Page 171 of Sinful Lies

Mama’s glare could’ve melted steel. “Leave Stella alone, Jake. She’s young and in love.”

Stella. My little sister, and polar opposite. She was all golden hair, hazel eyes, and rosy cheeks—a walking fairy tale—while I played the dark-haired witch lurking in her shadow. We spent most of our childhood either fighting or plotting each other’s doom, but she was still my favorite person.

Until I left for college, anyway. Somewhere between studying marketing and bringing home my first boyfriend—a mistake as regrettable as my bangs phase—we’d drifted apart.

She had cried when she met him. “He’s going to take you away!” she’d wailed. Spoiler alert: he didn’t. He’d cheated three months later—with multiple girls.

Over time, Stella came to me for advice, but then Thomas came along. A charmer from her math class who turned her life into a loop of teenage chaos. Mama let her date him at sixteen, claiming it was a “good age to start.” Sure, if constant breakups and tearful reconciliations counted as “good.”

Two months ago, she’d dumped him in a melodramatic tear-fest after he’d forgotten their anniversary. She’d cried in my arms until she’d fallen asleep, only to forgive him the next day when he’d showed up with flowers. The cycle was as predictable as the sunrise.

But today had felt different. When she left earlier, her eyes had been glassy, her smile brittle. My stomach had twisted in a way it rarely had.

The empty street mocked me, and I snapped. Muttering an excuse, I escaped to my room, phone already in hand.

Flopping onto my bed, I dialed her number. It barely rang before she picked up.

“Where are you, Stella?”

Her sniffle cut through the line like a knife.

“At Lake Kendrick,” she whispered, her voice fragile. “Thomas left me here. He’s gone.”

My heart dropped.

I bolted upright, head spinning. “What?What?Why didn’t you call me?”

“I just... I wanted to think,” she said, sniffling again.

Oh no.

When Stella said she needed to think, it usually meant she was sinking—spiraling into that dark place where self-loathing, doubt, and unrelenting disgust with herself took over. A wave she never seemed to able to outrun.

“How long has he been gone?”

“I don’t know… maybe ten minutes?”

I groaned, already storming out of my room and down the stairs. “Don’t move. Stay right where you are. I’m coming.”

“Okay,” she murmured, her voice barely a whisper before the line went dead.

I grabbed my sneakers from the hallway, yanking them on, and threw on my coat.

As I rushed out the door, I shouted over my shoulder, “I’m going to get Stella! Don’t even think about finishing all the cake!”

Mama called something after me, but I wasn’t listening. I snatched her car keys from the kitchen counter and pushed open the door.

The November air hit me like a punch to the face, cold enough to freeze my breath mid-air as I rushed to the driveway. My fingers went numb on the car door handle, but I yanked it open and climbed into the driver’s seat.

The drive there was silent and fast, the only sound was the hum of the engine and the rush of my thoughts.

When I finally pulled up near the entrance to Lake Kendrick, I was expecting to see Stella sitting by the water, waiting for me. But instead, I stopped short, staring in surprise. A huge chunk of trees around the lake had been cleared, and in their place were bright yellow warning signs—“Private Property” and “No Trespassing.”

The area that used to be peaceful and untouched was now marked off with harsh, glaring signs.

I cursed under my breath, staring at the barricades, unsure of what to do.

But I wasn’t about to let a few signs stop me.

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