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“They don’t care about you,” I say. “All they care about is money. They were happy for me to die after I gave them everything. You’re better than them. Let me help you.”
She bites her lip. Maybe I’m getting through to her? She crushes my hopes with a firm head shake.
“I can’t let you hurt Spencer,” she says.
“How can you defend him after what he and his men did to us?” I explode. “How can you stand to be in the same room as him?”
“It’s not about what you want, Ivy. It always used to be, and I never stood up to you. I let you get your way, but I’m not letting that happen anymore. I’m not the weak sister. I’m the strong one now.”
“I’m not leaving here while his heart is still beating,” I sneer. “Are you going to stop me? Are you going to kill me?”
She looks at me, dead in the eyes and says, “I’d do anything to protect my family.”
“I am your family,” I say. “I’m your sister!”
“And look what being your sister did to me. I didn’t have a choice all those years ago, but I do now.”
Her words tear open my heart and hurt worse than any knife wound. Daisy hated me for what Spencer did. She blamed me… just like I blamed myself.
It was my fault. I’d ignored all the red flags. I ignored Daisy’s concerns whenever she urged me to get away from him. I was the one who went to a bar and threw myself at Freddie, which drew Spencer’s attention and, ultimately, tipped him over the edge. She was right. Everything that happened to her was my fault.
“But I need to make him pay,” I reply, my confidence wavering.
If I don’t have revenge, what do I have? It’s been my sole reason for getting up every morning. I’ve been so driven towards my bloodthirsty goal that I never stopped to consider what would happen next. Revenge stretched in front of me like a dark, endless ocean. Without it, I had nothing. I was nothing.
“I won’t let you,” Daisy says.
“If this is about what happened that night…” Uncontrollable tears fall down my cheeks. “I tried to fight for you. I truly did. I would have given anything—my life—to make them stop. I’m sorry, I?—”
“None of that matters now,” she snaps.
“Then, why won’t you?—”
More footsteps come down the corridor. Quiet ones followed by louder banging. Suddenly, a little girl races into the room, heading straight for Daisy. She has red Penrose hair, freckles, a cute button nose…
A man follows the child, grabbing the girl by the waist and scooping her into his arms. He’s tattooed, a few inches taller than Bram, and falls firmly into the ‘never introduce to your parent’s’ category.
Daisy’s eyes narrow in fury. “I told you to stay in the car.”
“Sorry.” He smiles apologetically. “She didn’t want to leave without you.”
“Mummy?” the little girl says in the most adorable voice I’ve ever heard. She peers at me curiously, tilting her head to the side. “Why does the crazy lady look like you?”
Mummy? She looks to be around five years old, which would mean Daisy conceived a child around… No!
Bram catches me in his arms as I lose balance, holding me upright to stop me from falling.
“We’ll be leaving in a minute, sweetheart,” Daisy says, sounding just like the caring sister I used to know, only she’s not talking to me.
“But me and Maria were playing a game,” the girl whines.
“You heard your mum, Ivy,” the man tells her.
“You called her Ivy?” I ask.
That has to mean something, right? Daisy doesn’t reply as the child’s forehead wrinkles in concentration.
“Why is Daddy sleeping?” Ivy frowns. “It’s the middle of the day.”
