Page 86 of Crossed

Regret swims through my veins like poison.

She came to me first.

And I turned her away.

Chapter33

Amaya

I’M SITTING AT A LONG CONFERENCE TABLE IN Parker’s office, staring at a TV at the head of the room.

Parker sits to my right, his hand on the back of my chair. My lawyer Jason is across from us on the other side of the table, and for some reason, Cade is here, having been with Parker when I arrived.

I hadn’t wanted Cade to know about the whole murder thing, but c’est la vie, I guess. Cat’s out of the bag now anyway.

It’s been two and a half weeks since Andrew died, and his murder hit the news today.

There’s a beautiful woman on the screen, two small children with her. One is a boy with bouncy blond hair and the other a tiny baby, can’t be more than a few months old. A microphone is shoved in the woman’s face, and someone off to the side hands her a tissue to dab the tears from her eyes.

My stomach is in my throat.

Andrew wasn’t an important man, just a midlevel banker from downtown Coddington Heights, but it doesn’t matter. Drama is drama, and they’re spinning this as something even more grotesque than what I ever imagined.

“The similarities between Andrew Gleeson’s death and that of Candace Walker, a woman from Festivalé, are striking. But is there a connection? Or just coincidence? For now, the lead detective on the case says they’re not sure.”

God, the way my panic is making me spiral.

A serial killer.

They can’tpossiblythink it’s me.

But it wasn’t exactly a secret that Candace and I didn’t get along, and I have connections to both of the victims.

The TV switches back from the voice- over to Andrew’s wife. “We just want to know what happened. Whoever did this…” She swipes beneath her eyes with the handkerchief and looks directly in the camera. “I hope you rot in hell.”

Her voice cracks and it sends guilt cascading through me, almost like Ididdo something wrong, even though I’m innocent.

“Turn it off.” Cade’s voice is ice.

I don’t look over at him because I’m not sure why he’s even here. But I wish he wasn’t.

Jason and Parker both ignore him, and Jason’s eyes meet mine.

“Look, it doesn’t matter what they’re saying— ”

“They’re saying a lot,” I cut in, my voice shaking.

“Doesn’t matter,” he repeats. “The evidence isn’t there.”

My leg bounces beneath the table, and my eyes go back to the TV screen.

“I said turn. It. Off,” Cade demands.

The temperature in the room drops, the cold slicing through the air like a knife, dragging across my skin.

Jason clears his throat uncomfortably and leans forward, grabbing the remote and shutting it down.

“The way both of you sit here and are willfully ignorant to how badly she wishes to beanywhereelse,” Cade hisses, throwing a hand toward me.