A heavy sigh. “Keep deluding yourself.”
“Come on,” she cajoled. “Hit me. You know you want to. Now’s your chance.”
The tile was cold beneath my cheek. I finally managed to blink my eyes open. I was on my side. Lizzie had her back to me, obscuring my view of her companion.
“And then what?” the man asked. “You’ll kill her the same way you offed Dad and Amira’s husband? You can’t just go around killing people.”
Lizzie did drug Ali.I closed my eyes as the truth crashed over me again. Tears welled in my throat.Oh, Ali. What these people did to you.I wanted to howl at the injustice of it.
Lizzie walked over, towering above me. I kept my eyes closed. “Amira is a huge problem. She keeps asking questions. Butting hernose where it doesn’t belong. I can’t let her tell people her ridiculous theory that I killed Daddy.”
Another long sigh. “She can’t prove anything.”
“Do you think my clients are going to want anything to do with me if they think I killed my own father? What about my kids?”
“What about them? It’s not like you’re the mother of the year.”
“I love my children. I didn’t want Ian to hurt them.”
“Mm-hmm. So you’ve said.”
Lizzie nudged my inert body with her foot. I stayed perfectly still. I wasn’t sure I could move if I wanted to. “I can hit her in the head again with the weight.” Lizzie talked fast. Energy buzzed from her. “Or I can smother her.”
He made a sound of disgust. “You really are twisted. How many people do you plan to kill?”
“Shut up. You know I didn’t mean to hurt Ali. How was I supposed to know that he was going to race out of the hotel to chase after that kid of his?”
“Did you really drug him?”
“What choice did I have? When I realized Mother told him the truth, I ground up some Xanax and stirred it into his water when he ran after his daughter in the lobby. I knew that, at some point, he’d come back for his jacket. When he did, he drank the water before running back out after the girl.”
The man exhaled long and loud. “How is this happening all over again?”
“It’s not!” she insisted. “Ali wasn’t supposed to die. I thought he’d sleep it off in my hotel room while I figured out what to do.”
“Listen, Lizzie.” The man’s voice took on a menacing tone. “I am tired of cleaning up your messes.”
“As if you’re so innocent,” she scoffed. “At least I’m not breaking into people’s houses and garages.”
“That’s completely different. I didn’t hurt Amira or anyone else. I just needed to see if Ali had any documents in his office or car that might make me lose my job. I certainly didn’t kill anyone.”
“Ha! Keep making excuses for yourself.”
The voices floated farther and farther away. The pain in my head was agonizing. Blackness seeped over me, offering a respite.No.I panicked. I had to stay awake. I had to do something. I couldn’t leave Ayla and Adam alone in the world.
A smacking sound jolted me from the edge of sleep. I blinked against the light. The man was slapping Lizzie.
“Use your fists, but not too hard,” she directed him. “It has to look like I was in a fight with a woman.”
I squinted, sharpening my gaze on the man. As I’d surmised by now, it was Bill Warren. I began to tremble as the reality of my situation settled over me. Lizzie was dangerous, a murderer. And she’d attacked me. I thought of my children. What would happen to them?
Something rustled beside me, pulled on me. A shadowy outline of Lizzie rifling through my crossbody, which was still on me.
Don’t touch me.I itched to swat her hands away, but my arms were too heavy to move. My heart raced. I had to stop her. I couldn’t allow Lizzie to get away with what she’d done to Ali. I couldn’t let her destroy my family even more than she already had.
“Ha!” Lizzie pulled out my phone. “She was trying to record our conversation. She’s a real Nancy Drew. There.” She tapped the phone a few times. “That should take care of that. Now we have to decide what to do with her.”
Who was pounding on the door? My headache was excruciating. I moaned. The door banged open, sending a fresh wave of pain blasting through my head.
