“Thank you.” I throw my arms around her and hug her tightly. She’s the only real support I have left.
“That’s what I’m here for, sweetheart. So, where to?” She looks at me expectantly as I slip into my boots.
“To Phil first. Then somewhere far away. Somewhere with coffee and no people around. Anywhere but here.”
She nods and grabs my hand. Less than five minutes later, we’re in the park, heading toward the family crypt.
Lizzy gave me space, asked no questions, and waited patiently until I came to her. I appreciate that more than I cansay. My mind is a complete mess, and that’s only the surface. I don’t even want to think about what’s happening inside.
We reach the crypt, and I go to the marble building, leaning against its cool wall.
I drop the bomb after several minutes of silence. “I know who caused the accident.”
“What?” Her head snaps toward me, eyes widening.
“I know who’s responsible. Albert Richardson. He was in the car that overtook us and blinded Phil with the camera flash.” A wave of grief crashes over me, and the pressure in my chest intensifies again.
He could still be alive if it weren’t for that bastard. The same bastard who’s now trying to ruin me, who wants to pin all of this on me.
My emotions spin out of control, threatening to tear me apart. I gasp for breath, desperate to escape my own skin.
Whore.
Slut.
She doesn’t deserve him.
Blows. Hundreds, thousands of blows raining down on my body. Henry. Never good enough for him.
Images and pain flood over me. Smothering me. Freezing me from the inside out.No. No.
I can’t breathe. My throat tightens. Make it stop.Please stop.
“Lia, hey, calm down. We’ll get through this.” Lizzy rubs my back gently, but I am so tired.
A scream rips from my throat, completely uncontrollable. It’s all too much. I can’t hold it in.
“It’s so unfair, so damn unfair.” My fists slam into the wall over and over. I feel the skin on my knuckles split open, the burn, the pain radiating up my hands, but I don’t care.
“Lia! Shit, stop it. Damn it,” Lizzy yells, trying to restrain me, but I fight her off. I want to get these feelings out… no, Ihaveto, and I shove her away.
“LET. ME.” Even to my own ears, my voice sounds foreign. Completely foreign. But no matter how hard I hit the wall, the pain doesn’t go away. No, it cuts deeper and deeper, tormenting me, slashing me open.
“Fuck, Nic, stop her. Do something.” Lizzy again. I hear her, dim and distant. But all I see is Phil, pale and dead beside me.
Whore.
Slut.
I’ll kill you.
Behave.
Pull yourself together.
Words that pound through my head, slowly forcing me to my knees.
A tall body presses up against mine, pins me to the wall, grabs my wrists and holds them above my head. “Everyone. Leave. Now!” Nicolas’s deep voice cuts through the silence and the fog in my mind, making me shudder.
