Chapter 7

Violet hadn't caught up yet.

She'd been asleep for three years. Her memory had stopped at the moment of the crash.

As far as she was concerned, waking up meant the plan had worked. It meant I had already been dealt with.

So seeing me very much alive — sitting there looking like I owned the place — had completely fried her.

"What — what's going on?"

She finally registered that something was wrong.

She looked frantically at her parents. Then at the man standing a few feet away, radiating cold.

"Liam…"

She switched modes immediately. Her eyes went red, and tears arrived on cue.

"I'm so scared… I had this nightmare that Vivian came back for me, like a ghost…"

Solid performance.

In the old days, Liam would already have crossed the room to hold her.

Now he just looked at her. Like he was watching something pathetic try to perform.

"A nightmare."

He finally spoke. His voice had the texture of gravel.

He walked toward the bed.

Each step seemed to add weight to the air around him.

Violet instinctively pressed back against the headboard. Her eyes flickered.

"Yeah… she was so scary, she was trying to hurt me—"

"Was it a dream about her hurting you," Liam said, cutting her off, his voice unnervingly calm, "or a dream about you hurting her?"

Violet blinked.

"Liam, what are you saying? I would never hurt her. I can't even step on an ant without feeling bad…"

"Is that right?"

Liam laughed.

It was a terrible laugh. The kind that laughs at itself — at three years of being played for a fool.

He hurled the USB drive onto the bed in front of her.

"Then explain what you said before the crash."

Violet stared at the silver drive. The color left her face.

She didn't know exactly what was on it. But the instinct of someone who has always had something to hide told her it was dangerous.

"What do you mean? I… I can't remember, my head hurts so much…"

She pressed her hands to her temples and let out a soft moan, reaching for the oldest trick she had.

Helena, seeing this, lurched forward: "Liam! What are you doing?! She just woke up — stop pushing her—"

"Back off."

The two words came out like a gunshot. Helena flinched hard and went still.

Liam kept his eyes on Violet, and they were like blades.

"Stop performing, Violet. I've seen enough."

So had I.

I stood, gathered the layers of my skirt, and walked to the bedside.

I looked down at this woman who had spent years being untouchable.

"Headache? I have something for that."

I held up the small vial, turning it in the light.

"This is Liam's special recipe. One drink and all your troubles disappear — even the messy memories. Isn't that something?"

Violet stared at the vial. Her body started shaking.

"Stay away from me! You're insane! You're completely insane!"

"Me, insane?"

I leaned down close to her ear, dropping my voice to something only she could hear.

"Violet, you helped make me this way. You were so calm when you cut my brake lines, weren't you? What happened to all that confidence?"

Violet's eyes went wide.

She hadn't expected me to know that much. That precisely.

In that moment, she couldn't hold it together anymore.

The mask — the one labeled "innocent" — cracked across her face. And what showed underneath was something ugly and real.