“I just had a little talk with someone who put things in perspective.”
Realization struck Bram, and a hot fury rose within him. “Mariana, it’s not what you think. She’s a liar.”
“She?” Mariana laughed, but tears streamed down her cheeks. “So you admit there’s someone else.”
“No! I don’t know what she told you, but you can’t trust a single word out of her mouth.” He was speaking so fast, the words knocked and skidded into one another.
Mariana shook her head. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Mariana, please,” Bram said as she brushed past him on the path.
“I’m just grabbing my things, and then I’ll head down to the shop. Hopefully, my car will be done soon, and I can get out of here.”
“Will you just listen?” he called after her, hating that she was hurting. Hating that he’d let things spiral so far out of control. “She’s crazy!”
But Mariana only quickened her pace, as if she couldn’t wait to get away from him.
Bram watched her, that fury bubbling over now. He couldn’t follow her, not now. By the looks of her, she would only run. Or maybe even scream.
Instead, he trekked on in the direction of the auto shop. Butbefore he reached the fork in the path, his phone dinged. He looked at the screen and saw that it washeragain.
Our usual spot?
Bram wanted to throw the phone, to smash it into a million pieces. They didn’t have a usual spot, but he knew she meant the woods on the Abbott property. It was the place she’d first tried to kiss him.
After he’d rejected her, she’d gotten angry. She’d been bombarding him with texts ever since. And now, she was clearly lying to Mariana, telling her that Bram was cheating on her. If he’d only been up-front with Mariana about everything since the beginning, she never would’ve fallen for it.
Normally, Bram would ignore the text or tell her to leave him alone. But right now, as his blood pulsed like fire in his always-icy veins, he had some things to say toher.
I’ll be there in ten minutes
Bram made it to the woods in six. The canopy of trees was thick, allowing only a circle of light to trickle through. As he waited forherto show up, pacing the forest floor, he thought about Mariana and how heartbroken she’d looked. He felt terrible. Maybe he hadn’t done what she’d accused him of, but Bram had been lying to Mariana for a long time. And in a way, he’d been unfaithful. Maybe all of this was for the best.
Regardless of what happened to Bram and Mariana in the future, though, he needed to do something abouther.Shehad caused Mariana pain, and he suspected she relished in it.
He wondered what he could do to her, to stop her once and for all. To inflict pain on her, the way she had on Mariana.
She was late now, by four minutes. Bram thought he smelled smoke in the distance, a firepit in one of the neighbor’s yards, perhaps. He continued to stew, his mind covered in black and red, as if he were seeing blood painted onto a black canvas.
A sound like a thunder crash came then, so loud the birds cried out and abandoned their perches. Bram dropped down, thinking he was under attack, clutching his head. And then he couldn’t hear anything, deafened by the noise.
But Bram had his sight. And as he carefully lifted his head to look through that hole in the canopy of trees, he saw that the sky was lit up in reds and oranges, the gray of smoke.
The sky itself was on fire.
19
I wake in a panic, not knowing where I am or what day it is. It’s pitch dark. I can’t see a thing, but I feel the blanket over me and the cushions and remember that I was with Henry, on his couch. He invited me over. Apparently, the meeting with Mr. Abbott and the lawyer hadn’t gone well. Mr. and Mrs. Abbott took off again immediately afterward, checking into separate posh hotels in Stowe to avoid not only the local press but each other. Bram and Adam were holed up in Bram’s room, coping via a video game marathon, and Henry needed a friend.
We talked for a while, and then he put a movie on. For once, we watched in silence, all of our words spent. I remember resting my head on his shoulder at one point, but I’m alone now. Warmth fills me, knowing he must’ve brought me this blanket before heading to bed.
But the feeling turns to panic when I think of Dad. He must be worried out of his mind, especially considering the recent murder. I have to check the time, but my phone is lost somewhere in the dark.
Standing up, I feel around on the couch, then move to the end table. With no luck, I head toward the wall in search of a light when my right shin crashes straight into something. I cry out as sharp pain radiates up and down my leg.
I fall back onto the couch, still caught in the dark as my shin throbs.
A light clicks on, and my bleary eyes struggle to adjust.
