Page 100 of Endgame

My shoulders slump, which is silly.

A glimmer of kindness might shine through Everett every once in a while, but that’s all it is. A glimmer.

In the grand scheme of things, he wants to hurt me.

Yet here you are, in this room, after spending the afternoon looking for him, your captor.

Ugh. Whatever. I blink away the rising sadness. Go over to another shelf.

The titles over here make me smile. They sound like fiction books—there’s nowar, stock market, or a person’s name on them.

I touch each and every spine. These are the first fiction books I’ve ever seen.

Oh, I’m delving into those first. I’ll read all of them.

Right after I’ve completed my tour. The tour that Everett never planned on giving me.

What was I thinking, getting attached to him? Clearly, I wasn’t.

I haven’t been looking at it like I should.

His possessiveness during the wedding ceremony? That wasn’t about protecting me. It was about getting back at my parents for whatever they did to him. They must have done something.

I can’t imagine him wanting to marry a girl he hates and rubbing it in her father’s face for no reason.

Maybeshewas his fiancée and Everett wasn’t the one who killed her.

Maybe it was Dad.

Briefly, I consider the idea before dismissing it altogether.

My parents know that getting locked up is one of the worst things that can ever happen to a person. They wouldn’t have dared murdering anyone if it meant they’d end up in a cage.

I think.

They had to have hurt Everett in another way.

And now I’m a pawn in his revenge.

An unhinged laugh bubbles up inside me. Hating the sad, pathetic sound, I slap a hand over my mouth and walk deeper into the room.

Where another surprise awaits.

Old, worn-out books have been arranged in a square shape. They frame something.

Curious, I edge closer.

My eyes bulge out at what I find there.

A collage of family pictures has been bolted to the wall. Photos of young Everett, smiling next to three people I haven’t met or seen before.

Two of them must be his parents. The similarities between them are uncanny.

They hug him tightly. Him and this young girl.

This girl, she has to bethegirl, the mysteriousshe. She’s beaming. She has such a beautiful smile.

Everything about her is beautiful. Her blue eyes. Her hair, so dark it’s almost black.