Page 153 of Chandelier Enthralled
Access to my life.
I’d spilled my soul to the one woman who could undo my existence.
“Where did you go?” I asked her.
“I had to check something out.”
I looked at her, puzzled, because she had also returned so quickly.
“Follow me outside,” she said, and then turned and headed out the door.
I followed her out into the backyard, past the pool and garden. I wanted answers, but I also wanted this agony to end. It was in her tortured expression, a hint that she might know what really happened that night.
We were both standing on a precipice.
She walked past me and pointed up. “Look there.”
Ifollowed her line of sight, using my hand to shield the reflective glare of the sun that burst through the tree line, but above that lay a clear view.
“That house overlooks yours,” she said faintly.
The expansive white mansion gleamed atop the canyon’s edge, offering the owner an unobstructed view of the homes and properties below, extending down into the city beyond.
I’d never had a reason to visit the house. “I don’t know who lives there.”
“They’ve just returned home from a trip abroad, so they were away the night Amelia died. Super nice couple, a producer and his partner who writes political speeches. They wanted to help.”
“How?”
“Their security cameras cover your property.” She rested her hand on my arm. “They weren’t trying to spy on you.”
I glared in their direction. “They let you see their footage?”
What if everything I thought about that night was wrong? What if, in a moment of fury, I had done something unforgiveable? Perhaps my mind had protected me from the harrowing truth.
But if the worst-case scenario were true, Willa wouldn’t be so calm—would she?
“Let’s go in,” she said, her tone making me doubt my innocence once again.
I’m a monster.
Atticus had done the unthinkable to shield Eve and her daughter. What if that was the common thread between us—the ability to do what had to be done to protect the ones we love? I’d loved Amelia, though not in the way love is often shared—more in a caring fashion, like a protective force. But she had threatened countless lives by working for Jewel and betraying everyone in her wake. Amelia had become a liability.
“You should go,” I said, caring for Willa more than I ever had before—an impossible love for a woman that came into my life too soon.
“Maybe I’ll go later, if you really want me to.”
How could I express my fear that I didn’t know if she was safe around me?
Her tenderness, her fortitude, shone through. “But first I want to show you what their cameras captured.”
In a daze, I walked toward the house, heart twisting with confusion, thinking that this moment could change my life—change me and how I saw myself.
Just outside the doorway, a spider crawled along the trellis and a sense of calm came over me. The delicate arachnid rested on its silken threads. Despite its size, there was a quiet majesty in its form, a reminder of the beauty that goes unnoticed in the smallest creatures.
I was surrounded by nature here. Insects were always finding their way inside, but I had never hurt anything in my life—merely tried to set them free.
Like I had done with Amelia.
