Page 115

this until I decide what to do. I need to figure out how to fix

this. Quietly. Nothing, not one word to anyone, unless you

want me to crush and silence you through legal means, which

it’s obvious you can’t afford. I could make your life hell. I

could break you so thoroughly that you’d never find the

wherewithal to put yourself back together.”

So many threats they made Coralyn’s head swim. It hurt that

this Giana, this ruthless woman, had replaced the one who was

there when Coralyn needed someone the most. How could two

opposing forces exist in the same person like that? What had

happened in Giana’s past that she’d remembered that made her

the way she was?

How did she remember? Did she just wake up and

everything was there? Something must have happened.

“Please, Giana, my father just died and—”

“What did you think? That’d we’d just continue to

playhouse, the happy couple? That you could hide here, and

I’d deal with all your shit for you?”

Had she been happy or was she just being extra mean

because she was in a position to be again? Had she

experienced a few moments of joy, of rapture, a sense of

belonging that she’d never found anywhere else, over the past

few days? Was she thinking about that now or was she just

filling in the gaps with sarcasm?

Coralyn studied Giana’s eyes, and the wounds there were

real. From the past? From memories? Or from discovering

Coralyn’s deception?

Coralyn hung her head. “No. I just wanted you to be with

me.” There was no time for lies now. That game was over.

“I don’t care.”