Page 29 of Sweet Lies

“Yes. He’s really dead. He’ll never harm you again.”

“What about the others?” Her voice quivers as she asks, her hands digging into my back as if in fear that releasing me would cause them to appear in front of us.

“They can be taken care of as well. No one will have to know it was us.”

“Us?” she asks, pulling back to look up at my face.

“Us. I’ll teach you how to kill, if that’s what you want. You can take back control. Or you can leave and never look back. Start whatever life you want. The life you always deserved. You can be whomever you wish. It’s your opportunity.”

She laughs and breaks out of my arms, doing a spin. “My choice. Very few things have ever been my choice.” She shakes her head. “It’s…I…don’t even know what I want. Most of the time, my choices were made for me. If not by Dad, then Claire or E. Then it was all taken away from me. Every day after they died, there were no choices. Not when I ate or drank. Not when I showered or slept. Everything was taken away. My choice…you don’t know the gift you’ve given me.”

Trying to decide how to respond, I go with the safest option. “You don’t have to decide this second.”

“I know my answer. For once, it’s ‘what would Rebecca do?’ Rebecca wants her revenge. I want them to pay for every touch and scream. You’ll keep your promise and help me?” Her eyes grow wild as she once more steps forward to grip my shirt tightly between her fingers. “You will?” Her eyes search my own.

“Yes. I’ll help you—I’ll get you to where you no longer need my help. I’ll put off my next job for as long as I can. That means we need to start in the morning. We need to make a list of names.”

She nods and rushes to grab the pen and pad of paper from the desk and starts scribbling down name after name. My stomach turns as she flips the first page, then another and another.

* * *

REBECCA

The names pour from me. Names I thought I’d long forgotten or didn’t realize I’d heard. Some were just descriptions, but it felt so terrific and freeing to get them out of my mind and onto paper. I didn’t realize I was panting till I set the pad down and glanced up. I must have looked mad to him as I filled page after page. I can sense a crazed feeling in my eyes as I try to gain control of my emotions.

Handing the pad to him, I watch as he glances down at the names, taking them in as he flips through the pages.

“Easy enough. Most I’m not familiar with, but we can gather the information easily enough.”

“You say that as if we’re not talking about killing them. Do you truly think it will be that easy?”

He tosses the pad near the TV before answering. “It’s my job to take care of names on a list. This is nothing new for me. Is this something you can handle? You’re the one with the connection. It will be harder on you than me.”

For the first time since I jotted the names down, I feel a wave of doubt. Is this something I can do? Pull the trigger on someone’s life even after all they’ve done to me? My siblings wouldn’t have a second of doubt.

Building up all the courage I can, I answer, “I can do this. Ihaveto do this.”

I know I’ll never get another chance like this and if I don’t, I’ll never get a good night’s sleep again—they’ll always be around the corner waiting. I don’t want to live in that kind of fear any longer. Andreis offering me a gift, and I refuse to let it go.

He nods, understanding everything I’m unable to voice. “If you change your mind and don’t want to be involved, I’ll handle it for you. I won’t think less of you.”

“You won’t think less of me?” I laugh. “You’ve always thought less of me because I was the weak one in the family. They all felt the same.”

His face hardens and there’s an edge to his voice. “No one thought less of you, Bec. Don’t make yourself a martyr.”

For a moment, fear invades my body before I push it aside. This is Andre. He’s many things, but he would never hurt me—even after all this time, I know that to be true.

With fear aside, my confidence gets ahead of me. “Then why did you never go after me when you knew I wanted you to?” I ask. This might be the only chance I get to ask, and I need to take the opportunity.

He seems shocked at my bluntness. “I…you…we both knew it would have been a bad idea. Besides, we wouldn’t have known what to do with the other. It would have ended horribly.”

I roll my eyes. “That was always your excuse. ‘Your dad would kill me,’” I mock him, all the while knowing I was baiting the bear. This wasn’t a good idea, but Andre had always brought the best and worst out of me. He’d always made me feel alive and free. It was apt that he would be the one to set me free from my chains.

He chuckles. “As far as excuses go, it’s a pretty good one, Rebecca.”

A smile slips out in response before I plop onto the bed with one arm above my head and the other across my stomach.

“No one’s standing between us now,” I point out, half hoping he’ll try something.He would be my choice after that right having been taken from me all these years. I’d always desired him even when I didn’t have a name for the feeling. Some nights I would even dream of him. In the dream, we were in different world, one where things were much simpler. No death. Just a simple life.

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