Page 64 of I’ll Find You

“It's why he left," she continues in her calm, controlled tone. “He didn't want anyone to know about me.” A flicker of something darker passes through her expression. “So I stayed hidden.” Dr. Somersworth watches her but doesn't stop her, letting her tell her story. “Out of the way,” she adds. “Like I was supposed to be.”

Lucinda shakes her head slowly. “This is all insane. You’re all insane.”

Chelsea looks at her and then. Almost kindly. “No,” she says. “It’s just the truth.”

My chest tenses with worry because all of this is building into something more. I can feel it. It’s all part of a plan. Dr. Somersworth’s voice cut through again. “She’s more like me than you, son,” he says. There’s no warmth there, just cold calculating eyes, and now I understand what he means. Chelsea doesn’t react to any of it. She just stands there certain in her place.

Maxwell shakes his head, hoping that all of this isn’t real. “No,” he mutters. “No, this…this is insane. You’re not⁠—”

“I promise you I am,” Chelsea says more firmly this time, though she still doesn’t raise her voice. She’s too calm for my liking. People who are that calm always break the worst. “I just didn’t tell you.”

Lucinda stares at her with wide eyes. “Why would you…why would you do any of this?”

Chelsea looks at her like the answer should be obvious. For a moment, her expression turns distant, distracted by a memory only she can see. “Simple,” she says with a shrug of her shoulders. “I enjoy playing with people. How people act toward you depends on what you show them. See how they act when you take it away.”

Maxwell’s breathing picks up. “Stop saying things like that.”

She ignores him. “You don’t really remember that night, do you?” she asks, looking at him now.

His expression falters. “What?”

She chuckles now. “You were so out of it,” she continues. “I helped you with that,” she turns to Lucinda. “Because I am such a good friend. I drugged Maxwell so that he would look at you and give you the attention you were so desperately looking for by whoring yourself out to him daily.”

Lucinda recoils, and Maxwell’s face drains of color. “No.” Lucinda looks like she’s going to be sick.

Chelsea looks over at me now. “He didn’t really choose her, Rose,” she adds. “Not really.” Her lips pull downward.

“Shut up,” Maxwell snaps, yanking against the cuffs. But she keeps going.

“I helped you, too,” she continues. “I planted doubt even with that bear.” She points to the one on her bookshelf, identical to the one Maxwell had in his room. “Then, after Maxwell was caught with his pants down,” she lets out a small, amused laugh, “so to speak, it was easier for you to leave, but then you went and got with Alex.” She looks over to her father. “And that just made things better, hitting two birds with one stone. I pretended to like him to get back at his father for what he did to mine. Stirring things up for him when he was in medical school, making accusations…” She shrugs lightly. “And now look.” Her eyes flick between us. “Here we all are.”

Lucinda shakes her head, tears starting to fall. “Why? Why us? We were your friends.”

Chelsea goes still, and for the first time, I think she feels sad about what she’s done, but then something else passes across her face. Anger flashes across her face, chased quickly by jealousy. And she just confirms it all with her next words.

“You had everything,” she says as her voice rises an octave. “Friends. History. People who were there for you without question.” She looks at Maxwell briefly.

“Him.” Maxwell flinches, but she continues. “I didn't even get to exist,” she says. “Not really.” Dr. Somersworth stares but doesn't interrupt. Doesn't deny it. “I was the part of his life no one was ever supposed to see,” she says, nodding slightly. “Something that didn't belong anywhere.” She pauses, her gaze drifting somewhere beyond the room. “I watched you all,” Chelsea continues. “How easy it was. How careless you were with each other.”

Her eyes settle over me, accusingly. “And you,” she adds. “You are always trying to be loved. You trust too much.” A chill runs through me. “So I fixed it,” she says.

Lucinda lets out a broken laugh. “This is fixing it?”

Chelsea doesn’t react to her question. Maxwell shakes his head, frantic now. “You drugged me.”

“Yes,” she admits.

“You ruined everything,” he chokes.

Chelsea stares at him for a long moment. “No,” she says at last. “I showed you what was real.”

Dr. Somersworth steps closer. Chelsea doesn’t move or question it. “This one is not like the others we’ve killed,” he says, almost thoughtful. Reverent. A chill works its way down my spine.

He crouches, his fingers working at the strap around my wrist. The first restraint slips free, then the second. Pins and needles shoot through my arms as blood rushes back into them. He moves to my ankles, releasing each strap with the same detached precision. My muscles twitch, desperate to move, but I force myself to stay still.

"You've been interesting to watch," he says, as though I'm still bound to the chair in his daughter's cabin in the middle of the woods. I don't let myself believe I'm free. Not yet. Not until he rises to his full height and turns his back on me.

“You were chosen because you're easy to break.”