The Cursed Series, Parts 3 & 4 (Cursed #3-4) - Rebecca Donovan Page 0,121

her out of everything.

The more distance I get from the night of the dinner at the lake house, the more bitter I become. They claim time heals. In this instance, time deepens the wound. I can’t help wondering if Lily’s fingerprints are on some of the little unsolved events that have occurred—the door to the study room shutting, my dead Blackwood phone while I was lost in the Court and Blackwood knowing I wasn’t at the country club that night with Grant. Was that Lily too? Or maybe the still-unknown person who’s been sending the notes and pictures?

What bothers me the most is, like her father, I believed her. I thought she was a friend. And I hate being deceived more than anything.

“Because she’s basically a Harrison,” Brendan explains, “which means she has a target on her back like the rest of us.”

“So?” I mutter.

Ashton gives me a questioning slant of her head. I focus on my food, recognizing I’m being a brat.

“Do we know who the monster’s date is yet?” Arden asks.

“No,” Brendan replies. “I’m still working on it.” He leans in conspiratorially and whispers, “But … I did find out something that’s weird.”

We all stare at him, waiting for him to continue.

He sets an old-fashioned lunchbox lined with aluminum foil on the table. “Phones.”

After our phones are sealed in the Star Wars lunchbox, Brendan darts his eyes around before looking directly at me. “Thorne Industries has a bunch of shell companies. Don’t ask me why, but a little over a year ago, one of them bought the house you’re living in.”

I sit back in my seat, not sure how to react. That seems to be a thing with me today. I’m a ball of discombobulated emotions, not knowing what to think or feel about anything. It’s like I’m at war with myself. Angry one minute. Nervous and anxious the next. And now, maybe surprised. But am I really? I don’t feel like anything should shock me anymore.

The entire table stares at me, anticipating a reaction that doesn’t come.

“Does anyone have a theory why—other than to have access to me and my mother?”

“But they bought it before the night at The Point,” Ashton notes. “Way before any of this happened to you.”

“Something special happen a little over a year ago?” Lance asks, trying to connect the dots.

I meet Brendan’s gaze. Two things happened around that time … Morgan Wolfe was murdered. And Julia Thorne died, having written me into her will.

Brendan doesn’t say either of these, although I know he’s thinking them. “Maybe they want to tear it down, build condos. Gentrify the neighborhood. And why not start with the home of the woman who knows a secret that involves their family?”

“What secret?” Lance asks, enthralled, like he’s listening to a grueling fairytale.

“That is the question,” Brendan replies dramatically.

I sigh and reach for the lunchbox, removing my phone to effectively end the conversation. It buzzes as soon as I lift it out, making us all jump. A message appears on the screen.

I look around the table uncertainly. “Uh, there’s someone in the admin building for me.”

“I’ll go with you,” Arden declares. Before I can protest, she adds, “No one should go anywhere alone today, remember?”

“It’s my brother,” Lance says. “Joey just messaged. I’ll go. He has something for me too.”

I walk toward the entrance while Lance shovels his omelet into his mouth and almost collide with Sawyer on his way to our table.

“Lana,” he says like he’s been expecting to see me.

“Sawyer. Hey,” I say, having completely forgotten he was starting at Blackwood. “I heard you were transferring here. How have you been since … that night? Grant said you were okay, but …”

“Grant? Oh, he’s the guy who brings out that beautiful smile,” Sawyer says with a slight tilt of his mouth. I shrug in affirmation, pressing my lips together to keep them from bursting into that same ridiculous smile that the thought of Grant tends to ignite. “The next day … sucked. But I’m okay.”

“Guess you have a dark side after all if this was their choice for you,” I tease.

“Honestly, my parents like this place for the security. And there isn’t a school that will tell them no.” Sawyer looks around the dining hall, inspecting who he’ll be stuck with for the upcoming school year. “How bad can you guys be? Although … I have been asked to wear a camera to the dance tonight.” He laughs in that infectious opened-mouth way he does, like the