Page 148 of End Game

“Zeke didn’t fill you in?”

Liv shook her head. “He said it wasn’t his story to tell.”

Kayla glanced at the other ladies. “Your guys, too?”

“Yes,” Lena said, “so freaking annoying.”

Maddy added, “Phin’s never been this tight-lipped.”

“What the hell happened out there?” Cilla asked.

Before leaving Sybil’s estate, they had all agreed to keep what really happened to themselves, but she never dreamed the guys wouldn’t tell their partners. After all, if somehow the truth ever surfaced, the women in this room would all be affected, too. Maybe the guys were concerned.

“I’m sorry, it wasn’t my intent to keep y’all in the dark.”

Liv waved off her apology. “Family secrets are a prerequisite when involved with a Blackwell. We all knew that when we signed on.”

“But you’re all my friends. You’ve trusted me during pivotal moments of your lives. I should have returned the favor.”

“Sometimes, more than one hand in the cookie jar can cause a bottleneck,” Maddy said.

“It’s all good.” Lena smiled.

Cilla said, “Next time.”

“I’m all out of murdering aunties, I’m afraid.”

Liv leaned over and squeezed her hand. “Before you get into the three M’s, how’s Jillian doing?”

Kayla covered her BFF’s hand with hers. It was good to be surrounded by lady friends again. Other than spending time with Jillian and Harper, she’d had a dearth of female companionship since The Night.

“Doing her stubborn best to ignore her diseased body’s limitations.” Kayla had finally accepted her mother’s decision to forgo medical intervention. Acceptance didn’t equate to agreement, but Kayla refused to spend whatever time she had left with Jillian badgering her about treatment. “Yet her mind,” Kayla searched for the right words, “is at peace in a way I never thought possible. Not for my workaholic mother and certainly not for someone who lost her friend support system and feels death consuming her, every day.”

“Most of our fear surrounding death,” Lena said, “revolves around not knowing how it will happen or when it will come. Your mother has the answers to those questions.”

Mischief twinkled in Liv’s eyes. “Which frees her mentally to focus on ensuring her family’s happiness.”

Kayla groaned.

Maddy glanced between the two friends. “Spill.”

“Last weekend, Mom took Harper and me wedding gown shopping. Said she wouldn’t be deprived of the pleasure of seeing her girls in white.”

An emotional chorus of shock and delight flared around her.

Feeling her own throat tighten, Kayla changed the topic and filled them in on all that had happened, from the time of Vicky’s murder to the moment they set the scene to look like a sadistic burglary-homicide.

When she finished, the ladies sat in silence . . . for about one-point-seven seconds.

“The State Police bought your story, whole cloth?” Lena asked.

“Why wouldn’t they?” Kayla said. “Ash has an unblemished reputation.”

“But didn’t they wonder about who had hired Seb Grimball?” Maddy asked.

“Rohan erased the trail leading to Sybil’s son and created a new one. A more radicalized version.”

“Three friends getting murdered within a week of each other didn’t raise any brows?” Cilla asked.

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