Page 57 of Silent Heart

“I don’t trust a damn word that comes out of Carter’s mouth, especially anything that has to do with Joe Aitkin,” I ground out.

“You need to quit being such a bitch to Carter,” Beatrice snapped.

It took everything I had to clench my jaw tight and hold back the truth. This aunt was the last person who could know that Carter installed a camera in my bathroom and sold digital images of me to his high school buddies. Thankfully, they were too blurry for anyone to make out my features.

But also, I was damn lucky I caught him trying to reposition the camera or it could have been so much worse. Who the hell did that to theircousin? Well, the money was good, and he’d jumped on it.

It was hard enough to keep that kind of secret in a small town. But Carter knew that if he valued his testicles, he wouldn’t tell a soul. Me and a rusty hedge sheer made sure of that.

“How can you look my mom in the eye, live under her roof, and run around humping some guy on the lake?” Beatrice doubled down.

“That’s really rich, coming from you,” I seethed. Grandma didn’t have to say it; we all knew Beatrice was her greatest disappointment.

“What do you even know about this guy? Hmm?”

My fingers faltered. There was so much I didn’t know about Kole, but yet none of it mattered because in my heart I knew he was special. If he chose to open to me, I would be ready to listen.

“You didn’t know that one guy you married in Vegas,” I countered, bringing up the family drama that was never dredged up.

“Hey! I married my share of questionable guys,” she responded hotly. “But Ineverslummed around.”

I slapped the cap of the deodorant on the vanity. “Get out.”

My aunt ignored me. This used to be her room as she’d reminded me on many previous occasions. “That cidiot’s just another rich snob, Harley. He’ll leave once the summer is over and you don’t belong with them. They come up here, spend their money, play on the lake, and leave.”

“And I’m leaving too!” I rounded on her.

Beatrice flattened her palm against her chest. “What?”

“School starts the second week of August.” I wrenched the work tee over my head and began to tuck it into my shorts.

“You’re still planning to go? I thought Mom talked some sense into you!” she huffed.

Not that she needed to know, but my grandparents were more concerned about my safety in Chicago rather than the fact that I was going. While they protested, deep down, I knew it was in part because they would miss me.

Everyone else? They were against me. No matter how hard I tried to sail true, I was woefully short. They could pool theirmoney to help with the taxes. But instead, they pointed fingers at me for wanting to be successful.

Steeling my spine, I stood up to my aunt. “Get out of my room.”

Beatrice didn’t budge. “You know what, maybe you deserve to be used and thrown aside.”

“Get out!” My voice cracked.

Enough. Enough!I’d had it!

“You’re being so jealous and petty not giving your family the money they need to keep this place running,” she scolded. “You have enough, don’t you? You could pay the back taxes. Make it so Mom and Dad don’t have to leave the home they worked so hard to build. But no, you’d rather run away from your family.”

Hot tears scalded my eyes, but I refused to let them fall.

I did something I’d never done before. I grabbed my aunt and hauled her out. The surge of anger gave me the kind of strength to throw the soul-sucking voice of negativity out. The door slammed between us, the noise complimenting her dramatized screams of pain. Even though I purged my room of the source, the doubt still lingered. Her words clawed deeper gashes in my heart than I had yet to realize.

Chapter 21 – Kolya

“Yes, pakhan?” The phone sat in front of me on the bathroom vanity.

Surprise laced my cousin’s voice as it came through the speakerphone. “Ah, so you are alive.”

I smeared the last bit of paint onto my eyelid. The landscape in southern Wisconsin was rich and green. That was why any visible skin was covered in blacks and emeralds. The ghillie suit was light and agile, without extra padding. Tendrils fluttered with the slightest movement, mimicking the leaves and foliage.

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