Page 17 of He Had It Coming

She’d told friends about him. I had a video chat with her every week and she’d mentioned him in passing. Insisted he was a rich jerk and I’d begged her to stay clear.

Jerek’s eyes were wide open now and focused on me. “I was trying to do the right thing and push Ruby away. She was wearing this scarf. It all happened so fast.”

“Jerek.” Maeve sent him a panicked look that seemed to say, Be careful.

“No. Don’t jump in and try to score points or gain some sort of advantage by acting like the good one.” He issued the warning and kept going, digging the verbal hole even deeper. “The security video from that night was clear. I didn’t chase after Ruby. I didn’t drag her into the park. We were walking and laughing.”

That’s what the police officers had said to cover their inaction and negligence. They seemed happy. Loving even. The words were seared in my brain. I’d read their report so many times I’d accidentally memorized it.

“You refuse to believe we were seeing each other,” he said.

That’s right because they did not see each other. Ruby wouldn’t. He forced his way into her life. Kept at her. The server from that night confirmed that. “You harassed her.”

“We went on a date the week before. She didn’t tell anyone because it was new. That night was another date.” He sounded exasperated but he stuck to the script that someone likely wrote for him long ago. He’d repeated the same fantastical words over and over for years. “We agreed to meet up. She was angry because I was late, which was fair. I was always late back then, but she thought it meant I didn’t care about meeting up with her.”

My hand tightened around the hilt of the knife. “You should write fiction.”

He kept talking. Droning on. Spreading his lies. “I tried to shove her off me and she got . . . weird. Blame the alcohol. Blame the adrenaline. Whatever it was, I tried to stop her.”

“She hated you.” And with every ounce, every breath, I hated him, too.

“She didn’t.” He shook his head but immediately stopped.

Maeve winced. “Ruby’s friends admitted she didn’t really hate him. She seemed . . . interested.”

An unexpected Hayes sibling double-team? No thank you. “I’ve read the police file. That comment came from one acquaintance who barely knew Ruby. Did your daddy pay him off, too? Either one of you can answer.”

“Maeve can tell you. Dad questioned me about what happened. He was furious. Thought I was bringing the entire family’s reputation down. He never would have covered up for me.”

“Well . . .” Maeve delivered another wince. “That last part isn’t true.”

“Oops. Didn’t expect that, did you, Jerek?” That’s the sibling disloyalty I’d counted on. The inability of these two to hold a firm line. Their obvious mutual dislike combined with their respective needs to compete and emerge the winner ran too deep. It would lead to their undoing. “Is it time to spill a family secret?”

“He blamed me. He punished me.” Jerek pitched his case directly to Maeve now. “He told NYU I should be removed, then made me feel like a loser for not graduating.”

Maeve rolled her eyes. “He protected you when it came to the criminal case.”

“You’re on her side now?” Jerek nodded in my general direction.

“She wants you to admit what you did, then we can leave. Just do it.” Maeve’s hold on the chair turned her knuckles white. “After all these years, give it to her.”

Maeve didn’t have the facts right, but she’d landed on the right conclusion. On the reason we were all here. “Yeah, Jerek. Listen to your wise big sister. Admit it.”

Jerek ignored me and focused on Maeve. “You’re supposed to be the smart one. Do you not get this? Sabrina Forde is crazy.” He shot me a look but only for a second. “And do not patronize me about name-calling.”

There was no way I was stepping in and breaking this momentum. Not when it swung so hard against him. “I’ll let that one reference slide.”

“Sabrina has no intention of letting me get off this boat. Look at my arm. At the blood on the back of my head.” Jerek’s attention switched from Maeve to me. The scowl, the fury, he aimed it all in my direction. “Tell her what you plan to do to me.”

He seemed to be confused about why Maeve was here and about who I was rooting for in this fight. “Your sister is doing great without my help.”

“God, Jerek.” Maeve let out a long, exasperated sigh. “Do you really think you’re the victim here? Dad used to lock himself in his office with his lawyers. They’d spent hours coming up with strategies and working the prosecutors. That was all for your benefit.”

“I lost everything.” Jerek’s self-centered grumbling never changed. He’d been repeating the same words for years.

“You sound like a petulant child.” That might be the nicest thing I’d ever called him.

“Even now, you’re hell-bent on wasting company resources on the Anonymous site. More lawyers. More investigators.” Maeve’s clipped tone echoed through the cabin. “As if what they did last time to rescue you wasn’t bad enough. Their tactics.”