At first, everything was great. Zaine was really great with my mom and my brother, Sonny, and he had this super high-paying job that meant we got to get out of the crappy house that we lived in and go to a better school.
But then I started to notice how my stepfather would always watch me. It made me super uncomfortable.
Over the next year, I felt more and more uncomfortable. I knew that one day that he was going to do something, and I was right.
He did.
That night he tried, though, I threw up all over him.
He was disgusted.
From then on, I found the trick.
I had to be sick, and he’d stay away from me.
There was something about my constant state of sickness that made me no longer as appealing.
And that’s when I started to perpetuate the lie.
I sold it with everything I had, even incorporating it into my daily life.
It worked, too.
He stayed away from me, but by staying away from me, he got closer to my brother.
Which inevitably allowed her to get closer to my brother.
That’s why I killed my stepfather’s mistress.
That day that you found me and Chevy in the same bed at the hospital was the day that I killed her. She deserved to die for what she was doing to my brother.
Chevy doesn’t know.
Nobody knows.
Nobody but you.
Which is why I’m writing you this letter.
After I’m gone, I won’t be able to protect my baby brother or his baby anymore.
I’m tired, Copper, and I can’t do it anymore.
Please, please, please make sure that you get Sonny out.
Thank you for keeping me safe all these years, and I’m sorry that I disappointed you.
Love you, Copper.
Reign
Sickness tore at my throat as I read the letter a second time.
When I was through, I handed the letter over to Webber, then stared down at the sleeping baby that was in front of me.
If I was understanding right—and I could be interpreting it a little wrong because it was quite convoluted—that day a few months ago when Reign had killed that woman and man in the car, she hadn’t killed just any random person.
She’d killed a sicko.
