“Something clicked in me,” she continues. “So yes, I did believe you that afternoon. I needed you to be telling the truth.”
I take a deep breath. “I was!”
She shakes her head. “And then Cassie turned up with that engagement ring. It was almost comical. I sat there as she recounted how you’d gotten down on one knee the night before, how much money you’d spent on thediamond. I thought I was losing my mind. Reality came crashing down: I’d wanted my own sister dead and you had never really meant to do it.”
“She’s not your sister,” I say meekly. I sound like Cassie, but I can’t let Reese feel like she’s done anything wrong.
She ignores me and continues with the rest of her story. “Maybe you loved Cassie, maybe you didn’t. All I knew is that she had a ring on her finger and tickets to Paris and that you were officially getting married in a few days. It was a wake-up call and a half. She had you, and I didn’t. But then, after I dropped you two off at the airport, I opened the glove box to get a tissue, and there was my passport. I’d forgotten it was there.”
“I remember you telling me about the trip to Paris you almost took, how Cassie ruined it.”
She nods. “You must think I’m completely mad, turning up here.”
It does complicate things. My plan required her to be at home. After I’d discover Cassie’s body, I’d call her sister, obviously. She’d be able to testify how devastated I was. How much I’d loved Cassie. That ithadto have been an accident.
“We’re going to figure this out,” I say, even though I have no idea how.
“I was so angry with you,” Reese says, “or maybe with myself, for believing you. When Cassie turned up with a new phone and clothes, I figured she’d put it on one of her many credit cards. But then there was the engagement ring, the tickets to Paris, the wedding… I could only think of one explanation: you’d lied to me about being broke. The day before the wedding, I found money in a jar at the top of the kitchen cupboards. Alotof money. It didn’t make sense thatyouwould be using the jar to store it, but how would Cassie have that much cash? Ithadto be yours.”
I let out a sigh. “I couldn’t bring myself to tell you about the inheritance. First, because Cassie seemed dead set on having everyone believe that I was rich and spoiling her. I was afraid to mess with her plans. I was completely at her mercy. And then, when I realized how bad things were between youtwo, I couldn’t be the one to tell you. I knew how much it would hurt you to know she suddenly had all this.”
A car honks in the distance, startling us both.
“I had no idea who you were anymore,” Reese continues. “One minute you’re talking about killing her, and the next you’re doingthis.” She gestures widely around her.
I shake my head. “Cassie and I were not doinganythingtogether.”
Reese snarls. It sounds cruel, coming from her. I’ve never seen her in this light. “You got married.”
“For the papers! You know it was never anything more to me.”
“And to her?”
I look away. “I guess I know now that it was about vengeance. She wanted to get back at her ex, and she saw an opportunity to make you suffer at the same time.”
I’ve never put it so plainly before, but it’s obvious. I remember the first time Cassie and I met.You’re French, from France?I thought it was a dumb question. But no, Cassie was simply delighted she’d found the perfect mark. Her sister had always thought she had a French family and was dying to go to Paris. Cassie was going to rub me in her face whether I knew it or not.
“Well, she succeeded,” Reese says, untangling herself from my arms.
“If things had gone my way tonight, Cassie would be gone. But you still don’t believe me, even now that I’ve told you everything.” Though, of course, I haven’t told her about the moneyyet.
She doesn’t answer. We sit in silence for a long while. Eventually I wrap an arm around her shoulder again and she places her head in the crook of my neck. We fit so perfectly together.
“Do you like Paris?” I whisper in her ear. “Is it what you expected?”
Reese lets out a sad laugh. “It’s a great place for a honeymoon. So romantic.”
“We’ll come back here. Together. We could try to find your dad’s family. I haven’t forgotten about that.” The certainty in my voice surprises me.
She shakes her head, then sits up straight to look into my eyes. “I thought you never wanted to come back here.”
“I don’t want to live here again, no. But with you, I’d visit Paris any day. For you, I could do anything.”
“If I hadn’t walked into your room tonight—”
I cut in. “I’ll find another way.” Everything feels possible when I’m with her. “If that’s what you want.”
“I never get what I want.”
