Chapter 41 Ivy
Ivy
“Ivy, hurry.” Dizzy rushes ahead of me down the hallway. Her pink hair swings against her shoulders with every step. “This is not good. If he saw me... it’s bad.”
“I don’t think a small-town sheriff from Devil’s Bend is going to know who you are, Dizzy.” I frown. She reacted weirdly about the FBI agent too. She’d told me it wasn’t about Jackson when I bought it up. And then she’d sucked the FBI guy’s face.
I’d forgotten about it during the party. We’d been celebrating, and I’d been caught up in my husband-to-be.
But now it seems it was a big deal. And her running from the cops is a big red flag. And the way she hogtied that guy by herself, put a loop around his neck to strangle him, was too perfect.
“Dizzy?” I grab her hand, slow her down. “What’s wrong?”
“Wrong? Nothing. It’s just not how I planned this. It wasn’t meant to be this way.”
“What wasn’t?”
She’s frantic. Her fearful gaze flicks here and there and settles nowhere. It’s like she’s looking at ghosts, not at me.
I grab her arm and shake it. “Look at me.”
Her blue eyes lock on mine.
“Why are you running from the police? And the FBI?”
“Because I...” She wraps her cotton candy pink nails around her throat before she turns away without answering the question. “We shouldn’t talk here.”
She said she would take care of anyone who tried to hurt me. Alec certainly fit the criteria. It would make sense of why she’s hiding from law enforcement like a fugitive.
“You killed Alec, didn’t you?” My stomach lurches. In my heart, I know it’s the truth. He’s been completely off the radar for months. That would be possible for an average Joe, but for my brother who lived in front of the cameras and wanted everyone to know his name, it would never happen.
Unless he was dead.
“Ivy.”
“What was it you said this afternoon when I admitted it might have been easier if he were gone?” My back meets the wall. “You wished you could tell me you took care of it.”
“It’s okay.” She moves toward me, her hands outstretched.
“You didn’t say you wished you could take care of it, because you already had.” I cover my mouth with my hand. Bile burns up my throat. “You killed Jackson.”
“To save you,” she says. “It was self-defense. You said so yourself.”
“Yes. But Alec? It’s different, isn’t it?
It wasn’t self-defense, was it? You murdered him.
” She’s dangerous. Perhaps a psychopath.
Every time she’s talked about blowing things up or multiple ways to murder someone, she’s been revealing small parts of herself, and I refused to see it.
Even when she killed Jackson and basically kidnapped me.
I talked myself into believing it was self-defense. I wanted a sister so badly. I wanted us to be a family and I was willing to ignore what was right in front of my face.
She crowds me against the wall. “I could lie to you and tell you he came after me, if that would help. But I want to be honest with you. You should try being honest with yourself too.”
“What does that mean?”
“Tell me you didn’t wish for him to die.”
Every time I wake up screaming at night, I think about it. Every time I’m out and feel like someone is following me, I think about it. Every new message I receive from Nicole I think about it. “I can’t.”
“He tortured you. He nearly killed you.” Her gaze is clear and bright. There’s no remorse, no guilt. “I made sure he would never get that chance again. I made it so you can feel safe. Isn’t that what you want? I did it for you. For us.”
I take such a deep breath it makes my head swim. When I breathe out, some of my shock goes with it, leaving pins and needles in its wake.
Life hasn’t been fair to us. We were supposed to grow up together in a house with two parents who loved each other as much as they loved us.
We were supposed to have silly fights over normal things like makeup and clothes and boys.
We were meant to share secrets like our first kiss and cover for each other when we snuck out of the house.
There were parties and school events we should have attended together. Birthdays and Christmases that got ripped from us.
Perhaps if that had been our life, I would have found my voice a lot earlier. Maybe she wouldn’t have been raised by the cruel and evil man who kidnapped our mother, she wouldn’t have murdered anybody, and she wouldn’t be hiding from the law.
I pull her into a hug and hold on tight as my eyes fill with tears. I’m safe. Rogue is safe. Everyone I love is safer with Alec dead. And I have my sister. We have each other. I’m not letting go. I push her to arms’ length so she can see how serious I am. “I’ll take your secret to my grave.”
“About the FBI.” She looks like she’s about to tell me another juicy secret.
The fine hairs on my arms stand up, and I press my finger to her lips.
I’m not ready to be aware of everything she’s capable of or how she feels about what she’s done.
She and I are different. I wished for his death, but I could’ve never killed him.
She could. She did. “I forgive you for Alec and for Jackson. But I need time to process, okay?”
“Sure.” She grabs my hand as the banging from the front of the shop grows louder.
The air is scented with a delicate rose perfume as we reach the end of the hallway. Following her into the room, my steps halt abruptly.
White roses. Hundreds of them organized into centerpieces. The snowy blooms are interspersed with blood red feathers and beads. Each arrangement is wrapped with scarlet ribbon.
My blood runs cold as I take it all in.
“I’ve seen something like this before,” Dizzy whispers, her grip around my fingers tightening.
Me too. The last time Nicole sent flowers to Rogue’s apartment.
I wade through the cloying perfume into the middle of the room, right to one of the statuesque arrangements.
The roses erupt from a tall copper urn. The petals feel lush under my fingertips.
The wicked thorns scratch my hands as I reach for the triangle sticking out from the center.
My skin turns cold and clammy. I can’t seem to get my mouth to work properly as I retrieve the envelope and unstick the seal. Sliding the card from inside, I open it.
To my darling stepdaughter,
May your marriage bring you happiness. For better or worse. For richer or poorer. And most especially in health. I know how ill you were in those last few months before we parted ways. I do hope your illness doesn’t recur.
xx Your loving stepmother.
She’s warning me that she can reach me wherever I am. That she has people who will help her threaten and extort from me while she’s in prison.
“Is she suggesting she plans on poisoning you if you go through with the wedding?” Dizzy asks over my shoulder.
I lick my lips. “I need to call Rogue.”