Page 22 of Love Sick

“We fell in love. He was my true love. Then he just disappeared without a trace. My car wrapped around a tree the only clue he left behind.”

Oh, bull-fucking-shit. He used her as a pawn to get what he wanted and when it failed, he moved on to the next victim until he met Alanna and got his karma once and for all.

I suddenly don’t blame Alanna for taking this son of a bitch’s life. He deserves to die over and over again for what he’s done.

“I just wish I knew where he was. I have the money now. He can come back and we can be a family. That’s all he ever wanted.”

Things are starting to come together, but I know there is more—there always is.

Not bothering to sugarcoat anything, I casually gesture with my chin to Jonathan. “Well, you got your wish.”

Joy has no idea what I mean until she looks over at the bed, which contains the wrinkled, decaying corpse of her “true love.”

“What?No,” she gasps, shaking her head violently. “You’re l-lying!”

“I’m really not. Jonathan is right there. Dead as a doornail, and I’m pretty sure the cause of death is one Dr. Alanna Norton.”

“No!” she sobs, spittle running down her chin. “This can’t have been for nothing. Alanna told me where Luna was that night, but it was Misha. Why did she do that? Did she know it was him all along?”

“Why the fuck would you listen to Alanna?” I ask, confused.

“Because she said she would provide the heart…if I were to provide the money; Luna’s money she would leave Misha in her will. I thought with Luna gone, Misha would share the money with me and then I could pay Alanna to do the operation for Jonathan. And he would come back to me. I was going to tell Misha who Jonathan was. I swear I was. I just needed Luna gone.”

This doesn’t make sense.

Alanna didn’t want money…there is something far more valuable to her…Misha’s heart, which would be a perfect match for Jonathan seeing as Misha is his son. Same blood. Same tissue. Jonathan’s DNA made up Misha’s heart.

He was the perfect match.

So why the fuck did she give it to me?

The similarities between Jonathan and I are a little uncanny—he needed a heart and was a musician. No wonder reality and fiction blurred for Alanna.

What a twist of fate.

“Oh, Jonathan,” Joy sobs hysterically. “Please tell me this is all a bad dream.”

“No, you fucking bitch, it’s a fucking reality which you created. You killed your best friend’s son, but not before fucking him because if you couldn’t have his dad, he was a consolation prize? You make me sick.”

Jonathan got what he deserved and I suddenly don’t hate Alanna as much. She’s a lover scorned and Jonathan was nothing but a walking red flag and instead of licking her wounds and learning from her mistakes, she took matters into her own hands and those hands killed him.

Kudos to her.

“Do you hate Luna that much? She never wanted Jonathan! Why did you do that do her?”

“She’s the reason he’s like this!” she screams, refusing to take blame. “He tried to get to know Misha, but she refused. He only wanted to love his son!”

“Don’t you dare blame her!” I cry, tugging at the restraints because I want to kill her myself. “He is hardly a suitable role model. She was trying to protect her son from turning into that motherfucker.”

Jonathan was clearly a predator who preyed on weak-willed women. He took what he could and then moved on to the next. Until he met Alanna…

“I loved him. And he loved me.” Joy continues to sob while I want to break her neck. “I did all of this for him. For us.”

“Wake up, sweetheart, there is nousbecause you killed his only son.”

Alanna enters the room, clapping slowly, and it’s apparent she’s heard it all.

She claps one final time. “Oh, Joy, you’re such a fucking idiot.”

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