She stared at me.
Behind her, the refrigerator hummed.
Then she stood and walked to the sink, looking out into the dark backyard.
“You were always so good at being innocent,” she said.
My breath stopped.
“What does that mean?”
“It means everyone protected you from everything. Mom. Teachers. Liam.” She laughed softly. “Especially Liam.”
I said nothing.
“He looked at you like you were made of light. Do you know how exhausting that was? Standing next to you my whole life while everyone acted like I was the shadow?”
“Claire…”
“No.” She turned. Her face was wet now. “You don’t get to say my name like you’re kind. Kindness was your crown. You wore it so nobody noticed how much you took.”
“I never took anything from you.”
“You took me.” Her voice cracked. “You grew up. You married him. You had babies. You built this little house of warmth and birthdays and bedtime stories, and every year you needed me less.”
The pain in her voice was real.
That was what made it monstrous.
“I loved you,” I said.
“I know.” She smiled through tears. “That was the cruelest part.”
My pulse pounded in my throat.
“What happened to Liam?”
Claire looked at the papers on the table.
Then at me.
For one horrifying second, I thought she would confess.
Instead, Daniel stepped out of the hallway.
He had been inside the house the whole time.
Mara had not expected that.
Neither had I.
Daniel held a gun low at his side.
“Enough,” he said.
The kitchen became very small.
Claire whirled. “Daniel, no.”
He looked at me with a disgust so casual it felt practiced. “Where’s the drive, Emily?”
My mouth went numb.
Claire backed toward him. “I told you not to come.”
“You told me you could handle her.” He raised the gun slightly. “You never could.”
A thud sounded somewhere upstairs.
Daniel’s head snapped toward it.
Federal agents moved.
Everything happened at once.
“Gun!” someone shouted.
Claire screamed.
Daniel grabbed me by the arm and dragged me against him. Metal pressed beneath my jaw. I smelled coffee on his breath.
