Page 74 of Ace

Did she make the wrong person mad?

Did she threaten to share a secret that could ruin someone's life or career?

I know this to be a specialty of hers because she threatened it with us as often as we would tell her no when she came around asking for money.

It doesn't absolve my guilt in the slightest, but I'll seek to find out who hurt her until the end of my own days if that's what it takes.

As I predicted, my eyelids feel like sheets of sandpaper against my eyes when I manage to open them.

I know I have to face today just like I did that first day after being told about Sadie, only this time I have to do it with my distraught little brother. I would take all of his pain if I could, but since that isn't possible, I know a good breakfast will help ease that same ache in his soul.

I shower and wash my face twice before dressing for the day and heading downstairs.

I'm surprised to see Christopher already in the kitchen sitting at the bar with an omelet sitting in front of him.

I know that Faye had to have made it for him because the man has never figured out how to cook without causing a small fire. I worry about him at school, but he always assures me that the food they have on campus is decent enough that he won't die from eating it.

"Hey," I whisper when I approach.

His eyes are as red as the ones that stared back at me in the mirror not long ago.

"How are you holding up?"

He simply shakes his head, tears forming on his bottom lashes. "I’m not."

I rub his back. I don't say anything because there's nothing someone could say to me to make it better. I don't feel the need to share my own pain as if I need to one-up him on the grief meter. This isn't a competition, but I still feel like I'm somehow getting the short end of the stick.

I don't mind beingthe shoulder for him to lean on, but where's my shoulder? Who can I rely on to hold me and tell me everything will be okay?

I know I made the right decision to pull the cameras. I wasn't lying when I told whoever might be on the other side watching that we needed time to grieve, I just didn't realize how hard that would be while feeling all alone.

It took less than a week of spending time with Eddie for me to grow accustomed to him being here, to his smiles and the way he watches me as if he's ready to jump in at any moment if I start to crumble.

I feel like I need him now more than ever, and knowing I may never see him again because his work here is done seems to amplify my pain.

I also don't know how long the lie will last.

Is it possible that the fake story of her overdosing will be the real story? Is my little sister's legacy to be her dying from drug use and not that someone had her killed?

Would that even be possible if there's an arrest in her case?

I know either way isn't a story the family will want to be told, but it'll be someone opposed to William being in office that would leak the story to the press, and they'd have a field day over such a scandal. Even if William isn't involved, I know how easily a story can be twisted enough for a conspiracy theory to take hold.

"What are you thinking?"

"Hmm?" I ask, clearing my head of all the what-ifs so I can focus on the present for the time being.

"You seemed lost," Chris whispers as he uses his fork to push his food around his plate, seeming to have no interest in actually eating.

"I think I am a little lost," I confess with a sad smile. "I don't know what to do."

"From the sounds of it, William has it all under control like usual," he mutters with a hint of the anger he showedwhen he yelled at our brother for being so insensitive last night.

"I think he feels like he has to be strong for us," I say in William's defense, wishing he would've gotten upset in front of both of us last night so there wouldn't be this hint of bitterness in Chris's tone.

"How is that even possible?" he asks with a hitch in his voice as if he's near the point of crying all over again. "She was our sister, and now she's gone."

I lean into him, pulling him to my chest, wishing that I could ease this for him, and it kills me to know that I can't.

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