CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
C HAPTER T HIRTY -T HREE
Claire looked up from weeding and read the text. I’M COMING FOR YOU .
Despite the heat from the sun on her bare arms, goose bumps rippled across her skin. She was tired of running. Tired of not belonging anywhere. Tired of crying.
For twelve years, she’d answered to Claire Mason. Her name had been the first word she remembered learning to write. It was the name on her passport and her driver’s license. It was the only name she responded to when called.
And it wasn’t hers.
How could her parents—no, they weren’t her parents—how could the Masons have done this to her? If she was honest with herself, Josh and Shelly hadn’t been good parents. She’d never been allowed to bring friends home. They discouraged her from joining teams or clubs. If you let people get close to you, you’re vulnerable. They’ll use you every time. More advice from Josh that made a whole bunch of sense in hindsight. Claire had been actively discouraged from making friends. Acquaintances were fine if she didn’t confide in anyone or provide them with any leverage to use against her. According to Josh, that’s what friends did.
You can’t trust anybody.
In the end, Josh had proven his own words to be true.
Now that Claire knew the truth, she understood what had driven them to isolate her.
Fear.
If people got close, eventually someone might discover their secret. Make that secrets .
Claire glanced over her shoulder at Deputy Zucco—Renata, as she’d said to call her. Deep in her gut Claire knew that she could trust Renata and her mother. Something about them made her confident that they wouldn’t betray her. For one, they didn’t make promises. They were up front about the shittiness of her situation, and that they didn’t have the power to prevent even more suckage from happening. Claire was at the mercy of the legal system.
The Zuccos were probably the nicest people she’d ever met. Claire sensed that they cared about her. Or were they trying to play her? No. Josh had been wrong. He’d been a criminal. He hadn’t trusted anyone because he hadn’t been trustworthy. His whole being was seeped in betrayal.
But none of that changed her current circumstances. Claire couldn’t let the Zuccos get hurt.
He was going to catch her sooner or later. He wouldn’t stop. She knew this from the persistence of his pursuit. He’d already killed the Masons. The memories flashed into her mind. The shocking red of the saturated sheets. Josh’s wide-open eyes. The sticky wetness of blood on Claire’s palms. Shelly’s ruined face. She would have been horrified to see the damage he’d done. Claire never smelled death before, but now she would recognize its stench anywhere.
He would kill Renata and her mother too, just as viciously and without hesitation. He might even enjoy it. She glanced at her phone again.
I’M COMING FOR YOU.
What could she do?