Page 1 of Vengeful

CHAPTER 1

LILA

"Are they…" I stepped out of the back of Slade's SUV. With tentative steps, I walked towards the twisted wreckage of my sister's brand-new car.

The front of the silver Mercedes was a crumpled mess of smoking metal resting against the base of a thick gum tree. Dust drifted down, kicked up by high-speed and the impact of the crash.

"Dead?" Slade took my hand, his fingers warm and firm around mine. Reassurance I probably didn't deserve.

"Yeah." We followed Hunter and Parker, stepping over long skid marks to the wreckage.

A groan from inside the twisted Mercedes suggested Chloe or Zachary was still alive.

For now.

I couldn't tell who from the brief, muffled sound. Didn't dare to guess.

"We'll have to go in from the back, Park," Hunter said. "The front doors are kinda fucked."

"I noticed that, Hunt," Parker said. "I'd suggest it was a waste of a car, but…"

He grabbed hold of the handle of one of the rear doors and yanked it open. Knees first, he crawled into the back of the car.

"I hope this thing isn't going to explode," Hunter remarked before he did the same on the other side.

"Yeah, it better not." Slade peered at the front side window, into the driver's seat.

I bit my lip hard enough to draw blood. How did I feel? I wasn't sure. We did this to Chloe and Zachary. Parker hacked her phone to make it look like our father sent a message. I bought both cars, pretending they were a gift from him. Slade organised for the brakes on Chloe's car to fail when she drove at speed.

I did this.

I did this because I couldn't let her win. Not if it meant being confined to the dark, soundless rooms under my father's house. If that's what losing meant, I'd rather die. Or kill my twin sister.

It was fucked up.

I was fucked up.

We both were. This whole competition came down to nothing more than us reliving our childhood terror of being locked in there.

Did either of us really give a shit about heading the family?

Until this moment, I hadn't grasped the extent of the trauma inflicted on both of us. So much trauma it became everything.

If Chloe was dead, I never had to worry about being locked away down there again. Unless Zachary survived and Dad decided—

A shiver of panic-edged fear passed through me.

I wrapped my arms around myself. Whatever happened, Ihadto win. I couldn't let anyone…

"Chloe is alive," Slade said. "So is Zachary by the look of him. We're going to need that…" He glanced around at the sound of an approaching ambulance.

One I'd called after hearing the impact. After all, the world thought my father sent the car. I had absolutely no shred of hesitation in pinning this on him. The money had come from his account, courtesy of Hunter. Slade knew how to cover his tracks. People could and would assume, but no one could trace this back to me.

"I don't think we should move them," Hunter called out. "We wouldn't want to cause any permanent injury, or death." No one missed the irony in his tone.

"Or we could move them," Parker said cheerfully.

"Fuck off," Chloe growled. "We don't need your help." She tried to push her door open, but it was stuck, too twisted to move.

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