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She quaked in front of me, eyes fixed on the floor. Her fear visible.
Moments later, her gaze lifted to meet mine, and her whole demeanor changed in a heartbeat. Her back straightened, her head lifted higher, and a sneer spread across her lips. She reached behind her, pulling out a gun and pointing it at us.
She slowly bent her head one way and then the other, cracking her neck as she moved.
Confusion tore through me as Frankie pushed herself into my side.
“Rylee?”
“Fuck, it feels good to ditch the weak bitch facade. I hated everything about her, but she served her purpose. It’s pretty amazing what you can do when the people around you don’t think you’re worthy of their attention.” I stared at her, unable to comprehend the difference. Meek Rylee had vanished and in her place was a dark-eyed woman who stared at us like we were her prey.
“Rylee, what the hell is going on? Rob, do something,” I begged.
“What’s going on, Tanner, is I’ve spent the last two years trying my very best to fuck up your life,” she spat out. “To take everything from you. To make sure you get what you deserve. Rob has been helping me.”
I tried to swallow down the bile that rose in my throat, knowing that these two people were the ones who’d been tormenting me, ruining my life and the lives of the people I cared about. I turned to Rob, waiting for him to deny it, but he simply shrugged and then winked at Rylee before moving to lock the door.
Rylee started to pace, waving the gun about wildly. Pulling Frankie behind me, I tried to mask the fear tearing through my body as I stared down the barrel, while Rob just looked on.
“Now, where to start, Tanner? Shall we start with my birth? My mum decided to give me up when I was born. She already had a kid and apparently couldn’t cope with two. She signed me over and left me at the hospital. She didn’t even try. I bet she never even held me. Selfish bitch. Her other kid ends up becoming part of a world famous band. I end up homeless, abused, and utterly alone in the world after years of being in care.”
“What?” My mouth hung open as her words sunk in.
“I’m your sister, Tanner. Well, half-sister. You must have been about two. She gave me up. My life was hell, but you got the golden ticket.”
Forgetting about the gun, I lurched at Rylee, furious that she thought that my bitch of a mother gave me an easy ride. “She fucking abandoned me. She made me feel worthless and unlovable. How is that a golden ticket? That woman broke me,“ I screamed.
Reminding me that she had all the power right now, Rylee stepped towards me, gun outstretched, making me move backward, pushing Frankie as I went.
“Yeah, but she came back for you,” she countered, the bitterness in her words clear to hear. And even when she didn’t, you got saved by the lovely Lori and Phil. How are they, by the way? I think after I’ve seen to all of you, I’ll go visit them next.”
Frankie gasped from behind me, her hand tightening in mine.
“This has all been you?”
“Like I keep saying, it’s easy to hurt people when you’re invisible. To pour drugs into their booze for months, so they get fucked up every day. Watch as they overdose. It’s easy to take photos of them when they’re moments from death. Easy to listen in to conversations, to follow them when they don’t want to be seen, to leak stories and spill secrets. It’s easy to search for the man who fingered your pathetic girlfriend and spend time perfecting your handwriting so I can forge notes and plot kidnappings.”
Fuck, Emmy. Was she even safe right now? What if Rylee had other people helping her hurt us all?
“When you’re invisible, people will take water from you without saying thank you and don’t even wonder what you’ve spiked it with. You can pay women to give an unconscious, drugged man a hand job and make it look like he had sex so his little girlfriend leaves him and it’s easy to pick up the discarded condoms from hundreds of one-night stands because you were such a twat you left them lying around for someone else to clean up. And it’s easy to tip them over the girlfriend’s bed while you trash the place. Maybe I should be sorry, but I’m not. I’ve had a fucking ball watching your life spiral and have a ringside seat to see you unraveling.”
Rage bounced around my chest as her words sank in, but the gun pointing at me and Frankie, who I could feel trembling behind me, made me force it down.
“What the fuck, Rylee? You nearly killed me. Twice. Nearly ended the band. Sent Emmy running and nearly ruined my relationship. Why? What have I ever done to you?”
“Nearly, nearly, nearly.” She sang out like a frustrated child. “I was so close, so many times, but none of it did what I wanted. I wanted to watch you lose it all. I didn’t care if that meant you losing your life or losing everyone you cared about and the band. I just wanted you to suffer. To feel a tiny sliver of the pain I’ve had to endure in my life. To know what it’s like to have nothing and no one,” she screamed at me, her eyes wide and manic.
“Mum leftyou.Why the hell have you come after me? Why didn’t you just tell me? I would have taken care of you.”
“Like fuck you would have. You had a family. A new little sister, twin brothers. People who weren’t even your parents, but loved you like their own.” She pressed the gun beneath my chin, forcing my head upward. My stomach dropped and my hand squeezed Frankie’s as I closed my eyes, waiting for the inevitable. Instead, she leaned in close. “You wouldn’t have wanted a dirty, broken, homeless nobody, staining your life. I mean, what would the press have said? Anyway, did you meet yourself a couple of years ago?” Dropping the gun, she stepped back, and air rushed my lungs as my chest heaved with relief.
“Off your face, screaming at everyone around you. Was I supposed to rock up and let you know I was your sister?”
I struggled to calm my fear enough to reply. “That was exactly what you should have done, Rylee. Not tried to fucking kill me and ruin everything good in my life.”
“Actually, Tanner, you did a pretty good job of ruining your own life. You were already a mess when I arrived. I just increased the drugs you were already taking and added a few extra nails in your coffin.”
“And Rob? Has he been in it the whole time?” My eyes flicked up the piece of shit we nearly let take over our security, who had hidden in the shadows for months, doing the bare minimum. I’d lost count of the number of times we’d tried to sack him, but the label liked him, so he always stayed.
