Page 33 of My Sister is Going to Kill Me

A flash of heat ran across Liv’s forehead. Yet another situation where her sister was ducking responsibility. But this wasn’t a classic Mandy mess-up. This wasn’t a bail-me-out-because-I-broke-into-the-zoo-at-two-a.m. phone call. This was something else. And that spark Liv felt between her eyes? She realized it wasn’t anger. It was fear. Her sister had been threatened, in a way she didn’t understand, far from access to information or help.

“Hey.” Liv reached out and brushed Mandy’s curls back from where they hung over her eyes. “What’s going on?”

Mandy seemed to gather herself. “It must be a joke. I can’t believe Babette would threaten me. Or anyone.”

“Why? Because her skin’s too dewy?”

“Because she’s all about authenticity. I know it’s the internet, and it could be an act. But this is a woman who built her whole life—her whole empire—to fight the status quo. In an industry that’s all about facade, she stands for authenticity.”

Mandy started to glow the way she always did when she got passionate about something. “Babette tells it like it is. She built her company into something honest and fresh in an industry dedicated to making women feel less than. She talks about skin care like preparing for the adventure that is life. Tools to be exactly who you want to be. The same way a knight would put on his sword or a rock climber straps on all those clippy bits. Or the way you put on your charcoal suit and that flat expression—yeah, that one—the one that says I am a stone-cold government agent and I will take your lies and error-ridden visa applications and grind them into dust. Babette Sauvage makes products that unleash women’s full selves, their real selves, onto the world. She wouldn’t hide behind threats like this. She wouldn’t want to.”

Her sister was practically out of breath defending Babette, and Liv wasn’t ready for her to whip out the autobiography and start reciting from it again. Everything Mandy was saying confirmed that Babette was a powerful force. But Liv had seen Charlie’s terror. She’d heard slivers of darker stories beneath Babette’s “all-natural” facade. In Liv’s experience, the more power someone had, the more resources they had to shape how others saw them. And when they couldn’t mold the narrative to their liking, they sometimes chose more violent ways to control it.

“Fine,” she said. “Let’s say Charlie’s wrong and the messages didn’t come from Babette. But someone sent a threat to him, and to you. Is there any way you and Charlie are materially connected?”

Mandy hesitated. She shook her head.

Liv learned more from the pause than the gesture that followed it.

“How exactly are you linked to Babette?” Liv asked.

“I told you. I’m a fan.”

“You’re more than just a fan. Everyone is here for a specific reason. What’s yours?”

“My sparkling personality.”

“Please don’t lie to me. Not now.”

They stared each other down for a long minute.

“Don’t be mad,” Mandy said.

Those three little words rattled the air.

“I swear there’s no reason to threaten me,” Mandy said. “Or Charlie! At least, none that I can imagine.”

“What is your connection?”

“I’ve always been a fan, but over the past few years, I’ve been learning more about CareFree. It’s a total game changer for Babette. The prospectus on it is impressive. Zero to ninety. Stratospheric growth potential.”

These were not Mandy’s words. Had they come from Babette? Charlie? Stefan? Did Mandy somehow have access to Babette’s board?

“By Q3 of next year, because of CareFree, Babette will be the dominant player in a multibillion-dollar new wellness category,” Mandy continued. “CareFree is going to bridge the skin care–wellness nexus. No one is producing anything like this product. The competition won’t exist for another three years minimum.”

Liv didn’t know if Mandy believed or even understood the bullshit she was spouting. But she’d heard it before. She recognized the pattern. And she knew exactly who was at the root of it.

“What did he do?”

“Who?”

“Mandy. Tell me you didn’t pull your pension to invest in one of Dad’s schemes.”

“I wouldn’t. But—”

Mandy’s eyes—so bright, so alive—dropped to the dull-red sandstone.

“I’m going to kill him,” Liv said.