Page 33 of Her Wicked Plan

“He asked me what I was doing there, and I told him how much of a dick he was to my sister. That I would not let him continue to treat her the way he was, and you know what he had the nerve to ask me?”

“What?” Leo asks without missing a beat.

“He asked what I was going to fucking do about it. Can you believe that?” A small laugh leaves me from the memory before going on. “I told him I was going to kill him, to which he laughed. He didn’t flinch when I took my knife out of my back pocket.” At this moment, the letter opener slips out from my sleeve. My fist wrapped around the silver handle.

Leo’s eyes glance down at the object, and he leans forward, eyes confused. “Where did you get that?”

“Snagged it from your desk while you were rummaging through your drawer.” I smile down at him while he looks over where he had the letter opener on his desk. “Knives were always my favorite choice of weapon. There is something about them that is just so...” I bring the pointed tip of the opener into my sight. “Beautiful.”

“Veronica, give me the letter opener. Right now.” He demands, and it's hot—it really is. Leo stands from his chair, towering over me as he holds out his hand, but I don’t obey.

I take a step toward him instead, closing the gap between us. “I haven’t finished my story yet.”

“You can finish it without the opener in your hand.” Leo takes another step toward me, asserting his dominance. The scent of vanilla mixed with cedar fills my nose. I wonder what cologne he uses to smell this good. Or maybe this is his natural scent.

“I’m not going to hurt you, Leo. Never would.” My eyes turn innocent for a moment. “He didn’t believe that I could kill him. He just laughed at me, and when I approached him, he never moved. Not even a faltered step backward. When I brought the knife to his throat...”

I raise my hand, placing the side of the letter opener against Leo’s throat, my head tilting menacingly to the side. “Not one muscle in his entire body flinched, but he didn’t know what I was capable of.”

“Veronica…” Leo whispers my name with a shaky voice. It causes my eyes to shut from the intoxicating sound. I don’t know if I’ll ever get over how my name rolls off his tongue.

“Without even thinking.” My eyes shoot open, turning dark. I gently swipe the edge across his throat, only leaving a white line trailing across his throat from the slight pressure. It fades away in an instant. “I slit his throat.”

Leo lets out a breath of relief, and that’s when I hand him the opener. He takes it from me and sets it on his desk, far, far away from where I am standing.

“I had been following him for weeks to get his schedule down. It was the perfect plan. Until it wasn’t.”

“Because you got caught.” His breathing is almost back to normal.

“I almost made it out of there, but as soon he dropped to his knees, body falling over, his front door opened, and you know was standing there?” My eyes harden. “My fucking sister!”

Leo looks almost confused, as if this is the part of my story he didn’t know. Sure, he knew how I killed the guy from my file, but I didn’t go into that much detail on the how with the court.

“Her eyes moved frantically between mine and his lifeless body lying on the ground between us. She kept yelling, ‘What did you do? What have you done?’ I can still hear screaming to this day.”

My fingers tap against my temple, attempting to nudge her cries out of my head. Some days, it’s louder than every other thought stirring in my mind. “She cried and cried while she held him in her arms, his blood getting all over her pretty blue dress. Then she called 911. She fucking ratted me out! After everything I did for her.”

“Veronica, do you think maybe he wasn’t treating her the way you thought?” Leo questions as he returns to his seat.

“What?” My eyes snap up to him.

“Maybe you dramatized the idea that he treated her terribly because you didn’t like him, that her crying and complaining about him were because they had a simple fight.”

“No! Not at all!” I shake my head in disagreement. “Leo, I know how he treated her. It wasn’t all in my head. I’m not that much of a fucking insane person! I wouldn’t have killed him if he wasn’t actually hurting my sister.”

“It just seems, the way you described it based on her reaction to seeing him dead,” he says, but I wave him off.

“He had her brainwashed. That’s all there is to it.”

“If you say so.” He shrugs nonchalantly.

My eyes dance between his, trying to read his reaction and find a deeper meaning in the words he said.

“I’m done talking about this. Can we move on now?” I hoist myself onto his desk, my legs dangling over the edge next to his chair. “You seem stressed, Leo. Is it because of my confession?”

“I am stressed, but no, not because of what you just told me,” he states, watching the way my legs sway. “I knew the extent of what happened that night. Guess the rest doesn’t surprise me.”

“Hmm.” I hum, letting my eyes scan down his body again. His eyes stay trained hard on mine, waiting to see what wild words tumble out of my mouth next. “I can help, you know? With the stress.”