Page 54 of Break Me: Smith and Belle

“Not alone,” she said defiantly.

“Yes, alone.” I stepped before her, meeting her eyes under the light. “I don’t know how this is going to go down. I do know that if this is a game, it will be too easy to pin this on Belle. It’s what she wants. I can’t let that happen.

“The note proves—”

“What?” I snapped. “I could have written it! I could have taken those pictures. They won’t prove Belle’s innocence at all. If I knew what evidence had been planted, if I could control the narrative, maybe we might stand a chance.”

“Ask—”

“No,” I cut her off. I knew what she wanted me to do. But this was about more than covering up a frame job. “I have to take care of this.”

“What will she do with you?” Georgia asked. “Do you want Penny to grow up without a father?”

My jaw tightened, and I turned to find the moon. “When I was little my dad told me there was a man up there. That the moon was made of cheese. It’s one of the few memories of my father that makes me smile.”

“All the more reason to give Penny more memories of you,” Georgia said softly.

“That’s just it. I remember other things about my father. Meetings with scary men. Him making my mother cry. Being told to go to my room and not make a sound. His body, floating in that fucking pool. I have plenty of memories of my father, Georgia. Horrible memories of a cruel man.”

“You aren’t anything like him,” she said. She grabbed my arm until I turned back to her.

“But will I be?” My question echoed into the night. “He told me about the man on the moon when I was little. It wasn’t until I was older that he broke my heart.”

I wouldn’t put Penny through that. I wouldn’t allow my past to hurt Belle again. She’d suffered enough for my sins. There was only way to be certain she never bore the weight of my past again.

“And letting her win?” Georgia challenged, her brown eyes flashing. “How does that ensure this stops?”

“That’s where you come in. I left an envelope with instructions for you. There’s also one for Edward and Alexander. And one for Belle.”

“You’re not coming back,” she said in a hushed voice.

“I’m just covering my bases.” I forced a smile, but we both knew a lie when we heard it. “Look, just keep this quiet until it plays out—until I know what I’m up against.”

Georgia nodded, looking unhappy at the request. But we’d been loyal to each other for years. She wasn’t going to betray me now no matter how much she disagreed with me. She bent and reached into her boot to pull out a small pistol.

“Take this.”

I shook my head, refusing to take the gun. Tonight, I was bringing a different weapon. One that would free us from all of this forever. “If I don’t come back, give her that letter and tell her—”

“Tell her yourself.” Georgia poked a finger into my arm. “I’ll let you go. I’ll hand out your fucking letters but I won’t say goodbye for you.”

I nodded. It was a fair response. I’d told Belle how I felt in the letter. I’d included another for Penny for when she was old enough to understand. If I could have ripped my own heart out and left it to comfort them I would. Instead, words would have to do.

Still, it had been easier to leave those letters and walk out the door than it was to face my friend now. I’d been able to divorce myself from my actions to this point, compartmentalizing my goodbyes into a checklist. Belle hadn’t known what drove me to her this afternoon. She thought we were simply making up. The letters had been difficult to write but not as much as facing their recipients. I knew that now as I faced one. “Georgia, I—”

“I’m not saying goodbye to you,” she cut me off. “And I don’t want to hear your goodbye, either.”

Georgia pivoted away, her boots crunching on the evening frost as she returned to the house. I watched her go back to the life I’d fought for and the family I’d made, back to the warmth and light and love I would do anything to protect—even if it meant sacrificing myself.

Then, I turned toward the night to do just that.

I used the flashlight on my mobile phone to guide me toward the pond. The security lights perched on the corners of Thornham didn’t extend this far onto the property. It was probably why she had chosen this spot. But I suspected it had to do with that terrible moment a few weeks back when Belle had nearly fallen through the frozen lake. Since the letter had arrived this afternoon I had more questions than before. It was comforting to know that answers were near, even if they were going to cost me so much.

Fog had formed, blanketing the estate in a thick haze that made it impossible to see more than a few feet ahead. Part of me wondered if I’d made a mistake, refusing the gun from Georgia. But now that I was out here, I knew that it would have done me no good. I wouldn’t be able to get a clean shot off unless I was face to face with her. The flashlight’s beam, my only weapon against the fog, brought the trees around the pond into relief as I approached it, their branches’ shadows barely etched into the dark night. Most of the snow had melted over the warmer afternoon. But now, as the temperature dropped, it had begun to refreeze, turning the untended wild grasses surrounding the water to rise like shards of glass from the ground. Light glinted off the blades as they cracked underfoot. It hadn’t stayed cool enough for the pond to freeze over again. It had started to, but as I cast my beam across it I saw a dark patch at its center where it had yet to form ice.

A twig snapped on my left, its assassination echoing in the air around me. Whipping toward the sound, I raised the flashlight as she stepped from behind a tree and cut a path through the mist hovering over the grounds. Her head was bowed, her dark hair curtaining her face. A vice gripped my heart, waiting for her to look up. It was time to confront the ghost of the woman I’d never really known—the ghost of the woman I’d once thought I’d loved.

It was time to face Margot.