I shake my head. “It was never Jason.” All the notes pointed to him. The flowers. The photos. And the whole time my stalker and I were out getting cocktails and giggling like it was a goddamn slumber party. She got me there, I’ll give her that.
“It was sometimes Jason.”
What?I blink at her, heat crawling up the back of my neck. “He wasn’t your boyfriend, he was working.”
Memories of long conversations and uninspired sex flash in my brain.He was a stranger.I want to throw up when I think of the times I let him touch my body. Nothing was real, the sex was probably a perk for him. Bile rises up my throat in disgust. “It was always you.”
She grins at me. “And it always will be,” she snarls. She lunges for my ring.
I ball my hand into a fist, reopening the cut, and my palm fills with fresh blood. “No!” She cannot take this from me.
My strength can’t compete with hers when I’m sluggish. She pries my fingers open, and I fight to keep them closed, but the slick blood helps the ring slip off easily.
Now I’m pissed.
“What’s your plan here anyway, Piper?” She’s been pacing the floors in a paranoid frenzy like an animal, bolting from one stupid plan to the next. Every few seconds, she’s peeling back the curtains to peek out the window as if she’s expecting red and blue flashing lights any second.
“Once you kill me, I’ll be too heavy to move,” I remind her.
She ignores me, wiping my blood off the ring.
I burrow deeper into her anxiety; it’s her turn to feel afraid. “And you’ve got your fingerprints all over the fucking house because you keep touching my shit—is that my paring knife? Or did you steal that from your house—you know, the house with my blood all over the floor? Then there’s the digitalfootprint . . .” I huff out a breath and wince at the pain in my rib. “You’re getting sloppy.”
Her hand twitches. “Who are they going to arrest?Piper?Piper is dead. I’m Rosa.”
“Arrest?” I smile at her. The second Logan sees the blood on my clothes, she’ll bebeggingthe cops to arrest her. “You stalked, drugged, kidnapped, and slashedhis wife. . . You really think he’s going to just let that slide?”
“If Logan knew I was alive . . . he wouldn’t be with you.”
“He didn’t want you before you were even dead!” I spit.
She backhands me, and I taste pennies. That’s just one more punishment for later.
I hang my head between my shoulders and laugh. “You’re only mad because you know I’m right. Tell me, how’s it feel to be a fucking ghost?”
“I loved him first! I earned this!” She holds up my ring. “I deserve this!”
“Love isn’t something you’re entitled to, Piper, it’s chosen . . . And Logan didn’t choose you. Get over it.”
Her breaths quicken as the pulse in her neck tics faster.
“You could leave right now and still escape—give yourself a fresh start. Forget Logan and the rest of the bullshit from your past,” I offer. “Why are you even doing this?”
She stops her pacing to stare me down. “If I can’t have him, no one can.”
I roll my eyes—what a fucking cliché. “Real original. Your villain schtick is played out.” I’ve seen television dramas with more subtlety. “These things never end well for the bad guy.”
She jabs a finger into her chest. “I’m not the bad guy!”
“You’re a fucking case file.” I chuckle. “So, what’ve you got? Anything? You still don’t have a plan, do you? You’re running out of time.”
“You can’t do anything,” she seethes. “I’m not afraid of you.”
I bark out a laugh. “Yes, you are! You’re fucking terrified,” I say, grinning. I lean forward, letting the ties cut into my arms and ignoring the pain in my ribs as I stretch closer to her. I drop my voice to a whisper. “Because I know what keeps you up at night. You’re scared to death that I’ll replace you.” I smile wider. “I’m your worst nightmare come true. I’m Mrs. Logan Teller.”
Her expression contorts—filled with rage, or sorrow, maybe both. “Shut up!”
I laugh in her face because fuck her. “Which is worse . . . that he married me instead of you? Or the fact that he wanted to be my husband so bad he did it without even asking?”
