Page 128 of Heavy

It’s my mother, sprawled across a couch I still have nightmares of, a needle in her arm and a line of puke down her chin. This isn’t recent, because her hair is still more blonde.

Then she swipes, and I instantly turn away while slapping my hand over my mouth.

“Don’t be so surprised. As though they wouldn’t keep a souvenir of what you gave them.”

I shut my eyes and shake my head.

“My demands areverysimple, and every shred of you and your mother will be erased from my family.” My body is on fire, and I start to breathe heavily against my palm. The tips of my toes go numb, the sensation creeping slowly up my knees, then my thighs. “If you don’t, I’ll release these photos. They’ll find out your poor mommy lied, and that husband of hers used his influence with the DA to overlook thatlittlelie of hers. You know, full disclosure is quite important in her line of work.”

Looking back at her, she casually leans against the seat, a disgusting smile on her lips. Her teeth are slightly discolored, one of them looks newer. I want to piss her off and make a drugs joke, but I feel I’m not in the best position to be snarky.

“What will they say… ‘Mom allows daughter to be raped all over a drug addiction’. No, that won’t do. ‘Mother loses license, stepdad blacklisted, daughter center of it all’ still doesn’t sound right.”

This is a game to her. Does shenotfeel anything?

“I know, how about ‘Daughter centered into investigation after covering for her mother’?”What…“Yeah, because you see, imagine the amount of cases that would need to be reopened that your mother closed.Especiallythose surrounding any sort of drug charges.”

My breath catches. “That makes no sense.” I wish I felt more confident in that statement.

“To you. Ever heard of conflict of interest and ethical violations?” She grins and leans forward onto the table, her arms crossing under her small chest. “It’s very simple, all we ask is for you to take care of a problem.”

“Why me?” I quickly ask. “You seem to have enough power…”

“No, we can’t. It will be too obvious it was us. I can’t risk going to prison.”

I shake my head, dumbfounded by this discussion. “And me…?”

“If you play it smart, it will look like an accident.” She tilts her head. “Woman to woman, this guy doesn’t deserve to live anyway. He’s a piece of shit, and they fucked up the trial. Took his tears as actual feelings. He doesn’t feel.”

My chin trembles as I look down at my nearly empty coffee mug.

“Poison, maybe.”

“You want me to get close to him?” I whisper-shout. “I’m no assassin, I-I help build homes. I’m an interior designer for Christ sakes.”

“You’re pretty and have the smarts to get close. In two weeks, he is getting out of prison. I’ve already got people working to put the file right onto your mother’s desk. She’ll inevitably tell your stepdad, but if she doesn’t, you need topretendlike you saw it in some online news article.”

Holy fucking shit… what is happening…

“You’re a smart, educated woman, Calista. An empath it would seem, considering you’re still wanting to save your poor mother. I’m sure you can make it work… I’ll get you a poison that works over time.” I turn my head on a swivel, afraid that someone is overhearing this blasphemous conversation.

“Don’t worry so much.”

I focus back on her.

“It’ll behumane.He probably doesn’t even want to live.”

“Then you’ll leave me alone for good?” My chest aches. I could care less about my mom at this point. They can go after her, but when I’m done, I’m disappearing.

“You can live your pretty little life alone, blondie.”

Maybe whoever this guy is will just kill me instead, and I won’t have to live with the guilt.

“Okay…” I can’t believe that I’m even considering killing someone I don’t even know. “What’s his name?”

Her filthy grin churns my stomach. “Ronan Byrne.”

One month later