Page 91 of Liars and Liaisons

Her sentence trails off, no ending in sight. Defeat slumps in her shoulders, and she nods to herself, to the wall, to whatever cruel god watches as parents disappoint their children and does nothing to stop it.

“Well, he has money. Connections we don’t. I just think maybe he could help.” Her black brows form a V-shape. “Okay. You’re right. I should just leave him alone.”

My grip on the tub tightens as her voice cracks.

“Yeah, I’ll talk to you soon. Tell Mom I love her and will call tonight.”

Hanging up, she tosses the phone backward; it lands on the chaise, then slides onto the floor. Dragging her fingers through her hair, she dislodges the two matching braids hanging over her shoulders, shakes the raven strands free, and falls face-first onto the bed with a distraught groan.

The sunflowers fall off the mattress, raining down and covering the floor. For some reason, almost seventeen hundred of them didn’t seem like such a big number until she’s practically buried among them.

“Want me to kill him?”

She shrieks, sitting up immediately and whipping her head in my direction. Those beautiful doe eyes find me instantly, stoking the fire in my belly with their electric charge. A single look from this woman threatens total incineration.

“Do I want you to kill my father?” she quips, recovering quickly. “No, actually, I don’t think I do. That would be a crime.”

I lean my head back against the lip of the tub and close my eyes. I know the suggestion of my indifference will make her angry, and I want her to match me. “Just ’cause it’s illegal doesn’t mean it’s wrong.”

“Are you really justifying murder right now?”

“I’m justifyingjustice.”

“Oh, right, sorry. I didn’t get far enough in college to take that ethics course.”

Peeling one eyelid back, I cock a brow at her. “And why didn’t you finish?”

“Because—” Her mouth falls shut, and she glares at me. “Because my father transferred his debt to my name and I could no longer receive financial aid. And since my family was already dirt fucking poor, we couldn’t pay for the program out of pocket. So, I left college and then left town and have spent the last six years avoiding permanency because of what he’s done.”

She lets her head fall to the bed before pushing up with her elbows into a sitting position. “Do you know what happens if I fail to make a payment? If the checks to my father can’t be endorsed or if they get lost in the mail? Hedies. My mother, my brothers, maybe even me—we’re all as good as dead. So, no, Grayson, I don’t need you to kill him. He’s doing a bang-up fucking job on his own.”

I don’t reply because it sort of seems like she’s spiraling, and I know that feeling all too well. Anything I say might just make things worse.

I want her angry, not teetering on the edge of reality.

She slips from the bed and comes into the bathroom, holding a single sunflower in one hand. Stopping a foot away from the bath, she plucks a single petal. It falls, swishing back and forth until it comes to rest on the floor.

“This doesn’t earn you my forgiveness,” she says.

“But you love them?”

“They’re my favorite. But still.”

Nodding, I lift one shoulder. “Fair. Though I think it’s now you who should be seeking mine, Little Echo.”

Her gaze lifts, boring into mine with the heat of a thousand burning suns. For a second, I don’t think she’ll say anything else. Maybe drop the flower and leave, beckoning me to chase.

Then, she curls her hand into a fist. Crumpling the flower. “Did you love her?”

My other eye opens now too. “What?”

“Sydney. Micah’s sister. Your former student and apparently an all-around well-liked person. Did you love her?”

I could strangle Micah. If she were in the room, I might actually do it. Obviously, I got a notification on my phone when the door to the estate’s southern wing was opened, as if I wouldn’t have that portion outfitted with motion detectors and alarms.

Nate and my father never got to collect Sydney’s awards or any of her other belongings. They only wanted them so they could feel better about leading her to her death from all the parties and sinister attention. So, I’d blocked off that wing the second the police called to let me know they’d found her body in the river and that circumstantial evidence found at the scene—empty bottles of alcohol, a baggie of coke—was causing them to rule out foul play.

Since she’d been staying at the estate under my guidance, she was my responsibility.

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