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That bastard is going to pay for what he did, though.

So is Emmy.

She had a hand in this, too. She left the house knowing Bill was going to do something awful to me.

Hell, we wouldn’t even be in this mess if she’d hired a farmhand who could actually handle a tractor. Or if she’d bothered to make sure she and I were covered in case of a medical emergency.

She’s not my mother, but she’s the closest thing I have.

A mother is supposed to protect her child. Not force her to do tasks she has no business doing. Not leave her alone with her pervert of a fiancé to do God knows what to her.

So over the last few days, I’ve started gathering materials. I wasn’t just sneaking from Emmy’s closet. Dozens of orange bottles littered the medicine cabinet, several of which bore a name other than hers.

But to do this right, I’m going to need patience. A lot.

In the meantime, I’ll play the part.

The good little farm girl. Obedient to her stepparents. Never complaining about the hard work she has to do. Sweet, pretty. Pigtails and everything.

The kind of girl no one will ever blame for what I’m about to do.

34

AUS

I didn’t tell Thea the whole truth.

I couldn’t. Not now. It isn’t relevant.

At least I hope it isn’t.

Rouge is dead. I went to go see her body myself.

She didn’t have a funeral—who on earth would offer to pay for one in light of what happened?—but I couldn’t believe it when I heard she was dead. I had to see her corpse in person.

I thought she was invincible. Immortal even.

She turned a blade on herself. Pierced her own breast with it, making sure her heart would never beat in another’s chest.

In the end, she was the only woman who could take herself down.

She was cornered, don’t get me wrong. Bianca and Harrison did a great job exposing her. The secret weapon was apparently her bouncer, Chet. She thought she could trust him. In the end, his allegiance was to chaos and chaos alone.

I paid an armed guard off to get into the morgue. Approached her table, pulled the sheet back.

She looked as immaculate in death as she did in life. Her clothes hadn’t yet been removed, and she wore several of her infamous red diamonds. Had it not been for the gaping stab wound over her left breast, I’d have thought she was simply sleeping.

But she’s dead.

Dead dead dead.

I saw it myself, even listened for a pulse against her cool neck.

Which means this red diamond isn’t from her.

At least not directly.

But it could be from someone who was aligned with her.