Page 62 of Second Goal

“I don’t think you’re a monster, Amy. I just—”

“She’s alive.”

I feel like my whole body has been submerged in ice. “Wha-what?”

“I’m sorry, I wanted to tell you. But I...”

I grip her arm. “Tell me what?”

“You were right. I couldn’t keep her there. After Ezra... Cruz would have...” She doesn’t meet my gaze.

“What did you do?” I demand.

“She’d been sick for a few days. It was just a cold, but she wouldn’t stop crying. And you weren’t there. Cruz... he would have hurt her. I know he would have. So when I took her to the ER, I... I left her there.”

“What are you saying?” I’m still not fully processing what she’s telling me. It can’t be true.

“She’s alive, Kiley. I don’t know where she is, but she’s alive. I did protect her. She’s safe.”

“Lucy’s alive?” I say the words, but the reality of what she just told me is hard to process.

So many lies.

My phone buzzes in my hand, and when I glance at it, I see Blake’s name on the screen. I stare blankly at it, my whole body numb, my pulse hammering in my temple as Amy keeps talking until she grabs the phone from me.

“You’re not listening. I just need a few hundred dollars—”

I stop her. “Do you have any idea what you’ve put me through? Do you even care?”

“You know I do. I’ve always looked out for you.”

“You lied to me. Made me think I’d killed a man—”

“That was Cruz.”

“It was you, Amy. I trustedyou. I believedyou. And then you made me think that Lucy was dead and that it was my fault.”

“I was protecting her. Just like I protected you at the Murphy’s house. You know what I did. What I allowed him to do to me. But he still wanted you.” She glares at me, and I see something in her eyes I never noticed before - jealousy, resentment. “And look at you now. You’ve got everything. And you won’t help me.”

“I’ll help you,” I tell her. “But it’s the last time. I’ll give you money, get you on a bus. But I never want to see you again. Do you understand?”

Her nostrils flare and she nods, but then her gaze drifts to something behind me, and her mouth parts on a gasp. “No.”

I barely have time to turn to see what she’s looking at when the first gunshot pierces the air.

Across the lawn, Cruz stalks toward us, pistol pointed straight at us, and the second shot rings out. This time I feel the wind from the bullet.

Amy cries out, and when I turn back to her, she drops to the ground, eyes wide with shock as a dark circle of blood begins to pool beneath her.

People start screaming and running around me, searching for somewhere to hide. I know I should too, but fear paralyzes me.

“Amy.” I try to get her up, desperate to get us somewhere safe, but her body is limp. “Come on. Get up.”

She swallows, eyes stunned, face pale. “Go. Run.” Her eyes don’t close, but I see the second the life goes out of them.

“No. No. No.”

Another shot is fired. This time the bullet lodges into the ground beside me.

---