Page 91 of The Pretender

“You... you killed Tabitha to protect some stupid papers?” Stephen frowned at her as he stuttered his way through the question.

Screw this. If Ted wanted a battle she’d give him one. She was done with taking shit and being the bad guy. Only one person standing there had something to lose today and for once it was not her. This time she would not run away or back down.

“Not me.” Her voice shook from the force of her anger. All those years, all that loss. The fear and unease she’d felt upstairs in the boathouse vanished. Adrenaline-fueled fury raced through her now. “It was you all those years ago, wasn’t it? You were one of the kidnappers I couldn’t recognize because you didn’t talk and I was blindfolded.”

Ted shook his head. “Give it up, Gabby. Your uncle and I know the truth.”

Stephen opened his mouth and she waited for him to condemn her. This time the words would bounce off her. She refused to feel guilty for one more thing she hadn’t done. She’d been barely out of high school when she said something stupid andother peopleacted on it. Not her. Never her. Now she was an adult and she owned her mistakes, and this wasn’t one of them.

“What do you mean extra kidnappers?” Stephen looked at her. “I don’t get it.”

Her mouth dropped open. The shock of having him ask instead of make demands and rule from above had her fighting to find the right words in her head.

The story was long and convoluted, so she tried to cut it short. “I knew the mastermind behind the kidnapping. He was a friend. He gathered people to help him.”

Ted nodded as he took a step closer. “And you worked with him to set the entire thing up.”

“Stop.” Harris moved his body so he stood right in front of her now. “Shedidn’t. Wrong sister.”

Her desire to get this out battled with her ingrained need to cover for Tabitha. There was so much to tell, so many wounds they’d need to heal. They didn’t need to add this piece. “Harris, no.”

He didn’t turn around. His gaze stayed locked on Ted. “Tell your uncle the truth.”

Bile rushed up her throat. That familiar urge to fight back and run hit her. Tabitha was her sister. Her baby sister. “This isn’t about—”

“She’s gone, Gabby. She doesn’t need your protection. I don’t think she’d want it. Not at this price.”

Ted’s gaze moved from her to Harris. The roar of a speedboat engine whizzed by in the distance but didn’t approach the island. The warm sun beamed down on them, but no one moved.

“Someone explain...” Her uncle’s voice trailed off. The confusion was evident in his flat tone. Gone was the controlling, angry guy who’d come after her in the guesthouse. He slumped over looking lost right now.

“She saved the papers, moved the papers, to give you this chance.” Harris put his hand on his hip. Two of his fingers inched toward that screwdriver. “Don’t waste it.”

Ted started shaking his head. “Don’t listen to him, Gabby. You don’t want to do this. Don’t implicate Tabitha to save yourself. You’ll never be able to live with that.”

“You’re a piece of fucking work,” Harris said in a harsh tone.

Just a few days ago she would have fallen for the way Ted played on her guilt and her sympathy. Retreated and saved Tabitha at all costs. Not today. Harris was right. Tabitha would never have wanted this ending, not for either of them. It was so hard to turn this ship. She’d been on the same course for so long that she operated on autopilot, but she would make it happen.

“Wait, you mean Tabitha?” Stephen faced Ted then looked over at Gabby. “You’re saying she was in on it?”

Harris was the one who answered. “She drew the map for the kidnappers.”

“Shut up.” Ted turned on Harris. Lifted that shovel slightly, just enough to suggest he’d use it. “You are a liar.”

“Gabby?” Harris called out her name. “It’s now or never.”

Never. The word echoed in her brain. She’d always thought the answer would be never. Then she’d fallen for Harris—full on tripped and fell for him—and things that once seemed impossible no longer were. He believed her from the start. He was the only one who ever did. She engaged in weird behavior, snuck out with the shovel, and still he supported her.

He gave her back something she was sure she’d lost—a chance.

Her heartbeat thundered in her chest. The sound thumped in her ears, making it difficult to hear. Her stomach rolled and her knees grew weak. In every way possible, her body tried to hold the secret in. It was as if every muscle abandoned her and her breathing stopped.

“Tabitha was young and got caught up in something she didn’t understand.” The second the words came out her body calmed. Her heart still raced, but the need to sit down, fall over and hide vanished. It was enough to keep her talking. “I made a joke, a stupid remark to my friends about a staged kidnapping one night when I was angry with my parents and drinking. Some of the people I was partying with at the time, most of whom I didn’t really know and one who I thought was my friend, ran with it.”

Harris nodded in Ted’s direction. “And you.”

“No, I didn’t—”

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