My eyes open slowly. I never told him my father had a different last name from mine. I never told anybody. Nobody was supposed to know-it was so obvious why, and I always suspected, didn’t I?
But of all the rules I tried to break, that wasn’t one of them. And I know for sure Zeke would never breathe the name around anybody. Not that he ever had the chance, either. He understood Dad’s need for secrecy even better than I did.
So how did Dean know I’m a member of the Morelli family?
“Can I have my phone back?” My voice is shaky but for a different reason this time. “I want to check in with Blair. I want to see if I can meet up with her someplace.”
“You know you’re only going to end up talking to him, right?”
“But I need to call her. I have to know what’s going to happen after we get back to campus, and I grab the rest of my stuff.”
“How about I give it to you once we reach your condo?”
I force a laugh I don’t feel. “You’re starting to sound like
Zeke. Thinking you know better than I do.”
He doesn’t laugh. “Don’t ever compare me to him.”
My mouth is so dry all of a sudden. I’m afraid my heart will burst out of my chest-or at least that it will beat so fast it finally gives out. “You hate him. I should’ve trusted you from the beginning. It’s like you saw something about him I didn’t see.” I have to keep him talking. I have to figure out how he knew about my father without me giving him a clue.
“He’s an asshole. No, worse than that.” His hands tighten around the wheel. “He’s fucking evil. I wanted so much to tell you, but you had to find out on your own.”
“What do you mean? I mean, how would you even know that? You never met him before, did you?” How, how did he know? He must’ve known Zeke before this. Maybe they were kids together. Maybe he knows Zeke went to work for Dad. But it still doesn’t make sense. Zeke’s seven years older than him, which means Dean would’ve been a little kid at the time. Something is missing.
“No, I never met him before I met you.” He’s breathing a little harder, and I couldn’t describe him as staring at the road ahead. More like glaring at it, so intense I can hardly breathe. “But I saw him before. Only once. But that was enough.”
“Really? Small world.” I can’t believe how hard it is to pretend I’m wiped out and exhausted when adrenaline is pumping through my veins hard enough to make me sick.
“It can be. I didn’t think I would ever see him again.” We blow past the next onramp for the interstate, and now I know he has no intention of taking me straight to school.
The doors are locked-though we’re doing fifty, close to fifty-five, almost racing down an access road running alongside the highway. Even if I could jump, I might be so banged up I wouldn’t be able to get up and run away.
“I want my phone back,” I whisper. “Please. Maybe I can get Blair to meet me at school. That would save a lot of time, and you could head home again.”
“Home? Do you think I have a home?” He looks at me, and I wish he wouldn’t because we’re still tearing down the road. “I haven’t had a home since I was ten years old. Thanks to that motherfucker you sided with. You sided with him so many times. You’re so fucking stupid, so blind.”
“Dean! The road!” Reflex makes me reach out and try to adjust the wheel when he starts to drift off to the shoulder. He recovers quickly, a bitter laugh making my blood run cold.
“So stupid. You stupid, stupid bitch. Trusting him. I bet you fucked him, too, didn’t you? I saw the way he looked at you. At the beginning of the semester compared to the last time I saw him?” He whistles, shaking his head. “You must be fucking fantastic.”
“Why are you saying this? Where is this coming from? This doesn’t sound like you at all.”
“And how exactly would you know what I sound like? Maybe I only showed you what I wanted you to see, the way he always has. The way you let him.” He slams his palm against the wheel with every word.
Now there are tears in my eyes again. Not angry tears, not this time. “What are you saying? Who are you? What is this really about?”
“Oh, now you care. Now you want to comfort me, right? When you fucking rejected me all semester because you couldn’t see anything but him. That evil, murderous fuck, and he was all you wanted.”
“You’re right. I was blind. I only saw what I wanted to see. And now, you can tell me the truth. That’s all I want, the truth. You’ve already helped me so much, you know.”
“Helped you? I had to fucking spoon-feed it to you. You never even thought to pull back the curtain and see what was behind it, did you?” He shakes his head with a disgusted laugh. “No, you wouldn’t. Because your whole life changed for the better, right? Daddy found you, and he’s rich, and he’s connected, and why would you want to know anything more than that? It might ruin the fantasy.”
“That’s not fair.”
“Tell yourself whatever you need to do,” he snarls. “It doesn’t matter anyway. By the time this is finished, you won’t have to worry about anything. You or him.”
Now I wish I had let him drift off the road. I wish we had crashed into one of the concrete supports whizzing past on my right. It would be quicker than what I’m afraid he has in mind. “What are you trying to say?” I ask, feeling small and cold and so alone.
He smiles slowly, but it’s the smile of a demon before the real torture begins. I’ve never seen anything terrifying enough to make me almost lose control of my bladder. Not until now.
“I’m going to take away the thing he loves, the way he took away my life.” He sounds almost happy. “The night he
murdered my father in front of me.” No. That can’t be true.
Yet somewhere in my heart, I know it is.
“And I’m going to show him how it feels to watch somebody he loves die in front of him.” He’s calm. Serene. “Before I kill him, too.”