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“Everything is going to be okay. I promise.”
“Via…”
“I’ll be right behind you.”
I should be able to recognize a lie when I hear one. But I’m still not prepared when she shoves me backwards hard enough that I stumble. I rush for the door, but she slams it in my face. My hands frantically slide across the metal surface, but there isn’t a handle on this side of the door.
This time, she isn’t giving me a choice about leaving her behind.
The SUV idles exactly where Via said it would be, windows so darkly tinted that it’s impossible to tell if anyone is inside. Sirens pierce the air, getting closer. In another minute, all the streets around here are going to be blocked off and we won’t be going anywhere.
Drake grabs my arm. “We have to go.”
When the driver’s side window rolls down, I don’t have the energy for surprise when my father’s annoyed face appears.
“Hurry,” he hisses loudly. “The police are only a minute away.”
“We need to wait for Via.”
“She isn’t coming,” he replies grimly.
“He’s right, we have to go. Unless you want to answer a lot of questions from the cops that are right around the corner.” Drake pushes me into the backseat and then helps Felicia in after me. “Your sister made her choice.”
“The fucking building is coming down.” My protests are ignored as the SUV screeches away from the curb with enough speed to send me careening into the door. “How can you just leave her there?”
“Because she asked me to,” my father snaps as he swerves around a corner and into traffic. His breath eases out in a sigh and he reaches for something on the dash before tossing it back at me. “She left this for you.”
A plain piece of card stock lands in my lap, the kind people use for wedding invitations. The card is blank, save for a single sentence written on it in Via’s handwriting.
Let’s play a game…I’ll be me and you be you.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Olivia Pratt is dead.
I know Gigi wants to believe her sister somehow made it out alive. But for that to be true, it means that Olivia has gone weeks without contacting her sister. While it is true that her body was never found, that doesn’t mean it won’t be, eventually.
And the only reason Gigi is being left alone is because any Havoc House alumni with a grudge think their biggest problem died in a fire and is buried under twenty feet of rubble.
Richard Ashbridge’s body hasn’t been found either. The basement caved in before the fire was even put out. Most likely, he is still down there in the wreckage and waiting to be found. The police have him officially designated as missing, but it’s only a matter of time before a backhoe unburies that particular secret.
Vaughn was badly burned, badly enough that he was barely recognizable before the skin grafts and almost half of his face is badly scarred. But he got out. No one in Havoc House knows about his involvement in his grandfather’s death. If his brothers suspect the truth, they’re smart enough to keep their mouths shut.
The recording he made should be enough to ensure their silence.
Firefighters found my father’s body early in the search, so charred to a crisp that no one thought to check it for a gunshot wound. If killing him is something I have to answer for in the future, I will. But I don’t regret a thing.
In his words, I only did what had to be done.
A very polite detective called to get a statement from me about the fire, but hastily explained I didn’t need to come to the station and we could just handle things over the phone. I probably have Jack Deguerre, or someone just like him, to thank for that.
But even the alumni can’t keep the press quiet. Every major newspaper in the country has a picture of Club Havoc as it burned on the front page. Splashy headlines give lurid details that don’t even come close to the truth of what happened.
Fire destroys local landmark and claims the lives of several city elite.
Gentleman’s club or sex den? Abused workers speak out.
Club Death: Official death toll rises as crews comb wreckage for remains.
