Page 93 of Pretty Lethal
However, at the cant of my mother’s head and the malevolence that flashes across her dark irises, that wave crashes like a blow to reality threatening to pull me away from shore.
A spiteful smile pulls at her lips, making her look heinous. “I don’t care what makes him behave, so long as he gets in line.”
“What do you mean I went into that fire a weak, pampered boy?” I bark at her, thankful when her attention shifts back to me. “How do you even knowwhatI was like as a kid?”
That same creepy-ass tenderness returns to her features, and I can’t figure out if it’s an act or genuine affection—twisted, warped affection that promises to corrupt your soul.
“Sweet boy, I have never stopped watching over you.”
My eyes narrow on her as I try to delve behind her words. “Did you pull me out of that fire?”
She throws her head back and laughs, a sound that belongs in the most bottomless pits of Hell. “God, no. Why would I do that? It was the fire that rebirthed you into the man you are now. The boy you were before meant nothing to me.” She pinches my chin. “I admit, I’ve never been so grateful to be wrong.”
“You… set the fire?” I question, struggling to keep up.
She grins, maniacal pride gleaming from the depths of her wild eyes. Standing to her full height, she ushers someone over, and the other cloaked figure steps into view. I’d completely forgotten about him in all the madness.
“I had my most loyal ally do it for me,” she coos, pushing back the hood to reveal Robbie.
Of course he’s involved in all of this. I had suspected as much.
Although, as the two of them stare longingly into one another’s eyes, nauseating pieces fall into place.
“My most loyal follower,” my mother purrs, before the two of them collide like magnets, unable to resist the pull any longer.
My stomach threatens to empty as they make out like teenagers, oblivious to the rest of us in the room.
Unable to watch the over-the-top display, I shift my attention to where the others are still tied and huddled against the wall. We seriously need to find a way out of this disaster—and soon! I have no idea what the hell my mother has planned, but it’s clear she’s batshit crazy, so I highly doubt she’s going to just let us stroll merrily out of here after her big revelation.
My eyes lose focus as everything I’ve just learned threatens to upend me. My head is a mess, and my thoughts are spinning. I’m unable to pin a single one down to analyze it in any real detail.
I wasn’t the one who started that fire.
It wasn’t me who killed my friends.
It was my goddamnmother.
All these years, I’ve been carrying around the guilt from that night. Internalizing the blame because I thoughtIwas the one who dropped a lit cigarette on the carpet.
I blamed myself for my friends’ deaths. For their family members crying as their coffins were lowered into the ground. For the horror etched into the faces of our classmates at the funeral—their deaths were a stark reminder that death could come for us at any time.
The whispers that had followed after—he’s the only one who made it out alive. I hear his entire body is covered in ugly scars. Imagine carrying the guilt of knowing you murdered your best friends—they were nothing in comparison to the riot of voices in my head reminding me of what I’d done.
That I’d survived when they hadn’t.
That it was all my fault.
Except it turns out none of it was my fault.
Robbie is the one who set that fire ablaze.
The same Robbie who pretended to be my friend. Who has been leading me to this very moment… and I followed like a blind sheep to the slaughter.
How fucking naive could I be?!
He’s been pulling all the right strings, steering me in his desired direction, alienating me from my family, and coaxing me until I signed my life over to the Elites.
I’m a goddamn motherfucking idiot!
