Page 4 of Wicked Nasty

He sighs as my mother wipes away her fake tears. “You will go on this trip and act like a proper young lady. End of discussion.”

She storms out of the room, leaving my father and I sitting on the floor. “Becca...”

“No, dad. I want out of this family. I hate her, I hate her so much.”

He holds me tightly as my mother barks orders at the staff to prepare for our trip.

“It's not that simple, darling. There are things you don't understand yet.”

“Then send me away. I can't live with her.”

He sighs again. “I'll make you a deal. Come with us on this trip and I'll do everything in my power to keep your mother away from you. You'll have some peace and quiet at home.”

“I want Katya back.”

“I'll see what I can do.”

We both get up and start packing for another superficial vacation filled with fake smiles and pretentious events. As I get into the car, facing my mother, who sits in the back seat, I glare at her with cold, dead eyes, just as Katya had taught me.

“You're dead to me, mother. I will never forgive you.Never.”

Chapter two

Daniel

The View Between the Villages

Istandonthesteps outside my home, a cigarette dangling from my trembling lips as I exhale a cloud of smoke into the air.

The door swings open, and my dad storms out, snatching the cigarette from me in anger. "You shouldn't be smoking these," he scolds, but then takes a long drag himself. "But fuck it, huh?"

I shake my head, tears welling up in my eyes as we both stare out at the darkening sky. "I just... fuck, dad. How do you ever get over this?"

He lets out a heavy sigh. "You don't. We work on forgiveness and learning to live without your sister here. We can't let her death consume us."

"I just don't know where to go from here. I know we had drifted apart, but she was still my sister. I would have done anything to save her, dad."

"And so would I. But Daisy had demons that we couldn't save her from. She needed to want to get clean, but that desire just wasn't there."

I take the cigarette back from my dad and bring it to my lips, feeling numb all over. "I know, but fuck. Why? Why wouldn't she want to get clean? She put us all in this fucked up situation."

"She did. Daisy tried to hurt your friends. And you have every right to be angry about that."

"I am! But I'm also angry at them for not seeing how much she was struggling, and I'm trying not to be, but it's fucking hard."

He nods understandingly. "It is. She was my child, too. I keep asking myself where I went wrong as a parent, but we can't dwell on that now. Sometimes people make unforgivable choices despite our efforts to guide them."

"I... I just can't shake the image of Cat standing over Daisy out of my head. It's haunting me, even in my sleep." I stand up abruptly, tossing the cigarette onto the ground. "I can't fucking do this, dad. I just want to... hurt someone or something."

He stands and puts a comforting hand on my back. "Me too, kid. That's why I use the gym downstairs. It helps me release some of that anger and pain. But know that we're in this together. You and I are more alike than you realize."

He heads back inside and I sink back down onto the steps, pulling out a photo of Daisy from my pocket. "Why did you do this, Dais? Why didn't you ask for help?"

I shove the photo back into my pocket just as my phone starts ringing. Kaiden's name flashes across the screen and I quickly press ignore. I can't handle talking to him right now, knowing that Cat is probably right there with him.

I can't help but understand why she did what she did. It was either her or my sister, and she chose to protect herself. But the memory of that scene still haunts me. My sister's body was covered in blood, and my friends were injured and hurt. It's a constant reminder of how fucked up everything is.

Suddenly, a car speeds into our driveway and Ryan jumps out, shouting curses at me for not answering his calls.

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