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“He said the same thing to me, but how can that be true? You didn’t side with your parents, did you? You told them it was wrong.”
“Till I lost my voice, and my car, and my bank account. I let them hear it until my folks started leaving the room when I walked in. But it didn’t do any good,” he said, voice hard. “They were so close to finally crushing the Burkhardts underfoot. Making them second best. I told you it’s a sickness, Luna, and we’re not the only family who has it.” He waved a hand. “Everyone around here is so obsessed with moving up the ladder.”
I sunk down, resting my head on the cushion again, and his arm. “Why aren’t you?”
“Don’t know. I mean, I like my life and all the privileges that come with it. But it was always enough for me. I didn’t need more, more, more like everyone around me, though there’s privilege in feeling that way too. It’s easy for the guy on top to roll his eyes at everyone scrambling at the bottom. If I wasn’t a Wilson, it wouldn’t be so easy for me to survive in this town. It wouldn’t be so easy for me not to care.”
Rising up, I scooted closer. “I get what you’re saying, but I won’t let the Royals off the hook. Yes, it’s a brutal game of secrets, lies, and favors, but they don’t have to play. There are neighborhoods all across this country where people just live. They wake up, go to school, go to work, come home, be with their family, and do it again the next day.
“They don’t plot to benefit from their son’s marriage and kick him out when it falls apart. They don’t drive innocent young women to suicide.”
Victor looked away.
“The Royals are like this because they want to be. Because deep down, they enjoy playing with people’s lives and crushing someone’s head to get to the top. You’re not like them, Victor. That should make you feel proud, not out of touch.”
A smile stretched his lips. “You wouldn’t have said that a week ago. That I’m not like them.”
“A week ago you were acting like a jackass.”
He barked a laugh. “Need I remind you, you made out with my brother while engaged to me. I was entitled.”
“Do you want to hear the truth of what happened that night, or not? Because if you do, I want you to make up with Adonis afterward. Don’t punish him for something I did when I was drunk.”
“Now you were drunk too?”
“There was a lot of alcohol involved.”
Heaving off the seat, Victor cuffed my chin. “Maybe another night. I want to hold on to my anger at you both for keeping it a secret for a little longer. Can’t do that if it really was harmless.”
“Why would you want to be angry?”
Victor gazed at me for so long, the silence crept beneath my skin. “Because we’re not best friends yet,” he said, voice soft.
He walked away, leaving me to wonder what that meant.
And fear that I already knew.
I WAS FIRST TO ARRIVE at Grover’s bench. I chose it for a reason. It was the spot Owen was sitting while basking in his after-blow-job cruelty to his date. This was the bench where I planned to kill him, but the Rogues stopped me.
That night started the journey to where we are now. It was only right that this was the place I finally came full circle.
A shadowy figure hurried down the lane, decked out in oversized sunglasses and a long, black designer coat.
It was only right this is where I find out the truth.
“Hello, Gabby. Thank you for coming.”
Gabriella joined me on the bench, glaring hard through her shades. I didn’t need to see her eyes to know. I felt the heat from her hatred clear as day. “Pictures. Delete them. Now.”
I smiled. “Come on. You know that’s not how this works. First, you tell me what I need to know, and then poof, the photos proving you were at the Bluffs with a sweaty, naked motive to push Annika to her death go bye-bye.”
“Stop saying it like that,” she snapped. “It was self-defense. She kept coming at me.”
“Was it self-defense that made you leave her broken and bleeding on the sand without calling an ambulance?”
She said nothing.
I shook my phone at her. “Might want to come up with an answer to that question, because the cops will surely be asking that. Your lawyers may have scared Annika into silence, but she’ll find her voice the second these hit her inbox.”
“Okay! I’m here. I’ll tell you what you want to know. Enough already.”
Satisfied, I leaned back, crossing my legs at the ankles. “Good, then let’s not waste time. What’s the T.O.D. Club?”
Shock bled through her grimace. “How do you know that name?”
