Page 95 of Played
I gape at her. “You know about her too?”
She waves a hand in front of her face. “I know about all of them, darling. Do you think I’m stupid?”
“So what happened to Cassidy?” I ask.
She shrugs. “How should I know?”
“I already told you I had nothing to do with her leaving,” my father adds.
“Good riddance. Silly girl.” Mother snorts. “She probably felt deeply embarrassed thinking your father would ride off into the sunset with her. Getting that trashy little tattoo.”
Something clicks into place. “You saw her tattoo?”
“Emmeline,” my father growls.
Her eyes dart away from my face. “Y-your father told me about it.”
“You saw it, didn’t you? She came here before she disappeared.”
My mother stares at me, unspeaking, refusing to dignify my question with an answer. She truly is a sociopath.
I try my father again. “If she saw that tattoo, then Cassidy must have come here before she disappeared. What the hell did you do to her?”
His right eye twitches.
“Is she still here?” My eyes dart around the hallway. “No.” I shake my head. “You killed her, didn’t you?” I can barely believe the accusation leaves my mouth, but they’re hiding something from me.
“Don’t be preposterous, Kyngston,” my mother says, but there’s a tremor in her voice.
My father drops his head into his hands. “Son, it was an accident. Please. You have to believe me.”
“What kind of accident?” I ask, horrified.
He looks up, his eyes wide. “There was a struggle. She hit her head. Nobody intended for her to be hurt.”
“So… What? You just let her die?”
A sharp, brain-splitting pain lances through my head and down my spine.
Then nothing.
My head is throbbing.It’s dark, but maybe that’s because I can’t open my eyes. The smell is familiar and terror-inducing. My parents’ basement. I drift back into unconsciousness.
“You expectme to murder our own son, Emmeline?”
I desperately want to hear the rest of this conversation, but I black out a second time.
“…powers of persuasion.”My mother’s voice comes once more, followed by the sound of chains hitting concrete.
My father speaks now. “If he would just give us the money…”
“It’s your fault we’re about to lose the house, Kyngston. You were always useless with your own money.”
“If they repossess this house…”
I’m frantically clinging to consciousness when I fade out again.
Ice water drenches me,and it’s like a defibrillator to my brain. I suck in deep breaths as my body goes into shock.
