Page 216 of Pretty Little Lies

Levi chuckles and reaches out to push at my shoulder to get me to shut up. “You’re a fucking asshole, Astor. Do you ever shut up?”

“No, and I learned from the best.” I lift my chin proudly. “You taught me everything I know.”

“I regret it every single fucking day of my life.”

“I think it was because you always wanted someone to push around.”

He scoffs. “Since when do you let anyone shove you around? Have you met yourself?”

“Yeah, I wish there were two of me. That way, when I got tired of you, I could hang out with myself.”

Levi shakes his head with a ghost of a smile on his lips, when my phone buzzes in my lap. I power the screen on and just about keel over in absolute, pure, unmistakable dread and horror.

“Turn the fucking car around,” I bellow out, seeing Levi flinch a bit from the loudness of my tone. “Now.”

“What the fuck?—”

“They took the girls.”

Levi slows the car down and does an illegal U-turn without any other information. “Who? What are you?—”

“Child protection services…they took Ellie and Mae from me.”

FIFTY-NINE

bay

“It’s not goingto be long, Dad. They’re going to want to kick you out soon. You’re takin’ up space.”

The constant beeping sounds answer me back as Dad lies still unconscious, showing no signs of waking.

And Ineedhim to wake up.

Not because I want to tell him that I arrived with Nessa pulling at her blonde hair and apologizing to me back-to-back, but because Irequiresome sort of parental advice that calms me down and makes me see reason.

Torin did this.

There’s no doubt in my mind when Nessa explained to me that CPS stated there’s been neglect in the household. Thatdrugswere found in our home, along with needles and remnants of cocaine.

All a setup.

And I’m titter-tottering on the edge of strangling Pretty Boy or shaking him so hard to see reason.

However, the reality is that I don’t have a leg to stand on.

I may have not put the final bullets into Judah, but I’m starting to believe that maybe my going out to the woods was the green light for Torin’s brother to follow me.

To act.

It doesn’t make me feel good that I won my life that night. That the man who promised me it was going to be okay double-crossed me. Torin and I are shredded, and I’ve never been in a situation where I wanted to equally save it and sage it all in one go.

“Things are good, Dad.” I give him the best smile I can even though he can’t see it and hope it sounds in my voice. “Don’t worry. I got it all under control.”

Don’t lie to him.

Fuck you, I’m not going to tell him that the world is literally crumbling around me.

My sisters are gone, and Levi is working on getting them back on the bullshit allegations against me. I don’t know what that includes. I’m not sure if he has a connection within CPA, knows a worker there, but he told me to let him handle it without any interference. Just to come up here and visit Dad so he’s not alone today while Levi works on the mess Torin made.

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