so much because—” But Chloe stopped.
“You don’t need to hold back. I want to hear everything.”
“I was researching so much because I thought I might be able to help my brother. By then, I was this thirteen-year-old kid, and I thought I’d find some miracle to help him. To change him. To stop him from becoming what I heard them whisper about.”
“You didn’t find a miracle.” Sad. Soft.
No. She hadn’t. “So many signs can warn of trouble. Showing no remorse. No empathy. Repeated lying. They’re all signs. God, I’m guilty of the lies, aren’t I? But it’s because I learned from the best.”
“Chloe?”
“Manipulation. Another sign. Always using others to get what you want. Having no regard for rules. Narcissism. Being so fast to anger. To fly into a rage. But also appearing charming. So charming. You can charm anyone, but if things don’t go your way, then the truth will show. The monster will show.” Her lips pressed together. “I saw her monster.”
“Her?” Joel’s question was hesitant, and she realized…he’d figured it out.
“My mother. She was the one who wanted my brother locked away because she knew what he’d become. It was something she already was. I was putting the pieces together. I was realizing the truth about her. And I even discovered that two of her friends had died within the last year. Violent, mysterious deaths. My mother was visiting both of them when they died. How could the cops not see that pattern? How could they not care? Could her money really just keep hiding everything? I knew I had to stop her. I knew I had to do something. I knew.” Pain roughened her voice. “I asked her if she was guilty, and she told me that those women hadn’t been good friends to her. That was her answer. No guilt. No sadness. And then she went and threw another party.” She’d thought it would be easier to tell him everything while she was in his arms. But…
It somehow felt wrong. Like she was bringing the dirty, darkest parts of her life into a place that should have been special. Safe.
That was how she felt when she was in Joel’s arms.
Safe. Special.
She pulled away from him. Tugged one of the sheets with her and wrapped it around her body as she stood by the side of the bed.
Slowly, he sat up. “Why did you leave me?”
“Because when you hold me, I wish that everything had been different.”
“You didn’t kill them, baby. Morgan told me—I already know that your brother did.”
Shock rolled through her. “I never told Morgan about my parents. Or about who killed them.” If he knew the identity of their killer…
“What?”
“If he knew, then he figured it out on his own.” Just as she’d figured out his past. He knew about the lies that surrounded her. And she knew his. Mutual destruction. Hadn’t he promised her that once? “I’ve never trusted anyone enough with the full story.”
“But you’re telling me.” He climbed from the bed. Yanked on his pants. Didn’t button them all the way as he closed in on her. “Is it because you think you have to do it? Because you don’t.” His hands closed around her shoulders. “It’s hurting you to go back there. I can see it. I don’t want your pain.” His voice was gruff. Ragged. “That is the last thing I want. I should never have made you tell me. I should never have pushed. Baby, you can stop. You don’t have to—”
“My brother did kill them. He escaped from the psychiatric facility. He came back to the house. He snuck inside. And first, he went for my mother. I know because of the security footage I saw later.”
“There was security footage? Shit.”
“My grandfather made sure it vanished.”
“Of course, he fucking did.” His hold tightened.
“He went for my mother, but my father woke up. So my brother stabbed him. Over and over. My mother tried to run. She never stopped to help my father. She just ran. She screamed at my brother and told him that I was in the house. I suspect she wanted him to go after me. She probably thought it might give her time to escape.” Chloe bit her lower lip. She’d found those videos in her grandfather’s study months later. Until then, she hadn’t known that her mother had tried to make her a victim, too, and that her brother hadn’t gone after Chloe.
“But he stayed focused on her,” Chloe continued woodenly. “He stabbed