Page 79 of The Atonement
“You have to do it, Dylan. You have to kill him. It’s the only way she’ll ever be safe. It’s the only way she’ll ever stay with us.”
“What is he talking about, Ainsley?” Adele asked.
“Is that what this is about?” Ainsley shouted, a new sort of rage filling her. Her face was pink, her entire body pulsing with electricity as she moved toward me in aflash. “You’ve turned our son into a murderer to punish me?”
I spun, using Dylan as a shield between us. “If she tries to hurt us, you’ll have to kill her, too.”
“What?”Dylan was crying then—his face coated in snot and tears.
“Don’t listen to him, Dylan. He’s a bad man. Your father is a bad, bad man. He’s a murderer. I’ve tried so hard to protect you kids from all that he’s done, and now he wants you to kill me, too. Matt is innocent.” She lowered her face to meet his eyes. “Do you hear me?”
“Don’t listen to her,” I warned him.
“Matt did nothing wrong. He is a friend. A friend who has been really kind to me. These marks on my face, your father made those. Not Matt. Your father has been working behind my back with your grandmother, trying to set this all up.”
“Ainsley, I didn’t know!” Adele cried.
Ainsley didn’t budge, staring only at me. “I should’ve known she was the one telling you how to find me.”
“She wants us to be together,” I said simply. “She knows how good I am for you.”
“Oh, for heaven’s sake, stop this, both of you,” Adele cried, fanning herself as if she were going to pass out.
Ainsley looked down at the blood on her hands, scoffing and taking a step forward. “How good you are for me, Peter? Really?”
“Ainsley, we are good together. Your parents want us to be together. The kids want us to be together.”
“The kids don’t know the truth about you—”
“Or you—” I warned. Two could play that game.
Ainsley turned her focus back to our son. “Dylan, please, baby. Please give me the gun.”
“If you give it to her, she’ll shoot us both. She’d do anything to save him.”
She shook her head, her forehead creased with concern. “You know I wouldn’t do that, don’t you? You know I’d never hurt you. Not in a million years, Dylan. I love you. I love your brother and your sister. Think about them, okay? Get out of your head about what your dad’s told you, and think about what you know is real. I know this is really scary, but there are things you know, right? You know I’d never hurt you. You know that in your gut.” She pressed a hand to her stomach. “You have to.”
Behind us, Matt groaned again. “Ains…” he whispered, no strength in his words.
Just die already, tough guy.
She took another step toward me, her eyes locked with mine. “He’ll never forgive you, Peter. He’ll never forgive you when he learns the truth. You can’t take this back. You can’t undo it. Even if you kill Matt, even if you kill me, someday, they’ll know the truth about who you are and what you’ve done. And on that day, their hatred for you will be all they’ll know. You’re going to let him do something that can’t be undone, something that will forever change him, for your own sake. Because this isn’t for Dylan. It’s for you.”
“No. That’s not true. I’m doing what I have to do to protect this family.”
“How is any of this protecting this family? You’re hurting this family!”
Matt groaned, and I reached for Dylan’s arms, pulling the gun into position. “Pull the trigger,” I ordered. “Kill him.”
“Dylan, don’t listen to him.” Ainsley stepped in front of Matt, her hands up.
“You may not care enough to protect yourself,” I snarled at her through gritted teeth, “but you’d do anything to protect your kids. So choose now, Ainsley… Who will you put over your son? If Matt dies, Dylan has just killed someone. How far will you go to protect that secret? Stay with me and protect him or…don’t.”
“What?” Dylan whimpered, trying to step away from me. I wrapped my arms around him tighter, the gun still in his hand.
“You wouldn’t,” she snarled.
“I think you’ve seen just how far I’ll go to keep you. So, tell me, who’s more important? You or him?”
