“There’s something your dad said to me.” I take a deep breath. “Before he died.”
Ever’s jaw tightens. “What was it?”
“When he saw me, he said, ‘I always knew it would be a Cornier, but I never thought it would be you.’ Do you know why he’d say that?”
I don’t like the way Ever looks down at his hands, or the way his mouth forms a tight line. “There’s one last thing I haven’t told you.”
I go rigid in his arms. “I thought we were done with secrets.”
“I know. Just—” He looks up at me through his lashes. “Promise you won’t run.”
I dig my fingernails into the dirt to ground myself. “Tell me.”
He sighs. “A few months ago, I was drinking in a bar in Trouville when Jebediah Ray walked in. I’d seen him once or twice a long time ago when he came by the garage to talk business with my dad, but it had been long enough I wasn’t sure he’d recognize me. He did, though. Took one look at me and came over. Said he’d know Killian’s boy anywhere. I didn’t know what to make of it—why he was in Trouville or at my bar without his entourage. But we got to drinking. Hours later, when we were deep in our cups, do you know what he turned to me and said?”
I wait. Afraid, yet mesmerized.
“He told me he was trying to get right with God. Make amends. And he wanted to tell me he was sorry for what happened to my momma. That it had been real hard to watch what my daddy did to her that night. It was one of his regrets.”
Dread spills through my veins.
“My heart broke the minute I understood what he meant. But I played it cool. Asked him questions. He said he and my dad grew up together. Used to drink together and stir up trouble, even after they got married. But Jebediah said after I was born, my dad changed. He started going on and on about witchcraft every time he got drunk. Asking Jebediah if he believed in demons and dark magic, that sort of thing. He was obsessed, like a dog with a bone.”
“One night they got so drunk they could barely see straight and stumbled to my parents’ house. They found my mom in the backyard in her prayer circle. And my dad went berserk. Started screaming that he knew she was a witch. No matter how hard she tried to talk him down, he was convinced, said the reverend warned him she needed to convert, otherwise she was gonna sacrifice our entire family to theDevil. She was too dangerous to live. When she wouldn’t agree to it, he beat her to death.”
“Ever—”
“Jebediah said as soon as my dad finished, he burst into tears and started yellingno, no, no. He wanted to take it back. He said that’s why my dad turned into such a nasty son of a bitch. His regret ate him up.”
I’m afraid to touch him, even though I want to. Ever’s eyes are incandescent with anger. “I’m so sorry,” I say instead. “It’s an understatement to say it’s horrible, and she didn’t deserve it.”
“All my life, Ruth, I thought my mom’s death was my fault. I blamed myself, accepted the hate my father gave me, didn’t even fight back half the time. Buthe’sthe one who killed her.” Our eyes lock. “Because your dad told him to.”
I take a deep breath.
“And after my dad confessed, yours used it as leverage. Blackmailed him into working together.”
As much as I hate it, it makes sense.That’show my mother had known how Célestine really died. Because Killian had spilled to my father, who’d used his guilt as a weapon. With that, the final puzzle piece falls into place. “You didn’t just come back this summer for Augustus. You came to kill my dad.”
Ever doesn’t flinch. “My dad may have beat her, but yours pulled the strings. He’s just as guilty.”
We stare at each other, our parents’ sins hanging like stones around our necks. “You wanted to frame Sons of Liberty for Renard’s murder to get back at Jebediah for not intervening with your mom. That’s why you were so adamant about avoiding him at the biker bar. You knew he’d recognize you if he saw us.”
“It was a good plan to take the heat off us,” Ever insists, “regardless of the other motives.”
“Because either the sheriff would actually go after Jebediah, or, if they were working together like you suspected, he’d bury Renard’s case. Either way, you’d win.”
“We’dwin.”
I scramble away from him. “Youarethe Count of Monte Cristo. All of this, from that first day in the swamp with Renard, has been part of an elaborate revenge plot.” I’m almost dizzy thinking back. “When I handed you the rock…when you killed him…I didn’t know what I was putting myself in the middle of.”
Ever’s eyes flash. He jumps to his feet. “I didn’t know we’d kill him, either. All I knew was you were hurting, and I could help. The rest of them? Fine—part of itwasrevenge. And you know what? It was sweet. But it was also about justice. Protection. The fact that people are in danger so long as these men are alive.”
My mind races. “You stayed in Bottom Springs even after you knew the sheriff suspected you because you thought you could still find a way to kill my dad.”
Tension ripples between us. “Yes.”
We stare at each other. “The thing I don’t get is…” I swallow the lump in my throat. “Where do I fit in?”
