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Got to give her credit, Olivia was a master of deceit, good at hiding her eternal grudge against my mother. It was a wrath that stretched all the way back to their schoolgirl days at West Emerald Prep.
In those days, Olivia was in love with my father. Then Ethan dumped her for Matilda and never looked back. Instead of moving on like a normal person, Olivia simmered in her rage and made long term revenge plans.
I got caught in the middle of those plans.
Olivia framed me for setting a fire. Dozens of people could have been killed. She thought Matilda would be crushed when I went to prison. Joke was on her because Matilda assumed I was guilty. She wasn’t all that broken up to see me hauled away in cuffs.
But there was Olivia, waiting for me when I got out.
And I was stupid to get taken in by her. I know that. I cut her loose pretty quick and she went and married Stuart Ballerini, settling into her role as a West Emerald socialite and political wife. Now and then she’d surface on the east side like a recurring bad dream. I ignored her every single time.
But until that late summer day in the backyard of my family’s home, I had no clue just how far into the depths of her own madness Olivia had sunk. Or what she had done while the rest of us were clueless.
Years earlier, Olivia had mounted a mission to torment and devastate Matilda by destroying the people closest to her. She was responsible for blinding my grandmother. She sent me to prison. She tried to kill Dani. Eternally obsessed with my dead father and blaming Matilda for his murder, her sick mind latched onto me as a substitute.
And then, in a staggering move of incalculable evil, Olivia tried to use my baby sister, Charlotte, to inflict a final act of revenge against Matilda.
I truly fucking hate her.
It’s a hatred with a pounding pulse and a bitter taste.
I hate Olivia like I hate the men who sliced my father into pieces while he screamed.
Not that it’s any use hating a dead woman. Olivia took the coward’s escape and she’s beyond caring about what anyone thinks.
The bleak, grimy scenery of the city has been left behind and we’re closing in on the landmarks of West Emerald. Squatting in the center of town like a mammoth bejeweled fortress is the celebrated West Emerald Golf Club. Built by none other than Yellow Brick Properties. I’ve heard the membership waiting list is two years long. Only the motherfucking best.
West Emerald Preparatory Academy looks unchanged from the outside. It’s probably unchanged on the inside too, just hosting a new generation of spoiled, affluent progeny.
I never got to graduate from here. While the rest of my class was cheering at football games and hooking up at parties I was deposited in the state’s most notorious prison. Some of the other inmates were happy to see me, figuring they would have a field day with a West Emerald rich kid. They discovered the hard way that blood and pain don’t trouble me and that if a motherfucker crosses the line severely enough he’s likely to get his throat cut in his sleep.
A few months ago I received word from the state that my criminal record would be deleted now that everyone knew I was innocent. I even received a signed letter with the governor’s embossed golden seal. Their version of,Yay for justice! Now let’s all pretend this never happened.
I took that piece of garbage, held the corner up to a lighter and watched that shit burn in the kitchen sink.
Seemed fitting. Start with fire, end with fire.
Prison was a hellscape but I feel some pride in surviving. If I were prone to dreams then I’m sure the stench and violence of that place would creep in. But I don’t dream and don’t want to. My relationship to sleep is fitful and sporadic. Rarely do I catch more than two hours at a stretch. Last night when I sank into the void with Tess’s head on my shoulder was the exception, not the rule.
Conner eases the truck down a narrow lane of tall palm trees. He punches numbers in a keypad and waits as the decadent golden gates slowly swing open to allow us entry into the neighborhood.
Ourneighborhood.
We were the princes of West Emerald, expected to conquer the world and make the family proud.
They got two out of three right. Gage is plenty successful. And Conner is a legend.
As for me, I kind of enjoy stomping all over everyone’s expectations. I was never going to be what my mother had in mind.
Conner takes a right and I explode with laughter.
“What?” He looks over and then snorts at the spectacle.
Stuart Ballerini’s front yard has been decorated with a preposterous larger-than-life political sign. He’s pictured in front of a deep blue sky with a constipated look on his doughy face. On one side of him stands his younger brother, Josh Ballerini, all costumed up in his police chief finery.
Ballerini’s daughter is on his other side, looking like she just escaped from Sunday school in a lemon-colored dress buttoned to her neck. Tess smiles sweetly while her father’s heavy hand clamps down on her small shoulder. The caption on the bottom says,“We’re all family here. Vote BALLERINI.”
Gross. I hope Tess didn’t come up with that crap.
