Eden

Je

Je

Je

My knees fail me, and I splay my hands against the wall, desperate for anything to keep myself upright.

“There are other ways I can make sure you get what you deserve,” Mr. Angelle hisses.

“Me?” She laughs. She actually fucking laughs. “As soon as I tell the police you kept me prisoner all those years, no one will believe you about anything. You’ll lose all credibility. They’ll find out about the other women you kept in that house. And then when I convince Dylan to testify against your corruption with the school—”

“Look at us.” Angelle sneers. “Pla

I nearly vomit right there and then. I knew something wasn’t right about Dylan’ s sudden departure. Guilt assails me. I should’ve done something. Questioned Angelle harder. Dug into Dylan’s disappearance deeper.

But it’s too late now.

He’s gone.

How much more tragedy will his family be forced to take?

“Give me what’s mine, Jameson,” Nora hisses. “And then we can end this and all go home.”

“This isn’t over,” he snarls. “You’ve tormented me long enough, Nora. If I just shoot you, everything bad just goes away.”

“Dad, don’t,” Saint says, stepping closer to him, and my breath hitches. “You don’t want to do this.”

“Get away from me,” Angelle spits. “I’m going to teach this whore a lesson, and you can’t stop me, boy.”

Saint’s jaw tightens, but he tries once more to reason with his father.

“Dad, just give me the gun, okay? You don’t want to go out like this, do you? If you kill her and go to jail, she wins. Do you want that? I’ll help you fix this. We can fix this and we’ll be fine.”

My heart sinks to my stomach just as Mr. Angelle lowers his arm.

He mumbles something incoherent, handing the gun over to Saint.

“It’s good you think that,” Saint says as he accepts the gun and then, to my shock, he turns it on his father and pulls the trigger.

My ears ring, and when some of the blaring stops, I realize that Nora’s laughing.

“Have to admit, I did not see that coming,” she says as she watches Jameson Angelle thrash and twitch on the floor. “There’s only one real way to get rid of the body, though.”

“And what’s that?” I murmur, still unable to move.

She meets my gaze, her lips curving. “You burn it.”

Taking the cigarette from her mouth, she flicks it toward a pair of drapes behind her.

Too late, I realize what that smell from earlier was.

Gasoline.