It had been a long and terrible road for all of us, but finally, our new start was beginning. Alex and I went back to the hotel and announced to Rhodes and Micah that we were leaving Lantana.
Enough of living in a miserable, haunted house. We were selling the thing, taking the multimillion-dollar check, and making the manor someone else’s problem. With the money from the house sale in our pockets, we’d have enough to return to New York.
Rhodes could devote himself full-time to the New York office—the most profitable branch. Micah would quadruple his potential client pool. Alex would apply to med school—finally embracing his life as Alexander Montgomery without the fear of Fritz Calloway taking everything good away. And I’d stay home with Lily while doing my captioning work during school hours.
Together, we’d build something real, faithful, and happy for all five of us—leaving the ghosts of Lantana behind.
Micah and Rhodes agreed so fast, they had their bag packed before we finished our speech.
I smiled up at the ceiling, content in a way I’d never been in this house before. When I sat beside that totaled car, wishing Sarang Kim had died instead, I had given up on myself in every way. I truly believed there was nothing else for me. Nothing left to fight for.
I thought I was dragging myself away from that accident to hide in my nightmares until hate and revenge helped me eke out a new path.
How wrong I was.
So much more was waiting for me here. Everything was waiting for me here.
Love, understanding, and hope. The trust and innocence of a sweet, perfect child looking at me to guide her. A second chance, all too brief,to laugh and make good memories with my mother. Sharing laughs on the couch with the sister I had all along.
Everything I thought I lost in this house, I got back again, and now I could walk away with no regrets.
There was finally something to look forward to.
Splash.
A noise sounded outside my door. Checking the clock, I saw it was pushing two in the morning.
I gave it a few minutes before getting up, putting on my slippers, and padding out the door. The gasoline fumes punched me in the nose—scrunching my face and making me cover half of it with the sleeve of my robe.
Still, I didn’t slow—following the splashes through the darkened hallway and silently down the stairs.
I truly was a specter following them unseen through the gloom as they made their way to the kitchen. Stepping inside right behind them, I threw on the light—beaming at the round-eyed, pale face that whirled around on me, snapping the gas container behind her back like I couldn’t see and smell the evidence.
“Hello, sis,” I chirped. “About time you showed up. I almost fell asleep waiting for you.”
Soo Min gaped at me, frozen amid the puddles of gasoline she’d been splashing about our kitchen.
“So how you been?” I leaned against the wall, folding my arms. “The afterlife been treating you okay?”
Sue’s eyes rolled in her head, flicking from side to side calculating her chances of getting to a safe distance, lighting the match, throwing it, and beating it out of here before I chased her down and stomped her into the floor.
“This— This isn’t what you think—”
“You know, I’ve been hearing that a lot lately, and most of the time, it wasn’t what I thought,” I admitted, “but what I’m thinking now is that you’re trying to burn down the manor with the last of your family inside”—I stared pointedly at the container—“and I’m pretty sure I’m right.”
“You’re not!” she shrieked.
Soo Min looked prettyfucking stupid. Not that there was ever a time that I didn’t think she looked like a drooling moron—my biological copy be damned. But still, standing there in her big rubber boots; tight, black romper; hair piled on top of her head in a messy bun; a white mask covering her face and mouth; and a yellow fanny pack hanging around her middle, I could once again only think—
Drooling moron.
“You have no idea what’s going on here, you gutter-trash bitch. You couldn’t possibly understand—!”
“That you murdered our mother and got your accomplice, Reynard, to frame Courtney for it?”
Her jaw went slack behind the mask.
“And that was after you murdered Mrs. Prado and that poor girl from the post office, Tracy Williams?” I beamed even wider when she dropped the container, stumbling back. “See? I understand just fine.”
