Page 164 of Her Wicked Plan

Until Stephanie's boyfriend.

The others went under the radar because, after all, my parents could pay off the crime, and being the nice daughter I am, I didn’t want them to waste any more money on me.

“Ronnie?” A soft voice in the distance draws me back to the present. I had almost forgotten I was sitting at the table with Eliza until she came into focus. “You all right?”

“Hmm? Yeah.”

“You had this murderous look in your eyes,” she informs me hesitantly.

I hold back a smirk. “Just thinking about the past.”

With the red piece between my fingers and the hopefully-matching one in the other, I snap them together, and they fit. “Look! I did it!”

Eliza beams at me. “See? Puzzling isn’t so bad once you get the hang of it. The next one, you’ll be a pro.”

“Don’t push your luck, Eliza,” I warn with a taut laugh. “This is the first and last puzzle I’ll be doing.”

“If you say so.” She smiles and focuses on the work before her.

CHAPTER 43

Leo

A few weeks have passed since Veronica’s sister came to visit. The end of May snuck up on us, and in the time that has flown by, I’ve made many attempts to call Stephanie to talk through what happened, but whenever she answered the phone and found out who was calling, she hung up on me.

She wanted nothing to do with talking to me or speaking of her sister. It makes me feel awful for Veronica. I understand she wasn’t expecting the visit to go any other way than it did, but I hoped that it would have been civil.

I’ve also only taken her back to my room a handful of times when the sessions were nontraditional. We used the hour that was meant for discussing issues being glued to each other's bodies. If I could keep her in my bed all day, I would, but sadly, we don’t have that luxury.

I’ve internally panicked each time I brought her into my room, wondering if that were the time someone would catch us, but luckily, no one has yet.

Having her in my bed, in my arms, feels right. It is better than bringing a girl home from a night out and then waking up to the realization that I’d been holding them all night.

Veronica isn’t like them.

She isn’t a one-night stand.

She genuinely seems to care about me.

The obvious reason is that she’s a sociopath.

I haven’t been able to go home the past couple of weekends since we have had mandatory staff meetings. This weekend, however, I am free to visit. I’ve been calling my mother most nights to check-in. She tries to fool me with her sweet voice, but I know that underneath that, she is tired. The cancer is exhausting her.

I informed Veronica that I would be gone this weekend. Unless something drastic unfolds, there are never sessions on the weekends, so there will be no new doctor to take my place.

She was understanding about it. She even told me that if I left during the week, she’d be okay with another doctor sitting in. The shock sent through my body at her honesty made me dizzy. It’s unlike her to agree to change.

She also promised me she wouldn’t do anything stupid while I was gone and would force herself to do another puzzle with Eliza.

Veronica knows what will happen if she does, and to my surprise, in the past few weeks, she has kept her promise and hasn’t gotten into a physical fight with anyone.

I have, however, overheard her threatening girls, scaring them with her words to leave her alone. It never ended up being anything other than a verbal confrontation. For that, I am thankful.

The drive to my parents wasn’t awful. I sifted through emails on my phone, responding to the important ones and sending the scammed-filled ones to the trash. By the time I filtered through all the messages, the car had pulled up to the house.

Stepping out of the car, the air was silent. This time, no one opened the door to greet me. There was no Carter running up to scream his hellos, no Myles behind me as I approached the front door.

I didn’t bother knocking, just let myself in. The sounds from the back living room are muffled, but I can tell the television is on, soft speaking between the room occupancies. I set my bag down in the entryway, slip my shoes off, and start toward the noises.