Page 67 of The Birthday Girl
Farrell’s voice flashed back to her.“So the question becomes, what do you do with a thread that refuses to stop unraveling the fabric?”
Her lips split into a smile.“You cut it.”
Tahlia stepped out of her car, and the gravel cracked underfoot as she crossed the lawn. The porch light hummed above, its bulb flickering with a sickly stutter, as if it knew what was about to happen. She lifted her fist and knocked, the sound hollow against the wood.
Then she waited.
A few moments later, Tahlia heard the shuffle of tired footsteps, a baby’s cry, and Danielle’s muffled voice before the lock twisted and the door swung open.
Upon seeing her, Danielle stopped cold in her tracks, and the color drained from her face. Her gaze crawled over Tahlia in an excruciating slowness, taking in her disheveled state. Black streaks of mascara etched down her cheeks, and her loose curls tumbled wild around her face. Stains blotched her expensive clothes, and her slippers were mottled with dried blood.
But her eyes—nothing could prepare Danielle for her eyes.
Danielle’s breath caught, her body swaying under the weight of that stare. It’s terrifying vacancy prickled her skin and closed her throat. Those eyes didn’t see her as a sister. They didn’t evensee her as a person. They cut straight through her, stripping her down to nothing.
This bitch is crazy,Danielle thought, her eyes widening as her pulse hammered in her ears. She wanted to move, to speak, to do anything that might break the silence, but she couldn’t. That dead gaze rooted her to her spot, whispering that whatever Tahlia had come for, there would be no reasoning, no pleading, and no mercy.
Her mouth opened, ready to protest the unexpected visit, but before sound could escape, Tahlia’s hand darted forward, a twinkle of silver catching the light before the blade plunged through cotton, then skin, then something softer, giving way with a sound like a wet towel slapping tile.
A half-swallowed gasp bubbled from Danielle’s throat as her body jerked violently, and she stared at her sister in disbelief.
“You… you stabbed me.”
“I did.” Tahlia‘s lips peeled back into a grin steeped in cruel pleasure, her eyes burning with a frantic light. “You thought you would humiliate me and get away with it?” She asked as she twisted the blade, feeling tissue yield beneath her blade as Danielle’s flesh parted.
Still clutching the knife buried in her sister’s gut, Tahlia shoved her across the threshold and slammed the door with a kick that rattled the frame.
“You, of all people, knew better than to push me this far.”
Both of Danielle’s hands flew to her wound as she stumbled, her knees growing weak. Blood poured from her belly, hot and heavy, and she wheezed out a broken plea, her voice rasping with raw panic.
“Please, Tah. Please don’t do th—”
Tahlia wrenched the knife free with a wet pull and drove it back in, the blade finding its place beneath her ribs with a dull, wet rip.
“Don’t do what? Spare you?” Tahlia laughed. “Please, I’m not sparing a damn thing. You’re dying today.”
“What… about… your niece?” Tears slipped from Danielle’s eyes as she questioned.
“Fuck her and fuck you!” Tahlia’s snarl rent the air. “That baby isn’t my niece. It’s my stepchild. And you wanted me to know so badly that you had your bum-ass mother use me to throw a baby shower.”
Danielle shook her head, her voice thready and weak. “No... That… was… your idea.”
“You bitches knew I wouldn’t fund your baby’s life!” Tahlia’s voice climbed higher, her eyes flashing with mania. “Y’all anticipated it. Plotted against me, whispered behind my back, and laughed at me. You two thought I was too stupid to catch on.”
Her joyless laugh tore out of her. “Y’all wanted to humiliate me and use me to raise your mistake while you sat there smiling, like I wouldn’t notice you playing me for a fool.” She leaned in closer, her grin wide and unhinged. “But I noticed. I always notice everything.”
“I-I’m sorry. Please,” she pleaded, her entire body shaking.
“No, the fuck you’re not!” Tahlia’s shout struck down like a whip, drowning out Danielle’s sob. “Bitch, you’ve never been sorry a day in your life. Sorry people don’t sneak behind their sister’s back and fuck her man. Sorry people don’t get pregnant by men who belong to their sister, let alone keep the bastard. And sorry people don’t stand in front of cameras and accuse their siblings of murder!”
Danielle coughed, blood bubbling at her lips. “I didn’t—”
Tahlia removed the knife and roughly grabbed Danielle by the face. “You did. You and that tired-ass mother of yours plotted this. You bitches have been counting me out my whole life.” Sheleaned down, her grin wide and ugly. “Now you’re about to be one less bitch breathing and hating on me.”
Tahlia shoved the blade in Danielle’s side to the hilt, and her shoulders curled inward, her breath hitching through clenched teeth. Her nails clawed weakly at Tahlia’s forearm, dragging shallow grooves into her skin before slipping away.
“You want to kill me… like… you did the… others? All…over…a…man?” Danielle asked, struggling to speak through the excruciating pain.
