“No,” she says almost gently. “I want something else.”
“What is it?”
She smiles, reaching into the pocket of her pantsuit. “I hate you, January. The most out of all you Whitehall brats. I want to ruin your face too. Just as a present before I go.”
My hand is on my gun before she’s finished her sentence. My grip is steady, my head full of cool fire. “Move and I’ll shoot you in the leg.”
My stepmom gives a little scream and almost drops the knife she’s holding. “You couldn’t shoot me.”
“I don’twantto shoot you,” I correct. “I’ll do whatever I have to do to get away from you.”
She looks from me to Bill and Archie who are both pointing their guns at her and takes a step forward. Her face looks even worse closer up, deformed. It’s like someone has set fire to the Venus de Milo.
For a moment we wait and then Corinne screams. Screams, and tosses the knife. She runs from the dining room howling like a wild animal.
“Shit,” Archie says, shoving his gun back into his holster. “I’ll get her before she hits the street.”
“Don’t hurt her,” I yell after him. “She doesn’t have a gun. Please don’t—”
But Archie is already gone, and Bill swears and runs after his brother. I’m sure that’s the way it’s always been. Archie first, Bill chasing to protect or stop him from doing something reckless.
I snatch the keys from the dining room table, listening as feet pound on the floors above me. Corinne has gone higher, the twins in pursuit. I hesitate, unsure whether to follow or free my siblings.
I can still hear Corinne screaming, wailing like her heart is going to give out, and then men yelling. Archie saying “no, no, no,” and then Bill. “Don’t, Miss Whitehall! Don’t you even think about—”
Another scream. A winding howl of misery and a dull thump. All noise shutting off suddenly like a tap.
“Fuck,” Archie shouts. “Goddammit, she just…”
I sit down at my daddy’s old dining room table, my hand pressed to my stomach. Unless I’m very wrong, my stepmother is gone.
Chapter Thirteen
January Whitehall
Margot is stillcrying when I unlock the door. She flies at me and for a moment I brace myself, thinking she’s going to attack me, but she throws her arms around my neck and starts kissing every part of my face. “I’m sorry, I’m so fucking sorry, January. I’m an asshole. I don’t deserve to know you. I’ll get a job. I’ll work at IHOP. I don’t care, just take me away from here. Get me away fromher. I’m so sorry.”
Behind me, Archie is silent. He confirmed what I already knew: Corinne is dead. She jumped off the rooftop garden and fell fifty feet. Bill is with the body.
“How did you know to come here?” Margot sobs. “Who told you we were locked in?”
“No one,” I say, pulling away from her. “Margot, I need to go. We have to get to Mr. Parker’s compound.”
“What?” Her green eyes go wide with horror. “He’s a monster, you can’t go near him.”
“I have to,” I say firmly. “He’s kidnapped my men. I need to rescue them.”
“But Mom—Corinne?”
I take a deep breath. “She’s…dead. She jumped off the roof.”
Margot lets out a low moan and buries her face against my shoulder. I turn and catch a glimpse of Archie. His hazel eyes are stormy. Impossible to read. My men wanted my stepmother dead for months. Did he know? Did he deliberately chase her? Force her hand? I look away. They’re questions for another time; we have work to do.
“You’re the only one we’ve let out,” I tell Margot. “Lachlan and Harris are too angry, and we don’t know how they’ll react.”
“They wanted Mr. Parker to give them jobs,” she says through her tears. “They thought he’d… They thought it would be different.”
“I bet. But that doesn’t matter now. Archie, Bill, and I have to leave, and you need to call Uncle Edgar and tell him what happened. He’ll be able to handle things from here. Can you do that?”
