She thought that I’d drop everything now that she had dirt on Romeo.
And I might have.
If I knew that dropping it would make her stop.
But I had a feeling she’d just found a way better cash cow than whatever the hell she’d been doing before. She could use me for the rest of my life.
Every last bit of my trust fund would be gone if I let her do what I had a feeling she wanted to do.
“How about this,” I said. “You leave town. You promise to never contact us again. And we leave it at that.”
“Or.” She smiled like an evil villain sure of her next move. “We could talk about your boyfriend’s extracurricular activities. Let’s talk about how he faked his own death in order to escape…prison?”
My belly clenched. “You are very wild. You know that? What in the world makes you think that he would do something like that?”
“Fingerprints are forever, my dear.” She grinned. “You can change the face and appearance. You can fake the death. But you can’t get rid of fingerprints. And I was able to lift those from a glass at the resort and run it through the system. Do you know that it’s damn near impossible to not make enemies? Everyone has them. Even Romeo.”
God. Dammit.
“You’re so crazy.” Birdee shook her head. “Do you honestly believe that Mable would be with anyone like that? I mean, she wouldn’t even sneak out to get away from y’all’s overprotective parenting. She stuck with her ex-fiancé until the bitter end because she is such a pleaser. Do you truly believe that she would be with someone like that? She wouldn’t.”
“Oh, she has.” Whitney all but preened with excitement. “This is all so exciting. I’ve been waiting for years to find something I could use to take what I want. But you’re right about her do-gooder act. She really was a Pollyanna. But then she met Romeo.”
But then she met Romeo.
Irrational anger hit me like a sledgehammer straight to the chest.
And before I could stop myself, I charged forward and pushed her into a tower of boxes.
She bounced off of them, knocking several to the side, and came charging at me like a bull in a china shop.
Before she could get to me, though, Birdee stuck her crutch out and tripped her.
I helped her along to the ground and rammed her body to the side.
And just as she fell forward to the floor, the main door swung open and Cody came inside.
Or she would have had my stepmother’s head not hit the door at the perfect angle.
And I do mean the most perfect angle.
With a sickening thud, Whitney hit the floor and went utterly limp.
Birdee, me, and Cody all stared in shock at the sight.
“Did we just kill her?” I whispered in horror.
“I think I did,” Cody admitted.
“No, I definitely pushed her,” Birdee said shakily.
“Yeah, but I was the one to shove her to the side with my body…”
“We need to get out of here,” I whispered.
“It was an accident,” Birdee pointed out. “Maybe she’s alive.”
She went to bend down, but I stopped her with a hand on her jacket. “No. Let’s go.”
