Page 96 of Sweet Sinners
Her expression freezes, eyes widening in shock before quickly narrowing again, dark fury swirling behind them. "Excuse me? What the hell are you accusing me of?"
"It's not an accusation, Anna," I say, voice unwavering, fighting the tremble in my hands. "It's a fact. We have cameras—4K, covering every inch of the property. We saw you outside the kitchen window, taking photos or recording while Connor and I—" I hesitate just a beat, steadying myself. "While we were together."
Anna’s jaw tightens sharply, her shoulders going rigid as anger flares visibly beneath her carefully controlled surface. "I wasn't going to show anyone unless you forced my hand," she spits, her voice shaking slightly with bitterness. "You're not actually related, Cali. Hell, you barely spoke two words to each other in high school—I was there, remember?"
"Exactly," I snap, my voice rising despite my best efforts to keep calm. "And you're smart enough to know none of that matters. The public sees headlines. They'll eat it up. Connor is already the monster who murdered our parents—at least in their eyes."
Anna's mouth curls into a sneer as she rises abruptly from her seat, looming over me. "But you're the one who doesn't want them to know. Sounds like you're accusing me of something when you haven't even been around to know shit for years."
My chest tightens, pulse hammering furiously as I meet her hostile gaze. "Should I be accusing you of something, Anna?"
We stare at each other, the air crackling with tension, the weight of unspoken truths heavy between us. Her expression hardens further, eyes like ice, daring me to cross the line.
"Feels like you're about to," she says softly, dangerously.
I stand, forcing my shoulders back, the quiet rage I've been holding finally slipping free. "My father was having an affair with your mother," I state clearly, watching her face carefully for any flicker of emotion. "Your mom divorced your dad, thinking mine would choose her. But he didn't—he stayed with us. He chose his family."
Anna lunges forward, suddenly in my space, her face twisting with raw fury. Her eyes are wild, pupils wide with adrenaline as she shoves an accusing finger toward my chest. “Don’t you dare make it sound that simple!” she spits, voice trembling violently. “He used my mother, Cali! She worked at the bank, and your father needed a goddamn loan he wasn’t even qualified for!” Her hands ball into fists, knuckles white, body shaking. “I saw her initials penciled in on his calendar for lunch dates—did he think I was stupid? That I'd just stand by and watch?”
“Anna,” I start, holding my hands up slowly, trying to calm her, buther rage is spiraling too fast.
“He wouldn’t listen!” she screams, cutting me off. Her voice cracks sharply, eyes filling with bitter tears she refuses to let fall. “I was just the stupid little girl, right? The one who didn’t understand anything. But I saw everything! I watched them sneaking around, watched them fucking around in your dad’s precious car.” She takes a shaky breath, her expression contorting with pain. “I watched my father break down, blaming himself, thinking he wasn’t enough when he should’ve been blaming your father!” Her voice turns into a venomous hiss. “Your dad seduced my mother, made himself the center of her universe. She hung on every word he said, begged for crumbs of his attention, and then he just…walked away.”
“Slow down,” I urge gently, taking a cautious step back, palms raised. “Anna, let’s talk—”
“My mother tried to kill herself!” Anna screams, shoving me hard enough to knock me off-balance. I stagger, breath catching painfully as I brace myself against the desk. Before I can recover, she yanks something from her purse—a knife. Big. Familiar. The same knife from the videos. A chill shoots down my spine, freezing me in place, my heart hammering wildly in my chest.
Anna's eyes darken as she points it toward me, her voice trembling with barely contained rage. “Yeah, Cali, I threatened your father. I tried to make him take responsibility, fix what he’d destroyed! But you know what he told me? That it wasn’t my business. To stop meddling, stop warning his precious wife.” Her voice rises bitterly. “He lied straight to my face, saying she already knew and had decided to stay with him anyway!”
My pulse spikes, fear and anger warring inside me as I force myself to hold her glare. “And why try to sabotage me, Anna?”
Her grip tightens on the knife, jaw clenching sharply as she slowly, deliberately, steps closer. “You’re his daughter. You stepped right into his shoes—barking orders, acting like the world revolves around you. Spoiled, selfish, arrogant. I couldn't stand by while you ruined everything I tried to—”
“To destroy everything my father built,” I finish coldly, my voice steady despite the tremor inside me. My hands curl into fists atmy sides, nails digging sharply into my palms. “And now you know—you'll have to kill me too, if you really want to finish what you started.”
Anna hesitates, the knife glinting menacingly in the dim light, casting harsh shadows across her face. Her lips twist slowly into a cruel, vindictive smirk as she takes another measured step toward me.
“I didn’t want it to come to this,” she whispers viciously, satisfaction curling through every word. “But since you're so determined to force my hand, I guess your poor stepbrother is about to find out you’ve been cheating on him with Dean. Like father, like daughter—right, Cali?”
Chapter forty-five
Connor
I'msecondsfromsteppingin, ready to rip that knife from Anna’s grip, but Cali moves first.
She kicks Anna’s legs out from under her. Anna hits the floor hard, the knife skittering from her hand. Before Anna can recover, Cali pins her down, thumb digging mercilessly into her wrist until Anna lets out a hiss and drops the blade.
“You never see the bigger picture, do you?” Cali snarls, leaning in close. Her voice is dangerously soft, her breathing ragged. “Always blaming everyone else, always the victim.”
Anna thrashes wildly beneathher. “Shut up!”
My eyes flick to the security camera I set up in the study. The red light blinks steadily. Audio and video—everything recorded. Solid evidence.
Cali grabs the knife and throws it across the room, metal scraping sharply across hardwood. Anna tries to roll her off, but Cali holds firm.
“You just can’t handle seeing anyone else happy, can you?” Cali’s tone cuts deep, sharper than the knife itself. “If you can't have it, no one else can, right?”
Anna’s knee jerks up, catching Cali hard in the stomach. Cali gasps, and Anna flips them, straddling her, fingers closing tight around Cali’s throat.
