The drug was the same one you used to off your father.
In my peripheral vision, Chase continues to play, Echo has come over to sit down for a while and is happily chatting with Beckham, and Royal has taken her place with his son. But all of it seems hazy and unreal and like it might get ripped away from me at any second, because they don’t know the trouble that is silently erupting on my phone.
My throat goes dry. How? How the fuck does he know? Fuck. Fuck! However he does, I see what his intentions are a mile away. That mean fucker plans to pin these new murders on me, even though I sure as fuck didn’t do it.
A violent wave of nausea slams into me, and I’m on my feet in half a second as my stomach revolts. Running for the patio door, I fly inside, startling River and Kara at the kitchen table. I skid around the corner and fall to my knees in front of the toilet, retching up the contents of my stomach. I heave and heave until there can’t possibly be anything left.
“Wilder.” Echo’s soft voice comes to me as though through a tunnel. She squats at my side, peering into my eyes as she lays a hand on my back. “Are you okay? What happened?” She pauses. “Are you sick?”
When I don’t answer, she picks up my sunglasses that’d hit the floor when I tore them off right before I puked. After that, she reaches for something I can’t see.
My phone. Fuck! I try to grab for it, but she shushes me, and sets it on the counter without looking at it.
“Come on. Let’s get you up,” she murmurs.
The way my heart is ramming around inside my chest cavity is reminiscent of the day I watched my dad die. I unfold my body, trying to contain it by gripping at my chest as I struggle to draw in each and every breath. With Echo watching me with keen eyes, I move to the sink. Wash my hands. Splash somewater on my face. Rinse out my mouth. Each little thing is meant to make me feel better. More human. But I’m not. I’ve never been since that day. I glance toward the open doorway and find Beckham and Royal hovering beyond the threshold.
Swallowing, I ask, “Chase?”
“River and Kara are in the backyard with him. It’s fine.” Echo tucks her lower lip between her teeth, worrying it as she watches me. I brace my hands on the counter, and a moment later, she slips her arms around me. “Whatever it is, you can tell us.”
“We’re here.” Beckham’s voice is scratchy, the furrow in his brow declaring his concern.
I take a deep breath, pick up the phone, and hand it to Royal. “Read the texts from Brian.”
His eyes dart to mine, but he nods. “Yeah, okay. In a sec. I wanna make sure you’re okay.”
I exhale harshly. “Just read it. Please. All of you.”
We move as a unit out to the living room, where I collapse onto one of the couches, my head in my hands.
“Fuck. Is this?—?”
My face burns and my breaths come out ragged and grotesque. Wallowing in the misery I made, I keep my eyes on the floor, waiting as the phone gets passed around.
A huff of shock. A flustered gasp. A muttered expletive.
I swallow thickly. Will they understand? I finally look up, anguish radiating off my skin as I meet each of their gazes. “I can’t take back what I’ve done.” My voice sounds gritty and raw to my ears, but I continue. “The Sin Keeper gave me a way out. A way to set my family free. And if given the choice, I’d do it all again. Because it saved my mother. And it saved River. And I think it may have even saved me. My father was a monster. But to protect us, I had to become one, too.”
After a moment’s pause that feels like an entire lifetime, Royal drops down to sit at my side, putting an arm around myback. “You did what you had to. Period. End of discussion.” I blink, staring into his pale-green eyes. The understanding there nearly knocks me over.
The couch shifts at my other side, and I turn my head, knowing instinctively that it’s Beckham. “I wish I had known. That’s a hell of a burden to carry on your own.” He grasps my hand, lifting it to his mouth, and kisses the back of it.
My breath catches as my gaze trails to Echo. She stands before me, emotion filling her eyes. If she says she’d rather not have me around her child, I will totally understand. But it’ll kill me to walk away from her.
She takes one step toward me. Then a second. And before I know it, she’s curled onto my lap, fitting herself against my chest in a tight embrace. She tucks her head under my chin, sweet-smelling red hair and all. I feel her sigh with my entire body before she eases back to look at me, her brilliant green eyes glossy, her lip trembling. “You arenota fucking monster. You slayed the goddamn dragon. You’re a protector. A fucking dark knight.”
“Does that make me Batman in addition to Superman?” I give an uncomfortable, sad chuckle, but Echo smiles, and that’s all the answer she needs to give me.
“You were my hero.” River’s voice startles me, but her words are like salve to an open wound. “Still are. Everything you’ve done has been to take care of Mom and me.” Her face pinches, as if she’s remembering things she’d rather not. “I-I thought it may have been you. Worried like hell you’d get caught.” She holds up the phone. “But then the evidence was mishandled. And it was like a get-out-of-jail-free card.” Her gaze slides to Royal with a wince. “Sorry,” she murmurs.
Royal waves his hand, brushing her well-intentioned comment away.
I absorb River’s words. It had never been clear whether my sister had a clue what I’d done or not until the other day when she’d whispered to me I wouldn’t get away with it a second time. I’m still unnerved she’s known and has never said anything. And now… My brain slowly rakes through what she’s said— Eyes crashing shut, my jaw clenches.No. Please, no.
Before I can say anything, River sits on the coffee table opposite us and reaches out, fingers grasping my forearm. “It seems like he’s suggesting you killed these two people, as well.”
I shake my head, my entire body tense. “No. I fucking didn’t.”
