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“The coma.”
“Faked. You can thank Dad for that bright idea. He wanted to make sure that Havoc House no longer considered me a threat. I was sedated enough for the pain that it wasn’t that hard of a sell when Richard came by the house to pay his respects, or whatever twisted thing he called it. Dad only contacted you because he thought it would seem strange if he didn’t.” She gives me an indulgent smile, but there’s an edge of respect in her gaze that I haven’t seen in years. “I made him promise not to tell you the truth because I really didn’t want you involved. Then you showed up at my bedside like some angel of mercy. But when a bunch of my stuff went missing, we assumed you were just planning to swing by a pawnshop on your way back to Detroit. I never thought you’d go to St. Bart’s, neither did Dad.”
“Your father only played along so Grandfather would pay off his debts.” Vaughn sets the wheelchair back upright and then hefts his grandfather’s body into it with a groan of effort. “Let’s not pretend any of them are innocent in this.”
“That’s right. None of us are innocent.” Her gaze cuts to him, a note of irony in her voice. When her hand brushes against his cheek, Vaughn leans into the touch, but she pulls her hand away. “Or did I imagine you out on the road that night holding my sister at gunpoint?”
Another puzzle piece clicks into place in my mind. “You ran us off the road.”
“It was a mistake, but I saw Vaughn with a girl in his car and I saw red. At that point, I didn’t know that he had no idea what his family had done to me. And I didn’t even realize it was you until after you’d already crashed the car.”
“You could’ve killed me,” I point out mildly.
“But I didn’t. That has to count for something.”
Eventually, all the emotions I’ve been holding at bay are going to come crashing down on me like a tidal wave. But for right now, I need answers more than I want to give into the urge to have a total breakdown. It’s definitely coming, but I can put it off for at least another few minutes.
“Did you kill Brady?” I ask plainly.
“No.” She seems to think about it for a second. “I think that might have actually been an accident.”
“I did it,” Vaughn returns calmly.
Even Olivia looks surprised at that.
“It’s not like I planned to kill him, but after what he did to you, both of you,” he spares me a softer look than I expect and it’s my turn to be surprised, “and he was just standing on top of those stairs talking shit about how he would be the first guy to check both Pratt twins off his list, I saw red. So I shoved him and he fell. You know the rest.”
“We do know the rest.” She turns back to me with a smile full of self-mockery. “I guess chivalry really isn’t dead.”
Olivia looks at me in the way she used to, sweet and indulgent. I never thought I’d see that expression on her face again.
“But the way you’ve been acting…” I start.
“A necessary evil,” she sighs, sounding apologetic. “At first, I hoped you’d get the message and leave on your own before you got yourself hurt. But even I managed to underestimate your stubbornness.” A mixture of regret and amusement color her words as she surveys me. “Once it was clear you weren’t going to leave, I had to make sure that no one linked us together. Our identical faces were a big enough problem. If everyone was convinced I hated you, then no one would suspect that we were after the same thing.”
“What is that exactly?”
“Taking down Havoc House, obviously. But you were focused on the wrong part of it. The little boys that run around St. Barts think they’re so big and bad, but they’re just the symptom of a much greater sickness.”
“You could have come to me…could have told me…”
“No. I couldn’t. You’re my sister and I love you, but I couldn’t trust you to play the long game with me like I needed. Vaughn didn’t even know my actual plans until recently. I’ve been preparing for too long to risk anything. Even for you.”
“You sent Drake to jail.”
“Drake van Koch.” She lets out a rueful laugh, sounding genuinely amused. “I gotta say that I didn’t see Drake coming. Like I said, you have a bad habit of throwing wrenches into the works.”
“Oh, thanks.”
She pats me gently on the shoulder. “Drake is the last person I ever would have thought you’d end up with. I used to think he was one of the worst of them and I assumed you were just playing each other until I saw your reaction for myself. I wouldn’t have had him arrested if I’d known how you really felt about him. By the time I did, it was too late.”
I just shake my head, thinking I’d love to pretend that I can’t forgive her for this. The truth is that I’d forgive practically anything to get my sister back to the way she used to be. “You should have told me the truth sooner.”
“We hadn’t spoken in years. You got yourself sent to juvie over defending me when we were kids. I didn’t have any idea what sort of person you would become. And you tend to be a little reactive. I couldn’t risk you going off half-cocked and destroying everything I’d already built.” Olivia’s gaze cuts to where Vaughn stands behind her, a droll expression on his face. “Especially when I found out you’d gone and fallen in love with a damn Havoc Boy. Stupidest thing a girl can do, believe me.”
“I’m not the only one.”
Her smile is wry. “Guess we have more in common than we thought.”
