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I get nothing and taking a deep breath, I twist the handle and push my way through to an empty bathroom.
The fuck? Where the hell could she be?
My brows furrow and I move back toward the bed, glancing over it again. The pain killers that were laid out for her are still on the bedside table, but at least some of the water has been drunk, though that very well could have been Dominique when she snuck in here this morning.
I let out a sigh and turn to walk out of the room when a piece of paper catches my attention. It’s torn from a book and resting just down the side of the bed, stuck between the mattress and the bedside table. She must have left it on her pillow and when Dominique came in, it flew right off.
I lean against the bed and scoop down, the movement making me cringe as that same dull ache that I suffered through all night reminds me that it’s still there. Capturing the paper between my fingers, I drop my ass to the bed and glance over it.
There’s text printed all over one side and as I flip it over, I find Ember’s familiar handwriting scrawled across a blank page.
Winter,
I don’t know how to thank you for taking me in. I didn’t deserve your kindness after the way I treated you. You offered me a way out and I laughed in your face. You deserved better than that.
I’ve done terrible things for Paris, things that will weigh on my heart for the rest of my life, but I truly believed that she loved me. I thought we were finally going to be a family, but I was fooled. I should have known better. You tried to warn me and even though I saw all the signs, I chose to ignore them. I’m not trying to make excuses for my behavior, I just wanted you to understand where my head was. I know, it’s fucked up, right?
I know that I will never be able to make it up to you, and I’m sure that you don’t even want me to try. The Winter that I knew would just want to beat the shit out of me with her brass knuckles and tell me to fuck right off.
I’ve clearly made some big mistakes but I’m smart enough to know that you just want me gone, and after everything that I’ve put you through, it’s the least I can do. I want to be away from here. I want to have a chance at a real life and if I don’t slip away now, I don’t trust that those guys of yours aren’t going to shove me right back in that cell.
I know that I deserve it, but I won’t go back there. That place is a living hell, but I guess you already know that.
I’m going to get out of here and you will never have to see me again. I just … I wanted you to know how sorry I was. I really do wish that things could have been different, but despite how awful he was, you killed my father, and it’s only a matter of time before you kill Paris too. A friendship between us would never have worked out.
For what it counts, I hope you take down Paris and I hope you make her suffer. My eyes are open now and I see her for who she really is, and that’s someone that I don’t ever want to become.
Make her pay, cousin.
Ember
I stare at the note for far too long, wondering why the hell I still care so much. Ember burned me in the worst possible way. She was my first friend here, at least that’s what I thought. I gave her all my trust and I opened up to her in a way that I’ve never done with a girlfriend before, and even now, the betrayal still stings, but knowing that once I walk out this door, I will never have to think about her again makes my world seem like a much simpler place.
Getting up from the bed, I curl my fist around the note and walk into the bathroom before searching through the cupboard for the small packet of matches that lives beneath the sink. I light one up and a sick joy spreads through me as I dip the edge of the page into the flame.
Fire licks up the paper, getting closer and closer to my fingers until I have no choice but to drop the paper into the sink and watch as it burns, leaving the last piece of Ember Harding behind, and hopefully I’ll be doing the same to her mother before the day is out.
Making my way back downstairs, I let out a deep breath, not missing the way that each of the boys glance up, curiosity flooding through their eyes. “She’s gone,” I tell them, not wanting to waste time talking about the note when there are more important things to be focusing on. I nod toward the table at the mess of papers, contracts, and blueprints. “What have we got?”
