“He helped you torture and kill my mother. Of course he had to fucking go. The minute I realized you faked your death, I knew you had to have an accomplice that helped you pull off the bullshit hit-a-deer con. I knew who that accomplice was when I saw the invoices, and realized just how easy it would’ve been for Reynard to sneak you into his room the day of the party, so you could kick back and wait.
“That’s why I volunteered to help him bring his boxes down to his car when he was moving out,” I said. “The stupid fool handed me his keys, I made a copy of his room key, and after lacing his dinner with a little something extra, I went down to the kitchen to cook with Lily, and confront Rhodes.” I let out a gusty sigh. “I wasn’t expecting Rhodes to reveal that he knew about the invoices and what Reynard had done, but after he did, it would’ve been too strange if I’d taken it in stride.
“I had to flip out and go running up there—shouting and pounding on his door.” I laid my hand over my heart. It was racing like it had that night. “Thankfully, I’d already let myself in and out of Reynard’s room that day. I planted the pill bottle of the stuffReynardcrushed up in his food, so it all looked self-administered.”
“How—?” Her jaw worked. “How could you?! You killed Reynard! I loved him!”
“Oh, please.” I rolled my eyes so hard, I hurt myself. “You’re not capable of love, Sue, so spare me the theatrics, especially because, as I said, you’re the one who got him killed. If you hadn’t recruited him to help you kill my mother, he’d be skipping off to his next job right about now. Instead, he died on the dirty floor like the rat he is.
“Same for Layton,” I growled. “I knew what he was right away, Sue. And you would’ve known too if you paid a lick of fucking attention, but you didn’t, and that slimy piece of shit entered Lily’s orbit. You wouldn’t do what you needed to do to protect her. In fact,” I cried, stabbing a finger at that fucking vial. “You’ve become an active threat to her, so now... she’s mine.”
She jerked back. “Yours?”
“That’s right.” Certainty settled into my bones. “Expelling a person from your vagina doesn’t make you a mother. Any of half the world’s fucking assholes can do that. No,” I whispered. “Motherhood is borne in pain, and blood, and sacrifice. It’s borne in the all-consuming truth that you’d burn the world down to protect your child’s smile.
“Omma was nothing to me for ten years,” I gritted. “She was just the gaslighting bitch who called me a liar, but then... she killed Appa. She saved me from him, and from that day on, I had a mother.
“Lily has a mother now, and that was never you. She can go on, living a happy life after you’re gone, because she won’t have missed a fucking thing. She’ll have me and I will always be there for her. I will always... choose her.”
I released a long, slow breath—rising to my full height. “And now, to repay the debt I owe to the woman who chose me...” I took a step around the island. “You have to go.”
“What?” Sue backed away. “What are you saying?”
“I’m going to kill you, Sue,” I slowly drew out. “Obviously. That stupid little voice-note stunt was for show. No one outside of this room is going to know what truly happened here. The police have wrapped up their investigations into the murders at Kim Manor, and I’m not about to make them question that story. It’s just you and me now, Sue, and this was always going to end one way.”
“You— You wouldn’t! Youcouldn’tkill me!”
“Uhh, I very much could.” I stepped in time with her, both of us moving around the island as I hefted the pan. “You killed my mother and then broke in here to kill my daughter. You’re way too fucking homicidal and psycho to have on the loose.”
“She’s my daughter!” Sue dared to argue while holding that syringe in her hand.
“And who are you?” I flashed her owl eyes. “You’re nobody, and I’m Soo Min Kim—just like you wanted.”
I burst into a sprint and she flashed. Dropping the vial, she snatched her phone from her fanny pack—holding it up like a weapon. “Not so fast,” she hissed. “See, I can send things to the police too, Sarah. I found the dirty little file Omma was keeping on my husbands and made a copy.” She shookthe phone at me. “If you don’t back the fuck off, I’m hitting send on the draft email waiting and ready to go to the LPD.
“The four of you are never riding off into a fucking fairy tale. Either they die here, or they die in prison.” She smiled nastily as she pulled up that very email—proving she was not bluffing. “You pick the kinder ending.”
“Hmm,” I mocked. “Okay, sure. I pick killing you, snatching that phone from your cold dead grip, deleting the draft so no one ever sees it, and then living happily ever after with my fam—”
Sue dove to the right. Snatching up the container, she heaved it at me.
I dropped the pan, screaming as I threw my hands up over my eyes, mouth, and nose. The container smashed into the side of my head and dropped me down hard—crumpling in a puddle of gasoline.
I didn’t have a chance to recover before one hundred and twenty pounds pounced on me. “You crazy, evil, husband-stealing bitch!” Sue seized my throat, and squeezed. “You took everything from me! My father died because of you! My mother hated me because of you! All I’m trying to do is get what I’m owed,and you’re ruining that too!” she screamed in my face—her purple eyes bleeding red... or that was me.
I gasped and kicked, hands flailing and slapping at her face. My feet slipped in the puddles, gaining no purchase as red crowded the corners of my vision. Everything was fading away, but not so fast that I didn’t see her remove one hand, lean over, and presssend.
“I deserve that money! I earned that money!” Her grip tightened ever still, both hands returning and throttling the last of my wretched gasps from my throat. “No one’s going to take it from me! Not that saggy old bitch! Not those dickless shits! And not you,” she hissed—true hatred twisting her face. “Neveryou.”
Help!My kicking feet slowed. My blows stopped falling.HELP!
“Die,” Sue shrieked. “Die! D—!”
Sue jerked, her head snapping to the right. Grip loosening, she dropped like a sack of shit—tumbling off me and collapsing on the floor.
Rhodes stood over me, clutching the frying pan in his grip. He dropped it next to his wife’s head and fell on me, gathering me in his arms. “Are you okay, baby?” That was the signal that sent Micah and Alex running out of the shadows.
They fell around me, hugging and kissing me all over as I just fought to breathe.
