Page 17 of Sins or Secrets
It's the tension of grief, the tension of being around Logan, the tension of remembering that horrible night I last saw him.
It was hard to look at him and not remember.Yet, when he spoke to me it was almost like we could have been those people from the past.The guy and the girl we were before we ended.
My heart still remembers him as mine.
Being so close to him and yet so far away in emotion was horrible and strange.It was like I'd stepped into some alternate dimension where everybody was different except me.
The woman he was with is lucky to have him, even if her bitchy glares were designed to mark her territory.I can’t blame her. If Logan was mine, I’d probably do the same.
He’s even more gorgeous than I remembered, and what I remember was damn good.
Yesterday I officially broke the promise I made to my father when I told him I wouldn’t see Logan ever again.Dad must have turned in his grave several times in the last few weeks.I'm divorced from Riley and back in Wilmington.What a nightmare for him.
All made possible by the thumb-sized piece of evidence I carry in my suitcase.
It’s a memory stick with files I copied from Dad's computer.On the files is a video recording of a meeting Dad had with Riley and Braxton plotting together to rig the votes for the election.
Unknown to Riley and Braxton, Dad recorded his meetings.Every single one of them. And I have them all.
I stumbled across the files when I was sorting through Dad's office a week after his funeral.I was asked to do it because Mom was long gone by then.
While I was packing away his books, I discovered a secret room behind the bookshelf.It had an elaborate surveillance system set up to record everything that happened in the office.
I couldn’t believe my luck when I stumbled across the recordings.To secure my evidence and leverage,I downloaded the files, then deleted them from the system after.
Now I'm the only person who knows all my father's dark secrets.
More secrets. More sins. More lies.All of which I could use to destroy.
Destroy Riley.
I have the power to do it, but I’m choosing not to for self-preservation.
I know if I were to use it, that would be the ink on my death certificate.
When I think of all I’ve been through, I can't worry about what keeping quiet makes me.
My only solace is that it's not evidence of Riley killing somebody.I would never be able to keep my silence on something like that.
Not like in the past, when I suspected Dad of killing people and had no evidence to prove it.
That knowledge and fear were the biggest things that made me believe him when he threatened Logan's life.
I nearly jump out of my skin when a knock sounds on the door.
My gaze darts straight to it, and I turn the volume down on the TV.I have no idea who that could be so I’m assuming it must be one of the motel staff.Although, I can’t imagine what they’d need me for.I already paid up and they know I’ll be gone by tomorrow at two.
I slide off the bed and pad over to the door.There’s a little peephole but you can’t see outside.All I see when I peek through is a shine of black like the paint on the door.
Instantly, all those crazy movies I watched growing up flood my mind.The one where the woman staying all by herself in a motel opens the door to some ax murderer, or if you’re watching Friday the 13th, the undead chainsaw guy with the hockey mask.
Pushing aside the crazy thoughts, I brave the task of opening the door,revealing a cautious looking Bree Dawson.
Bree was my childhood best friend who was more like a sister to me.
She was person number two I was worried about seeing, but since she always talked about leaving town to pursue her career in beauty therapy I didn't think she'd still be around.
As we stare at each other, I’m transported back ten years ago.We’re both eighteen years old again and I’ve just left her at the hair salon with the promise that I’d see her the next day.But, the next day never came.
