Page 17 of To All the Men I’ve Killed Before

I should be furious with her.

I want to be furious with her. She completely ignored what I told her about killing this man. And because of her surprise murder I’m going to have to break my best friend’s heart.

I reach out and take the glass. ‘Thanks,’ I say.

She tentatively strokes my hair.

I can’t be angry with her. She’s my sister and, however reckless she’s been, her heart was in the right place.

‘Are you angry?’ Her voice is small.

I shake my head. ‘No,’ I say, ‘but we’re going to have to go home. Like, before people start asking questions about him.’ I nod in the direction of Ron Wilde’s head.

‘What about Aidan Ward?’ Antoinette asks. ‘What about Tor? What about the Ripper?’

‘It’s too dangerous to stay here now,’ I say. ‘People are going to come looking for him. They probably are already.’

‘I’m sorry,’ she says and she actually does look it.

‘It’s okay,’ I say even though it’s not. I look at the lipless head again. ‘What the hell happened? I’ve only been gone two hours.’

‘He was at the pool earlier,’ she says as she perches on the edge of the bathtub. ‘Already drunk. Or still. He followed me back to the room.’

‘He followed you?’

She nods. ‘Yeah. So gross. He recognised me from the restaurant last night, which is amazing considering how messy he was then too. He sort of pushed his way in, going on about how I should come to the penthouse for a private party.’ She makes a gagging noise. ‘He’s old enough to be my dad. My grandad. Anyway. I smacked him over the head with one of the bedroom lamps.’

It wasn’t recklessness.

It was self-defence.

That changes everything.

I pull myself up from the floor and sit down next to her on the lip of the tub.

‘Do you think he would’ve hurt you?’

She shrugs. ‘Who knows. He was really wasted. I doubt he could’ve really done much. But, you know, he came into the room without consent, so—’

‘You did the right thing,’ I say.

Antoinette looks at me. ‘But I’ve messed things up for you.’

I slip my arm around her shoulders. ‘You’re safe. That’s more important than anything else.’

She leans into me and we sit like that for a moment before she pulls away.

‘I suppose I should start packing then,’ she says.

‘Yeah, I’ll look for flights,’ I say, reaching for my phone, which I abandoned on the floor before I threw up.

Just at that moment it starts ringing.

‘Kits, your phone,’ Antoinette helpfully tells me.

‘Yeah, thanks,’ I say as I grab it.

It’s Tor on FaceTime.