“Oh, Fawn. What is the common denominator here? No one cared about you. Not your mother. Not the police officer. Not your father. I, at least, tried.”
It’s hard to hear my insecurities in my ears. When they rear up, I usually allow them to bounce in my mind but rarely have to hear them spouted with such cold conviction. I blink a tear away. “Did you try?”
“I did, but you kept taking from me.”
“What?” I can’t believe what I’m hearing. “What did I take? Huh? Tell me. Tell me what I took from you, Eleanor?”
“Jake!” she cries.
His name hits me dead in the chest.What?I didn’t expect that. I thought she would say Benji, the golden boy, the boy everyone wanted to be around.
But Jake?
I work the name in my mouth a few times before pressing, “Jake?”
“He became obsessed with you,” she hisses. “Wouldn’t listen to me. He used to love me, but then you—you took it all. You turned him against me.”
I almost laugh. The absurdity of it, the idea that I can manipulateanyone.Especially Jake. He was a bully. He was always in control. “You’re insane.”
“I know Clay Butcher killed my boys!” she bites out, and I gasp. “He mocked me in front of everyone at the dress shop. Don’t think I don’t know what he did.”
Sir doesn’t mock.
It’s beneath him.
He warns.
I shake my forehead against the door. “Why would he risk his business, his life, for a silly little girl like me?”
Her breathing is rough and uneven, like she’s running. I imagine her pacing the room. She is starting to lose control—I can hear it. “I crashed my car into yours,” she says, proud and broken at once. “I wanted to end it. For all of us. But you survived, didn’t you? You and these little monsters.”
My heart skips so many beats it feels like it might never be steady again. I bite down on the inside of my cheek. “Don’t call them that.”
Be brave, Fawn.
Squeezing my eyes shut, I try to close out the world for a moment. A second. I want to be in Clay’s arms, to know he is safe and near. I curl my hands into fists against the door, cruel tears dripping into my mouth, my mind begging,please, please, please, don’t hurt my babies. God, please don’t let her hurt them.
Then I spit out, “They’re Jake’s,” before I can stop myself. My eyes flick open, dancing across the white door as the two words rush from me in a desperate cadence.
Quiet, then a hushed, “You’re a liar.”
“I’m not lying!”
“You're naive and stupid. You were always stupid. Thinking ditsy things. Talking about clairvoyance and auras. You think I’m going to believe that?”
“Maybe Iamstupid, but I’ll tell you something, I'll never be locked in a hospital room with nowhere to go. Either jail ordead. That's your choice now, Eleanor. Tell me who is the stupid one today? Look outside. Go on.”
I listen to footsteps, then the sound of the blinds opening. Her voice is further away as she says, “I’ll kill them, then myself. I’m alone anyway.”
God, no!I slap my hand to my mouth, covering a fitful sound that claws up my throat. When I force my fingers away from my face, my breath shakes with pathetic dread as I try to convince her. “Kill Jake’s babies? If you come out, hand over my babies, I promise I'll forget this whole thing. I won't press charges, Eleanor. I will support you.”
“The police will not let me go.”
She is right.“You might get a suspended sentence,” I say, hopeful. “If you haven’t hurt them. You might get to walk away from this. A mental breakdown. I lived with you. I can attest to your mental health issues. I will support your claim. You’ll get a tiny sentence. Think this through. I’ll bring the boys to visit you, I promise.”
A huff, then, “I don't believe you.”
“Look at Ash,” I beg, my cheek stamping the door, heavy breath fogging it. “Don’t you think he looks like Jake? The hair? Those cheeks? He looks nothing like Clay.”
