Page 14 of Secrets (The Sins Trilogy 2)
Chapter Seven
Anthony
Jesus. Everything inside me goes rigid at Iris’s revelation. A pretty strawberry blonde. Just like Iris… “Do you remember where it happened?” I ask, doing my best to keep my voice calm.
She shakes her head. “It wasn’t an ocean for sure. Wasn’t salty. And the water was really murky. It was raining hard, because I saw raindrops on the surface.”
Holy shit. It is the night she supposedly died. I tortured myself a million times reliving it over the years—the wind, the storm, the hit-and-run on the bridge, and the horrible, stagnant waters of the bayou covering her as she sank, alone and terrified, the animals within its depths emerging to tear into her. Even now, with her right next to me and indisputably alive, I taste bitter bile.
I take a quick swallow of red. “But you weren’t alone?”
“No. A girl was with me.”
The body they found in the Lexus.The one everyone said was Ivy. Holy shit, who would’ve thought Iris would remember her?
My brain starts going at a hundred miles an hour. I’ve got to find out who the girl was, if the accident was random or not, and—if not—who the real target was back then. Then I can figure out how Sam fits into the puzzle…and whether someone else had a motive to hurt either of the girls. That information will allow me to keep Iris safe. I’d rather die before I lose her again.
“Was she your friend?” I’m doing my best to sound normal, but what the hell is normal in a situation like this?
Iris looks down, biting her lip. “I don’t know. What kind of person does it make me if she was?” Her voice is achingly small.
She’s suffering. This…whatever happened to her… She’s paying the price. I kiss her cool fingers and warm them in my hand. “A person who was hurt and is trying to recover, that’s what,” I say, even though part of me is urging me to probe harder. Ask. Find out how much she remembers. There may be clues to discover not only who’s behind it, but their motives as well. A young woman doesn’t disappear for nearly a decade without some planning. Just what the hell kind of game is Sam playing…and who else is involved?
If I don’t figure this out, she could be in danger again. He’s done his best to keep her isolated. To banish her from home, from the entire country. When that didn’t work, he tried to kill her.
“I wish I remembered more about her,” she says. “Maybe her name… Where we met…”
An opening. The need to know wins, so I ask carefully, “What do you remember about her?”
Iris nibbles on the tip of her right index finger for a moment. “She was in a sleeveless blue dress. I think she was friendly.”
“What did she say?” I ask, waiting, my heart galloping in my chest.
Iris squirms, dropping her gaze. “Not what she said…”
God, she’s suffering, and it makes me want to weep for her. Part of me says to back off for now and let her be, but I can’t. Not when Sam’s willing to cross the line. I hold her hand. “You can tell me anything.”
“She waved. I mean, in my dream. And in my memory, I wasn’t scared of her. I was afraid for both of us. I wouldn’t feel that way if she was a bad person, would I?”
“No, you wouldn’t,” I say, my voice too thick. As I pull her closer, I feel the sun, moon and stars medallion pressing against my chest, reminding me that the cops recovered it from the car. Whoever trying to kill her left the necklace behind, so everyone would assume the girl who died was Ivy.
“But you know what’s really weird? It was Sam who pulled me out of the water that time.”
“Sam?” I croak, an icy sensation forming in my chest. I feel like someone’s thrown me into a tornado, my thoughts spinning in a million directions. Of all the scenarios I imagined… “Are you sure?”
“Yeah. It was definitely him. But when I mentioned it, he pushed me back into the pool. And that’s when you came.”
“That’s all you said, and he did that?”
“Yeah.”
Shit. I had it all wrong. He wasn’t torturing her like I assumed. It was…what? A panic reaction? Was she never to remember what he did?
Why the hell not? According to her story, he saved her. He’s a fucking hero.
Except that doesn’t make any sense, either. He has to be one of the people behind her disappearance. Otherwise, there’s no motive for him to hide her or try to ship her off to Tokyo.
“I don’t know why he did it,” Iris adds. “I didn’t accuse him of leaving the girl behind or anything, which I’m certain he did, now that I think about it. There was so much blood around her.” She starts shaking. “She’s dead, isn’t she?”
