14

14

STACEY

Milo and Hopper are by my side as I walk through the grounds, hands stuffed into the front pockets of the hoodie Aria gave me. It’s Luciella’s, and when she gets home from America tonight, I’ll be sitting both of my friends down and telling them everything, and I’m terrified that our friendship might end.

I’ve told them so many lies, how can they ever trust me again?

Not even just about Kade. I lied to them about everything when it came to my life.

And I also killed three guys. I can still feel all of it – the warmth when their blood splattered on me, the way my heart beat so fast from the adrenaline, how I couldn’t stop stabbing that last one. I can still hear the sounds they made.

I cover my mouth and close my eyes, steadying my breaths. Aria said that the initial shock would stay for a while, then I’ll start to overthink, but she’ll be with me.

Like the mother I lost.

She’s been amazing. After she washed me then got me re-dressed, she sat on the chair beside the bed she’d moved me to and slept there for two nights until I stopped crying, until she was happy for me to go to Kade’s room to sleep with the dogs.

Will my friends be as compassionate about what happened? With their friend being a killer? A liar? A whore who sleeps with their best friend’s brother even though she knows he hates her?

Tylar will probably freak out about it all, but she already knows about Kade. But then… Luciella.

How do I tell my best friend – someone who was always against anyone going near her twin brother – that I’ve not only been sneaking around with him since we were eighteen, but that we were also in a relationship and months from being a family of three, all while keeping it a secret from her? That we split up because he thought I cheated just weeks after losing our daughter? That we’d steered clear for two years but broke the dam by fucking each other’s brain out yet again?

Deep breaths.

I was never scared to tell her before. Kade always said it was up to me when we told her about us. My excuse was that I wasn’t ready, but in reality, I had a brother at home who would have ruined it all.

Though he ended up ruining it anyway, so I guess it was all for nothing.

There are guards everywhere, standing around with guns. None of them look at me, and I keep walking until I reach a section of grass beside the water. I stare at the spot while the wind whips at my hair – the place we lay years ago and made everything official. Where the guards nearly caught us and we had to hide until we fully dressed and ran for it.

I remember how happy I was – the pain in my cheeks from how hard I was smiling and laughing as we sprinted to the pool house and finished what we’d started. Kade had pinned me to the wall then taken me slow and hard.

Back then, my days were at least a little simpler. I was still worried Chris would find out about Kade and force me to stop seeing him. Hide me away in the Fields’ manor for the rest of my life or try to beat up Kade.

There’s a ding from my back pocket, and I pull out my phone Barry got from Chris’s room. I smile at the screen.

Barry:Tobias Mitchell is no longer in solitary confinement. He’s demanding to talk to you. Are you coming back inside anytime soon?

I glance over my shoulder to the shadow standing by the outdoor pool. The past week he’s been stuck to me like glue. He keeps telling me that Kade will come, that he’s getting time off, but I’m starting to think he’s only saying it to keep me calm.

He won’t tell me anything – who his boss is, what she does, where I can find them. I ask him to call the police, or do something himself, but he tells me to stay out of it for my own good.

I sigh and head back in, seeing each breath I let out in the cold air while I check my messages from Tylar. She’s been sending me videos and pictures from Festival of Fright Night, and how great my students did in their performances.

A lump lodges in my throat. I missed it. Ty had to do everything because I was stuck here, recovering, or held prisoner by Chris. They still managed to raise a lot for the studio and our three nominated charities though.

Her next message makes me roll my eyes and laugh.

I show it to Barry as we walk into the manor through the kitchen, and he shakes his head. “That’s not a good idea.”

I tut. “My friend can be insistent.”

Tylar wants to throw a Halloween-themed party in the manor as a joint thing for me and Luciella, since we both turn twenty-two this month. A way to cheer everyone up, because even she can tell there’s tension.

She asks me nearly daily if I’m okay, and I tell her I’ll talk to her about everything soon.

Which also triggers her to ask more questions.

“I have an offer,” Barry says, and I look up at him questioningly. “I have a lot of connections who could get you a new identity, a new passport and bank account. I could hide you, maybe in America. You’re in a lot of danger, Miss Rhodes, and Mr Mitchell won’t be happy if something happens to you. I won’t be happy if something happens to you.”

I stop walking. “You could do that?”

He nods. “I can – just give me the word, and I’ll get you out. I can come with you. Lisa and our child too. You’d be heavily protected, with no trace to be found.” He gestures to the house. “Think about it and let me know.”

