“He didn’t even ask her to the dance,” Adam continues. “Just brought her here to the house. Called sitting on the couch a date. I’d planned on taking her on a road trip to see all the flowers in bloom. I’d planned a lot of things for us, mostly outdoors, because Mariana loves to get out of the library and be in nature. The first time I met her, she had a wildflower tucked in her hair.” His fingers move to his ear, gaze veering from the floor to the window. “But Bram didn’t care about what she wanted. He stole her away and stuck her in this damned museum.”
Something about Adam—about the way he tells the story—seems off to me. There’s a shiny, almost maniacal look in his eyes. I don’t know what to believe. Still, my heart breaks for him. He doesn’t shed a tear, but I feel his pain. “That’s terrible, Adam. I’m so sorry.”
“Oh, I’m just getting started.” His lips curve as he stares into the crinkled, empty cup. “They were together for a whole year before I found out what he was doing behind her back.”
He looks up at me, and when his blue eyes meet mine, fear lances through me, so sharp and acute that my upper body goes numb.
“Bram was cheating on Mariana. He stole her from me, andthen he couldn’t even stay faithful to her. He couldn’t be content with theonething I wanted more than anything.”
I try to swallow. “No,” I say, “he wasn’t cheating. You’re wrong.”
“Isawhim. I saw her too.” He smiles, and suddenly, I want to get up and get out of this room. I want to run down the stairs, out the front door, and never face him again.
That day with Bram in his closet by his painting—or later, when he chased me into the woods—flickers in my mind like a fire, growing and consuming my thoughts. Heating my body to such a degree that I can’t take it. I don’t ask who the girl was. Iwon’t.
Adam didn’t see us that day. He couldn’t have.
“The day Mariana died, I told her the truth about Bram.”
No.I feel dizzy. Adam, his smashed cup—they’re coming in and out of focus. Even his voice is deep and distorted, like it’s been altered by one of those voice changers.
“She said she was going to break up with him,” Adam says, almost a bittersweet note to his now-warped voice. “An hour later, Mariana was dead.”
17
“I thought you had no memory of what happened that day,” I say quietly, my mind still reeling.
Adam’s glassy eyes spark now. “I remember everything up until Creek Bridge, when I told Mariana about Bram. After that is when things go hazy. I don’t remember her getting in the car. I don’t remember who finished working on it. I don’t remember how I got my injuries. It’s all lost up until I woke up in the hospital and they told me she was gone.”
I still hear the pain in his voice. But it’s a conveniently small window of time to have forgotten. “I don’t believe you,” I say.
“That’s because you can’t accept the truth. About Bram. About yourself. You fell into his trap the same way Mariana did.”
“No, but you—you’re saying BramkilledMariana?” My brain feels like it’s about to explode. “That’swhat you meant when you said it’s the only way to save myself? The only way to save my life?”
“What? No.” Adam sobers suddenly. He looks at the crushed cup in his hand and tosses it onto the floor. “No, I…” He shakes his head. “I’m talking about thispowerhe has over you. You have Henry, a boy who loves you, right in front of you. Just like Mariana had me.” He glances at the bookshelf, and I don’t have to wonder why. “I know you love Henry—I’ve seen the way you look at him. But you’re going to lose him and regret it forever. All because Bram takes some sick pleasure in stealing girls away and draining the life out of them.”
“No.” I shake my head. “Bram never did that.” But I no longer believe this, nor do I think that Adam is inventing this tale about Mariana.
I think of the camera footage, of Bram’s words outside.This evidence, it’s pretty damning. Maybe damning because Bram did exactly what the cops think he did. He was seen in the woodswith Kennedy, though he denies being there. And yet…he was the first on the scene. He discovered the body. What if Lydia’s theory about Kennedy dating an Abbott in secret was reality? If Bram was dating Kennedy and she wanted to end things, maybe Bram couldn’t accept it. Just like when Mariana tried to end things an hour before she died.
“I don’t feel very well,” I say, trying to stand up and knocking my elbow on the armrest.
“Damn it,” Adam says, crossing the room. “Here. Let me—” But I wave him off, and he takes a step back. He stands in the middle of his bedroom, wringing his hands. “I’m sorry, Hayden. I didn’t mean to upset you. I do care about you. It’s only that I care about Henry’sfeelings too.”
“But I—In the garden tonight, I never did anything with Bram.”
He doesn’t argue, but his gaze falls to the floor. My stomach clenches. He thinks that I have singlehandedly come between all of them. And if he told Mariana about another girl, I have to assume he’ll tell Henry about the garden. Despite the fact thatnothinghappened out there.
And I’ll lose him before he was ever even mine.
“Please, Adam,” I say, my voice breaking. I want to tell him about everything I’ve kept secret on his behalf. All of my suspicions this past week that I’ve kept locked away. But of course, doing so would be ludicrous. “He mentioned a call with your father,” I offer.
Adam’s eyes snap to mine. “What call?”
“He didn’t tell you?”
Adam neither confirms nor denies. Instead, he presses his lips flat and begins pacing the room.
