“He what?”
My eyes roll. “Cut the shit, Louisa. Don’t act like that behaviour is news to you. You married one of them after all.Close enough with them all, that you knew exactly the kind of men they were.”
“Indie—”
“I’m only entertaining you because I want to know where Saint’s body is. Anything else is just going to piss me off. I have a knife, and my patience is wearing thin—”
Louisa’s composure snaps. “Indie, fucking listen to me for a God damn minute!”
She drags in a breath that visibly shakes her, dragging her hand across her scalp, and her blue eyes pin me in place. “Saint’s not dead.”
My brain is slow to register the words that come out of her mouth.
Or maybe I misheard her.
Maybe I heard what I wanted to hear.
My head begins to slowly shake.
The silence is so still, no one dares breathe to disturb it; not even the birds chip in the distance.
Rex is the first to wade through the fog of disbelief, hand snapping out and grabbing Louisa by the collar of her coat. “You really do have a fucking death wish, don’t you?”
She yanks out of his hold. “I’m not lying. He isn’t dead, and I know where he is.”
My eyes snap closed, the tears already building behind, and fuck do they burn. Only a whisper finds its way free from my lips. “Stop it.”
“Indie, I’m telling the truth.”
The last tether on my restraint snaps—all the anger, everything I’m holding together these past six days. Hell, everything buried inside me since the moment I saw her on that stage, from when my life tore itself apart all those years ago, rises to the surface with a vendetta it’s ready to claim.
I step into her, staring into a face that may as well be a reflection in a mirror, and yet, I have no idea who the person is looking back at me. “No, Louisa, you’re not. You’re always fucking lying. Every single word that’s left your mouth since you married that piece of shit has been a lie. To me, to Mom. To everyone…You probably fucking lied to Dad too.” I throw my hands out wide. “Haven’t you done enough? When does it fucking end for you? Whatever you did that pissed Conrad off so much to have our dad killed, to have me fucking raped, it all boils down to the same thing. Your lies. Do you get a fucking kick out of having the people who loved you hurt? Have they corrupted your mind that much?”
My voice cracks at the end.
I don’t even care that everyone heard it; I’m so done with walking around like everything’s okay, that I’m holding on, that I’m strong. That I don’t show my weaknesses, and again, I cover them up when they slip.
I don’t want to be brave on my own anymore.
I just want Saint back.
Louisa’s eyes glass over, and I look away, but her voice keeps my attention on her. “I didn’t know Conrad had hurt you.”
A scoff heaves my chest. “Fuck off, Louisa.”
She reaches out and touches my shoulder, and I immediately retreat between Rex and Dawson.
Her face…softens. “I swear it to you. I didn’t know about Morgan either, not until I found out he and Barry went to Mom’s.”
I shake my head, letting my blurred gaze travel along the treeline. We’re going to go around in circles, and I won’t listen to this shit like a broken record. She has to feel as exhausted as I am listening to it; she’s been at this for years.
I brace myself to tell her to leave, but her next words hold me prisoner.
“When I got together with Barry, I…I had to join the society to be able to marry him. I loved him so much that I would have done anything to be with him. So, when we both graduated, I blindly agreed to be a part of Omnia. He promised me all my dreams, a life where anything I wanted would be mine. That’s how I became a Senator so fast. It was them who pulled the right strings in the background to get me there.”
She drags in a lungful of air before speaking again. “As soon as I married him, that’s when they took me in. At first, nothing seemed unusual. I thought it was just a group of powerful individuals, pulling the right strings and helping each other get wealthier, scratching each other’s backs. And for a little while, it did seem like that…until it didn’t. I was already too far down the path to turn back, Barry made sure of that…H-He wanted you to join.”
My lips part. “What?”