“Thank you,” I say, following him through the manor with my brows knitting together. Leaving everything behind sounds terrible, but to feel safe? To be able to go outside and not worry about my life being threatened? No Chris, no Sawyers.

Aria is sitting on the sofa, her knees crossed, and beams up at me when she sees me. “Oh, there she is now. Do you have time left?”

She nods at whatever he answers. “Don’t you dare get caught with that phone, Tobias.”

She hands it to me then asks Barry if he’d like some tea, to which he says, “Sure,” and they walk out of the room.

I press the phone to my ear and drop to the couch. “Hello?”

“Little one,” Tobias says, his voice low. “I wanted to check in with you and see how you are. Aria filled me in on everything.”

“I’m… okay.” Am I? Strangely, I think I will be. Yes, I took lives, and I still think I imagined that happening, but if I hadn’t fought back, I would’ve been raped… again.

“You sent me fifteen voicemails – in five of them you were crying for over half an hour. Admitting you aren’t okay isn’t a bad thing.”

“Are you?” He’d been locked up alone for weeks. “Aria said she was filing a complaint because you were held in solitary confinement with no evidence of you breaking any rules.”

“I got out last week, but I had a few… adjustment issues. But I’ll admit I’m not okay. In fact, I want to put my fist through a wall, but I like my hands, so I’m holding back.”

He’s not even joking.

“How much trouble is he in? I know you lied to Aria about Kade’s position.”

I shrug, even though he can’t see me. “Barry isn’t telling me much either.”

“The assistant?”

“Yeah,” I reply. “He’s watching over me just now until Kade makes an appearance.”

“You trust him?”

“Who?”

“This Barry. Does Kade trust him? What if he’s working for his boss?”

“The Sawyers.” I trace my fingers along a blanket, the same one me and Kade shared on this same couch years ago. “I found out Archie is a political leader. He’s married to someone called Bernadette. I looked at her pictures – Kade said she was his main boss, but she doesn’t seem the corrupt and evil type.”

“They never do.”

I shouldn’t be saying any of this. I haven’t even told Barry I did my own research on Archie Sawyer. He has a daughter, my age, and she’s honestly so beautiful.

On the outside, they look like a sweet, happy family. They take part in charity events like Nora, and they’re the owners of numerous foundations, set up to help people in need around the country – homeless and abused children.

“How is Aria?”

I blink, glancing at the door to make sure no one is there. “She’s fine. A lot better now that you’re contactable.”

“Has she been drinking?”

I shake my head. “No. She’s been coming to the home gym with me and tidying the manor. I think she’s scrubbed the entranceway on her hands and knees every night.”

“Stress cleaning,” he says, humming. “She never changes.”

Kade stress cleans. He used to freak out if he forgot to put his clean clothes away when I got to his room, then he’d go bright red and try to hide them under the bed, as if I wouldn’t notice.

The cute and innocent Kade was adorable.

Tobias tells me about his day, as if we’re just two people casually talking. Luciella visited today, and he says the hug she gave him made him feel like he could finally breathe. He hates hugs, but getting one from his little girl meant he was still alive.

My dad hugged now and again, but once he married Nora, it was like the father I grew up with died with my mother.

He tells me about his lunch, and how his therapist was monitoring him after being locked away for nearly three months.

Then, when he finishes explaining the movie everyone in the institution will be watching at movie night, he realises he just talked for a solid fifteen minutes without letting me speak, so he aims his attention back on me.

“Do you know where Christopher is now?”

“He reached out to Kyle the other day – he was getting on a boat to go somewhere and didn’t want him to worry.”

Tobias scoffs. “Motherfucker.”

“Barry has a team tracking him. He keeps buying a new phone and changing cars, and he has some sort of blocker on his bank account, so they can’t trace that.” I stand and walk around the living room. “He’s obsessed with cybersecurity. He builds these trojans and hacks into systems like some tech guru.”

“I know you’re blaming yourself for all of this, little one – I can hear it in your voice. He’s a disease. And he’ll be dealt with. You don’t need to be silent anymore.”

“Barry said he can hide me – get me a new identity and a new life. I could come to America.”

He’s silent, and then he says, “You’re going to annoy me by visiting every day, aren’t you?”

“If I take him up on his offer, then yes.”

“I’d rather spend a year back down in confinement.”

I smile at his joking tone. “I think we’re becoming friends, Tobias.”

He lets out a disbelieving laugh and hangs up on me.