Page 218 of Twins for Three Bad Boys

I’m still laughing, but underneath is disbelief, relief... and fury, the kind that makes your whole body feel too light and too heavy at the same time.

“You sent them,” I state. “You sent the messages. You sent those poisoned emails to Wayne. You threatened me. Over Max? But I was already gone. Why did you keep on doing it? Why try to ruin my life from far away?”

“Because he wouldn’t let you go!” she suddenly yells. “Because every time he looked at me, it was like he was comparing. I needed you gone, out of the freaking country. I needed everyone to see what a bad person you are. Especially Max. Every time we fought, your name was at the heart of it. Every time he wanted to make me feel small, he’d bring you up…”

She stops.

The hall falls silent as she seems to realize she’s just admitted her guilt.

Wayne’s hand flattens against my back. Fletcher shifts closer. Rex’s face is closed off now in the particular way I know means he’s furious enough to be dangerous.

Tiffany’s chest is heaving.

Mrs. Kline looks like she might be sick.

Denise has both hands over her mouth.

And I…

I laugh again.

Not because it’s funny.

Because it’s monstrous... and also ridiculous.

Because I’ve been carrying this thing around my neck like a millstone, waiting for it to drag me down, and it turns out the answer is pettier and uglier and more pathetic than I ever could have imagined.

Tiffany’s face changes when she hears me laugh a second time. Pure, white-hot rage spills out.

“You bitch,” she spits. “You shouldn’t get to just start again. Not when I still had to deal with your ghost.”

She lunges at me, but Wayne moves before I can even react, stepping in front of me.

Everything happens at once after that.

The cart slams sideways into the wall with a crash of bottles and paper towels. Denise screams. Mrs. Kline shouts something sharp and useless. Tiffany gets one hand tangled in the front of my sweater before Wayne catches her arm, but the movement yanks me forward hard enough that I almost lose my balance.

“You think you’re so special!” she screams. “You think he still loves you, don’t you?”

I stagger backward on instinct, heart slamming against my ribs. Fletcher is there immediately, holding me close. Rex moves in from the side, catching Tiffany’s other arm just as she twists, trying to get free so she can claw her way to me.

“Easy,” he grits, nothing easy in his voice at all.

Wayne looks murderous.

His whole face has gone hard and cold in a way I’ve only glimpsed once or twice before, usually when he’s talking about someone hurting Evan.

“Tiffany!” Mrs. Kline snaps, obviously horrified.

Tiffany kicks wildly at Wayne and misses, and Rex finally gets enough leverage on her arm to haul her backward away from us.

“Let go of me!” she shrieks. “She’s ruined everything!”

“I ruined everything?” I choke out.

My whole body is shaking now. Not just from shock. From adrenaline. From the absurdity of hearing those words in this hall, from this woman, after everything she’s done.

I become aware of voices further down the corridor. A classroom door is open and someone is hurriedly ushering children back inside. Panic is moving through the building in ripples.