Page 33 of Tangled In Lies

I killed my sister. I’m the reason her car crashed that night. Someone tampered with it because I thought the person sending me text messages was just some idiot playing games. Never in a million years did I think he’d go through with it and hurt someone I loved. Not just hurt, but kill.

The tear slips off my chin and onto my lap. I watch the moisture seep into my pants, disappearing into the material like it’s not a part of me anymore. I wish the pain and sorrow would disappear alongside it, instead of always staying behind.

“How did you know about the guy and where he was?” Phoenix’s voice is calm enough that I look up.

I can’t tell him what happened; Freddy made sure of that almost immediately after he’d killed my sister. The text message he sent all those years ago still haunts me.

Freddy

If you ever tell anyone about my messages, Ruby will be next. Then Mason, Tyler, and the rest of your family.

I’ve already lost one person I love to Freddy. I can’t lose another one.

Not to mention, I have no proof. Every single messagehe’s sent vanished. And for good reason. A few weeks after my sister died, I had a terrible nightmare and wandered around the house to calm down. I ran into my dad in the kitchen and broke down, telling him about what had happened.

When he’d asked me if I had proof, and I told him about the vanishing messages, he’d finished the rest of his whiskey, stared me straight in the eye, and said,“Stop trying to gain attention by spreading ridiculous lies like this. It only makes you look pathetic.”And then he’d just left.

Phoenix clenches his jaw at my silence and slams his hand on the desk. “Damn it, Evangeline.”

I jump.

Phoenix shakes his head at me and paces behind the desk. The vein on his temple pulses furiously. “Why would you make a call to incriminate me, have me locked up for three years, and then refuse to tell me why? It makes no sense. None of this does.”

I don’t reply because what can I possibly say to that? Of course, he’s right. Itcan’tmake sense to him.

Just like it still makes no sense to me why some random psychopath chose me as their human torture device, forcing me to do things I never thought in a million years I’d do.

Because life can be cruel sometimes, and all we can do is try our best to make it through.

One day at a time.

One moment at a time.

And I’ll get through this mess, too, because people depend on me.

An epiphany hits me then, and my entire being sags in relief. I can handle whatever Phoenix has in store for mebecausenothinghe’ll do to me could possibly be worse than what Freddy would do or has already done.

While I completely understand Phoenix’s confusion and anger toward me, and don’t fault him at all for wanting to understand the situation, it still doesn’t erase the fact that before he ever went to prison, he ripped my heart into so many pieces, it never quite fit back together right.

And I’m tired of being everyone’s punching bag. So damn tired.

With my hands interlaced in my lap, I meet Phoenix’s steely gaze and school my expression into a neutral one. “You said something about rules?”

Chapter 10

Phoenix

Istare at Evangeline, and then I laugh.

And then I laugh some more.

It’s way louder and longer than would be considered socially acceptable.

This woman.

This damn woman.

What the fuck is wrong with her?

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