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I held out an arm to keep him at bay. I knew how furious he was, and he had every right to feel that way, but if he dragged his brother to the ground and smashed his head into the stone floor until his skull cracked and his brains spilled out, we’d never get justice for Lindsay. We’d never know the whole story,either.
Adam took a step closer, holding his palms in the air. His eyes were pleadingly wide. “Laney, you have to understand. I didn’t want to do anything to you! You’re one of my bestfriends!”
“So best friends blow each other’s cars up?” I said, tilting my chin to theside.
He frantically shook his head. “I didn’t want to do it. You have to believe me. I really liked you. I still like you!” He took another step closer. “Like I said, you’re one of my best friends. I wanted to have you in my life forever.But—”
“But then I told you I was looking into Lindsay’s death, and I told you I knew that my necklace used to belong to her,” I interjected, folding myarms.
“Yes. I knew it was only a matter of time until you asked your mom about it and figured everything out. So I didn’t have a choice. I had to get rid of you.” He held up a palm again. “But I didn’t want to hurt you. I would never,everwant to dothat.”
I scoffed. “Are you seriously going to stand there and say that after all the shit you’vedone?”
“You don’t understand!” Adam surged forward, reaching for myarm.
Hunter stepped in his path to block him. “Don’t fucking touch her,” he snarled. There was a dangerous gleam in his eyes. “Not unless you want to be the next one who goes over thatedge.”
Adam fell back, keeping his focus on me. “Just listen to me, Laney. I tried to get rid of you without hurting you. I posted that video of you in the assembly that day, and I thought you’d be so upset that you’d leave town immediately,” he said. “But you stayed. You joined the Medusa girls and refused to givein.”
“I know, Adam. You encouraged me to do it,” I said through grittedteeth.
“I had to! I couldn’t make it obvious that I wanted you gone, could I?” he replied. “But I didn’t want to hurt you. If you just left when I posted that video, we could’ve avoided all ofthis.”
I slowly shook my head as I stared at him. “I can’t believe I didn’t see it sooner,” I said in a low voice. “What you’re really like. You’re a fuckingmonster.”
“Please, Laney. I’m not a bad person, I swear,” he said. “I honestly mean it when I say I would never hurtyou!”
“You do realize that the only reason I’m standing here now is because I forgot my phone yesterday?” I said, eyes narrowing. “If I didn’t, I would’ve been in my car when it blew up. I think that negates your entire argument about never hurtingme.”
“You don’t get it. I did that because Icareabout you,” he said, forehead wrinkling. “If you were in the car when it happened, you would’ve gone likethis.” He snapped his fingers together. “It would’ve been instant.Painless.”
“Oh, I see.” I sneered at him. “So you decided to blow me up because you care about me so much. As opposed to slowly chopping me into little bits, or something likethat.”
“I know how it sounds, but I really do care about you,” he said. “I was just… desperate. I didn’t know what todo.”
I let out a short snort. “I think you knew exactly what you weredoing.”
“No. I never planned any of it. It just happened!” he said. “I was so stressed about everything, and it kept snowballing, and then I… I did that to your car. But as soon as it blew up, I knew how terrible it was, and I realized I’d taken it all way too far.” He took another step closer, wringing his hands. “I need help, Laney. I know that. I’ve got a serious problem. But… you’re my friend. You can help me.” He turned his gaze to Hunter. “You can too. Please. All I need is somehelp.”
I let out a heavy sigh. He was so fucking delusional. Either that or he actually thought we were dumb enough to fall for hisbullshit.
“I need to know why you killed Lindsay,” Hunter said, voice dangerouslysoft.
Adam looked away. “I… I didn’t. It was anaccident.”
“Anaccident?”
“Yes. My plans that night got canceled, so I came up here to hang out with her. We were drinking and acting like idiots, and we got into a dumb little playfight, just like we used to do when we were kids. I accidentally shoved her a little too hard, and she fell over. She was really mad at me for that, so she tried to shove me back, but I dodged it, and she went flying right over the edge.” His eyes filled with tears, and he sucked in a deep, shaky breath. “That’s all it was. A stupidaccident.”
“Bull-fucking-shit.” Hunter’s eyes tightened. “It wasn’t anaccident.”
“Itwas!”
“If that was actually true, you would’ve told us right away, because there wouldn’t have been anything to hide. It’s not like you’d get into any trouble for Lindsay accidentally falling over the edge,” Hunter said. “But you didn’t tell anyone. You tried to cover it up instead. You took her necklace and made up a plan to frame one of the maids. Then you tried to kill Laney to keep it all covered up when you realized she could expose you. You wouldn’t have done any of that if it was a fuckingaccident.”
Adam frantically shook his head again. “I wasn’t thinking straight, okay?” He turned his gaze to me. “I didn’t actually frame your mom in the end, did I? I just panicked and went a little crazy after it happened, because I thought everyone would blame me. But I never went through withit!”
“You would have if the police thought Lindsay’s death was anything other than a suicide,” I said coolly. “Hunter’s right. None of this says ‘accident’ to me. It was allplanned.”
