Page 52 of Wicked Love
I did know that. But I also knew that telling her and Holand about Dad’s murder wouldn’t just paint targets on their backs—it could destroy our chances of getting real answers too. They’d insist on going straight to the police with what we already knew, the police would interfere with the investigation the Vigil guys and Beckett were already immersed with, who knew what would happen to Beckett’s family if the spotlight was turned on them…
No. Too much was at stake.
But I could take a different gamble. It might be the only chance I had. And I owed it to her.
I glanced at Summer and then at my mom. “Can I just chat with Summer for a little while? It’s a lot of pressure, having you all hanging over me. It might be easier to hash things out one on one.”
Mom hesitated, but hope had lit in her eyes. “I think that might be a good first step.”
She looked at Holand, who nodded slowly. “We could go and pick up some lunch for everyone while you two talk,” he suggested.
Mom wagged a finger at me. “But you’re staying in this room until we’re all clear on what you’ve been hiding from us.” She beckoned to my cousins. “You two can wait outside the door. Make sure Madelyn doesn’t try to leave.”
Lee and Eric dipped their heads obediently. Eric shot me an apologetic grimace before they all headed out.
Summer flopped onto the bed a couple of feet from me and grimaced as she examined the comforter. “I’m not sure it’s really safe to be making surface contact with anything in this place. Ugh.” Her attention homed in on me. “So are you actually going to talk, or was that just an attempt at tricking your way out of this?”
My throat tightened. “I’m sorry, Summer. I really am. I know I’ve said that before, but I meant it all those times too.”
She raised her chin. “Sorry doesn’t matter much if you’re just going to pull the same bullshit as before.”
“No. I’m going to talk to you properly now. I probably should have before.” I rubbed my forehead. “I’m still worried that you’ll get dragged into the danger too, but… but I guess that’s your choice to make, like it was for me. I’m just asking that you listen the whole way through before you make any decisions. I still feel like I need to keep Mom and Holand out of this.”
Summer’s expression was skeptical, but she motioned for me to go on. “I’m listening.”
God, how did I even start? I groped for the right words. “You know my car got stolen a couple of months ago, and that’s how I ended up talking to Logan again.”
She snapped her fingers. “Iknewhe was involved in this.”
I gave her a pointed look, and she closed her mouth with a zipping gesture.
“Yeah,” I said, “but I doubt it’s in any way you could have guessed. It turned out my car getting stolen wasn’t random. It also turns out… you know how Logan and his friends have been investigating all those petty crimes on campus? They’ve gotten into more serious situations too. And a few years ago, they started finding evidence that my dad didn’t really get sick—he was murdered. Poisoned somehow.”
Summer’s jaw dropped. “You’re serious?”
I exhaled in a rush. “Yeah. It took me ages to be sure of it myself, but I’ve seen enough now that I know it’s true. But the evidence we’ve turned up, it’s not solid enough that we could take it to the police and expect them to investigate a crime that’s not even recorded as a crime and that happened over a decade ago. We’ve been trying to find enough proof to get to that point, and… the people responsible have realized we’ve been investigating. They caused my mom’s accident, among other things.”
“Holy shit.” Summer’s eyes looked ready to pop out of her head.
“So that’s why I’ve been so hesitant to tell any of you about it,” I went on in a rush. “I didn’t want them to target anyone else I care about. We’ve been laying as low as we can in the hopes that they’ll thinkwearen’t even investigating any more… It’s gotten pretty complicated.”
“This—this is huge.” Summer shook her head. “You should have told me, Maddie. You know I’d want to have your back no matter what.”
I hung my head. “Like I said, I’m sorry. You have no idea how much I mean that. Logan made the same mistake with me, you know. He ghosted me because he was afraid if we got closer, I’d find out about the investigation, and he was trying to keepmesafe.”
Summer sputtered a laugh. “That makes a very weird kind of sense.” She pinched the bridge of her nose. “Don’t you think your mom should know too, at least? He was her husband.”
“They’ve already left her injured, maybe even permanently. And you know she’d say we have to let the police handle it. I might end up on total lockdown if she knew I want to keep digging myself. But I can’t let this go, Summer. I need to get justice for my dad. His murderers have been walking free for years… He didn’t deserve what they did to him. And the guys and I might be the only people who can fix it, as much as it can be fixed.”
“Okay. I get that. I still wish you’d told me sooner, but I guess this is better than you being hooked on meth or something.” She sighed. “So, now what?”
I gave her a beseeching look. “So, now’s your chance to really help me. We weresoclose to putting the pieces together. We’d just figured out one major clue when you guys grabbed me. But I can’t see it through while I’m stuck here in this ‘intervention.’ I need to get out of here. This is going to be my best chance to prove Dad was murdered—maybe my last chance.”
Her jaw tightened, and I thought she was going to argue more. But instead she pushed closer on the bed and wrapped her arms around me in a hug.
“You’re always taking so much on your shoulders, Madds. You need to let other people carry some of the burden.”
“I’m trying to do that now,” I said quietly.
