absolutely no reason," he answers, his voice strained. "Watched you let her die alone in that prison. Watched you move on with your life after her death when I couldn't."

He shakes his head tensely, and I know this is it, this is the reason behind why we're all here like this, what brought us to this point.

Shaking her own head, Sara pulls again at her restraints, no doubt feeling herself that we are getting close to some sort of turning point, uneasy about what lies ahead.

"What are you talking about?" she asks in genuine confusion. "She killed dad, she went to prison. You could have moved on after her death the same as me."

Closing his eyes at her words, Liam bows his head. "That's the problem, Sara. I couldn't."

Reaching out, Liam holds her face tightly, fixing their gazes together.

"Listen to me closely, Sara," he demands, his voice eerily desperate. "You're a CSI, which is the irony of ironies because you couldn't, even after all these years, deduce what happened during a crime committed in your own fucking home."

He keeps their eyes matched, his own hazel eyes battling against hers.

"I couldn't move on after our dad's death like you could for one very simple reason," Liam says. "Mom didn't kill our dad, Sara, I did."


AN: Thanks for reading.