“Where are they?” I see red. If she did anything to Davy…“What did you do to them?”
“I was telling the truth about them running away. I imagine they’re just off on some stupid little lovers’ trip. They probably headed down to the bus station or something equally cliché. My parents will find them and bring them back.”
I let out a breath. Davy—safe, thank God.
But that means we’re truly alone.
No one is coming to save me.
Kendall goes on: “This all happened because no one cared about what I wanted. We all could have saved ourselves a lot of trouble if anyone had just listened to me.”
“I’m listening.” I have no idea if I can talk her out of this. If she killed her own brother—I don’t think I have a chance. But keeping her talking is buying me time. “Tell me.”
She’s quiet for a long moment. And then she starts to speak.
“I didn’t want to work for my father,” she begins. “I didn’t even want to go to college. I wanted to start my own business. But when I turned eighteen, Daddy refused to give me access to my trust fund. Said I was ‘too irresponsible.’ ” There’s a quiet undercurrent in her voice: rage. Kendall is absolutely furious. “So I got my act together, got into school—with his help—stopped basically, like, all my spending, started working for my dad’s company, and what happened? Still no trust fund.”
Kendall’s sudden revamp on her social media. Her partying pictures changed to serious student pictures. That was all for her father’s benefit.
“He didn’t want to give me what I deserved,” she goes on. “Nothing I said or did would move him. My mom wouldn’t help. Thatcher wouldn’t help. So I was stuck living a life I didn’t want. And there was nothing I could do about it.”
The rage in her voice is growing. I keep walking.
“And then—I stop by the office last summer and find one of my best friends, Fiona, making out with my father.”
I flinch.
Kendall catches that. “Yeah. Gross. Also, what a fucking hypocrite my father is. Telling me how to live my life, denying me my trust fund, and all this time he can’t even keep it in his pants?” She snorts. “But that gave me an idea.”
I step on a twig, which makes me jump.
“I went to your sister the next day,” Kendall goes on. “Told her what I saw. Asked how much he was paying her. Because he was definitely paying her. I could see it in her eyes. She wanted his money. Nothing more.”
I swallow. I knew it was all true. The phone proved it. But still, the confirmation of what Fiona did to get what she wanted makes me want to throw up.
“She begged me not to tell. And I said I wouldn’t. For a small fee.”
I glance back at her, nearly tripping on the undergrowth.
Kendall shakes her head. “It was such a simple idea. I can’t believe I didn’t think of it sooner. He paid Fiona—and Fiona paid me.” Her face darkens. “Until she stopped.”
“Why did she stop?”
She prods me forward with the gun. I have no idea how close we are to the ravine. But my only hope is to keep her talking. Maybe she’ll get distracted, maybe she won’t notice how slowly I’m walking, which will give time for someone to come—
But who would come? No one knows I’m here.
“Fiona told me she didn’t want to pay me anymore,” Kendall goes on. “She said she was the one who was putting it all on the line, sleeping with a guy she didn’t even like. She didn’t think it was fair that she was doing all the work and I was just collecting the money.” She snorts. “Like anything is ever fair. She said she didn’t care who I told—she was done paying me off to be quiet. She was going to keep all the money for herself. For her stupid ballet school.”
Her voice has dropped to a whisper in her outrage.
“So that’s when you decided to kill her?”
Kendall scowls. “She was sleeping with a married man. Not only that—the same married man her own mother used to sleep with.”
That stops me in my tracks. “What?”
“Oh, you didn’t know that?” She smirks. “Yeah. Your mom and my dad were sleeping together, back in the day. My mother paid her off to disappear. Maybe it will give you some small amount of comfort? Knowing your mother didn’t just abandon you for nothing—she abandoned you for a bunch of money?”
Before I can even process this, Kendall goes on. “Your mom wasn’t the first, either—but she was the only one my dad fell in love with. Maybe that’s why he went for her daughter. Trying to relive his glory days or something.” She snorts. “Fuck him. And fuck the sluts in your family who fell for him.”
A bolt of anger goes through me. “Don’t—”
“I’ll do what I want. I’m the one with the gun.” She gestures again. “Walk.”
But I don’t move. “How are you going to get away with killing me, too?”
“I have a plan,” she says calmly. Her voice is deadly soft. “Now move.”
I want to call her bluff. But I’m afraid I’ll come out on the losing end. If she shoots me right now, I’ll be gone, and no one will know the truth.
I keep walking. “So Fiona stopped being useful, so you decided to kill her?”
“Not exactly. First I had to come up with a plan.” Kendall pauses. “And then it came to me. How easy it would be to keep this going. Find some dumb, pretty young girl who needs money. Put her in front of my weak can’t-keep-it-in-his-pants father. Tell her I won’t say anything—for a cut.”
I look back. She’s actually smiling now.
Her expression darkens. “But I couldn’t do that while he was still obsessed with your sister. And she wouldn’t agree to end their deal. I gave her a chance to walk away. It’s not my fault she refused. Basically sealed her own fate.”
