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“I don’t see anything wrong with taking some of the endless dirty money they own. Besides, both of you are in one piece, for now.” She points the gun between the both of us.
Maya stands in front of me, even though she’s shaking uncontrollably.
“Here’s how it’ll go, girls. You’ll both keep your mouths shut or I’ll personally kill the mom and dad you care for so much.”
“Here’s another deal for you. Drop your weapon or I blow your head off.” The click of a shotgun follows next and I nearly cry when I see Landon standing behind Mrs. Pratt.
“Oh my. Seems that I have more of an audience than I bargained for,” she says. “Did you tell him when I called, Maya?”
“No, she didn’t,” Landon says. “But I’ve seen her behaving completely out of sorts and figured something was up. The same happened when she was acting out of character in front of the chess club, so I started gathering information. I suspected both Frank and the college professor Kayden since they were standing there when she nearly lost her marbles. Kayden, though suspicious as hell, had a strong alibi almost eleven years ago. In fact, as I was snooping around him, he asked me how well I knew Frank, because a few things weren’t adding up. Such as how he suddenly developed a British accent. That was enough to make me dig further into Maya. I had a friend install spyware on her phone. I saw the text she sent you when she found out about Frank. How she was agitated and threatened that if you didn’t keep him from Mia, she’d tell her parents everything. She also told you that if you wanted to take care of anyone, it should be me since I apparently know more than I should. It was also because of her that you figured out they were coming back home. So I made sure to be here when you showed up. I knew you couldn’t let such an opportunity pass. But not everything is going according to your plan, Kirsten. I’m happy to tell you that your husband is currently being detained by the local authorities. Now, whether or not he gets transported to prison or dies in a freak accident on the way there, I guess we’ll know soon. But first, I suggest you drop the gun. I don’t have much training with this thing, so I might unintentionally or intentionally end up blowing your head off.”
Mrs. Pratt’s face turns a deep shade of red as she turns around all of a sudden.
A scream bubbles in my throat and everything crashes down in matter of seconds.
“Landon, noooo!” I shriek as a shot rings in the air.
And then another.
And then my vision turns blood red.
40
MIA
Life can flip upside down in a fraction of a second.
Eleven years ago, everything I knew crashed and burned into a thousand shreds.
That nightmare shaped my life, and now, once again, I find myself in a similar situation that I have no control over.
Once again, it’s silence.
But this time, it’s different and more potent.
Like remnants of destruction, all I can do is watch as life is pulled from beneath my feet and shoved down my throat.
My temperature rises and tears haven’t stopped streaming down my cheeks since I witnessed the bloody scene.
Mrs. Pratt shot Landon.
After eleven years, she actually did what she promised all those times and hurt someone close to me because I failed to keep my mouth shut.
It’s all my fault.
Everything.
If I’d just told Mom and Dad, I’m sure they would’ve found her and eliminated her and her husband.
But when I was younger, I wasn’t emotionally or mentally strong enough and allowed her to get into my head. I believed her when she said that if she could get to me, she could get to Mom and Dad and slice their throats in their sleep.
I believed her more when she used her wooden ruler to shut me up when I started to scream. She slapped and threw me against the nearest wall the moment I started to be a nuisance.
So no, there was no reason why I wouldn’t believe she was capable of much more with Mom and Dad. She managed to infiltrate our airtight security, so why wouldn’t she do more to the two people I loved the most?
And worse, what if she also targeted Maya and Niko as well?
A part of me was ready to remain silent forever if it meant I would protect them. I was prepared to sacrifice my voice for good in order to make sure everything remained as it was.
