Page 51 of Stay Away from Him

“I can’t believe it,” Melissa said as she came to the end of the diary entry. Rose’s last written words—before she died. Killed, by her own daughter. “Kendall’s always been so sweet.”

“It’s all an act,” Rhiannon said bitterly.

“No,” Amelia said. “Not an act. That part of Kendall is real enough, in its way. The part she created to protect her from the reality of who she really is.”

“But how could she have actually killed Rose?” Melissa asked. “She was, what, twelve when Rose was killed?”

“Maybe she surprised Rose,” Amelia said. “Stabbed her a couple times before she even knew what was happening. After that, with the blood lost, she could have been too weak to fight back. To call for help.”

Melissa glanced at Rhiannon, whose face was so white it looked like she’d lost some blood herself.

“Did you see it happen?” Melissa asked.

She shook her head. “No. I found them after it was over.” She drew in a shuddering breath, then broke down again.

Melissa could tell it was something she’d been holding in for a long time.

“There was so much blood. And Kendall was—she was digging at Mom’s eyes.

Saying something about how she wanted Mom to stop looking at her.

” Rhiannon let out an animal wail, the sound seeming to possess her body.

Her hands came up to the sides of her head, her fingers hooked, her nails clawing into her skin.

Digging at Mom’s eyes. Melissa’s stomach lurched, burning, to the back of her throat. She clapped a hand over her mouth.

Amelia rushed to Rhiannon, sank to her knees in front of the couch, grabbed at Rhiannon’s hands. She pulled them away and held them against Rhiannon’s lap, where she couldn’t hurt herself with them. Then Amelia leaned forward until her forehead was resting against Rhiannon’s.

“It’s okay,” Amelia said softly. “You’re safe now. And it’s not your fault. Okay?”

“Dad told me I could never tell,” Rhiannon said. “He told me I had to keep it a secret.”

Amelia put a hand behind the girl’s neck, angled her head until they were looking eye to eye. “He shouldn’t have done that. People aren’t supposed to live with things like this without telling anyone.”

Rhiannon looked at Amelia for a long moment, then closed her eyes, folded her lips together, and gave a little nod. Melissa let them be. It was their moment. It had nothing to do with her.

“You didn’t know?” Melissa asked softly after a few seconds passed.

Amelia turned to her, shook her head. “No. Thomas came to me that day and asked me to take the girls. He said Rose was missing, he needed to go up north to look for her at their cabin. Kendall was calm, but Rhiannon…” She looked back to Rhiannon, squeezed her hand.

“Rhiannon had obviously been crying. I thought she was scared for her mom, but now I know she was in shock. Honey, I’m so sorry. ”

Rhiannon only shook her head, her face contorting with a blend of emotions Melissa could only guess at. There was sadness there. Perhaps forgiveness, for Amelia. And maybe a touch of relief.

Amelia turned back to Melissa. “But I had a sense that something was badly wrong, long before that day. It started when they came back from that trip and Thomas pulled Rose out of therapy, even though she clearly needed it. And then after she went missing, when he insisted on coming to me for therapy. He can be very persuasive.”

Melissa thought of how he pursued her, how he won her over in spite of her hesitations. “He certainly can.”

“Rose was hiding something,” Amelia said.

“All along. There was something she wanted desperately to talk about, but she couldn’t.

Then, after she went missing, and Thomas insisted that I should see him , it was the same thing.

It was almost like he wanted to admit it all to me.

He was subconsciously creating the conditions for a full confession.

But then he couldn’t bring himself to do it. ”

“Why did you stay? Why didn’t you move, if you knew something was wrong?”

“I cared about him,” Amelia said. “God help me, I cared about Thomas. Still do. And the girls. I think I had the sense that I had to stay close. That something terrible would happen if I left. And now—”

She glanced back to Rhiannon, who’d gone limp on the couch, her eyes glassy.

“When I saw that woman’s body,” Rhiannon said softly, as though she was talking to herself, “it was like it was happening all over again. Like I was finding Mom’s body again.”

“You were following me today, weren’t you?” Melissa asked.

“I was.”

“To protect me from Kendall?”

“She was so angry after Dad proposed to you, and that thing that happened,” Rhiannon said.

“The big fight, and Dad getting arrested. She’s protective of Dad.

I think he’s the only person in the world she really loves.

She thought you were bad for him. And she was going to do something bad to you, I know she was. I tried to talk her out of it.”

Melissa thought of the conversation she’d overheard between the two sisters the night before. “ She’s not Mom . That’s what you told her. You were defending me.”

“She wouldn’t listen. She snuck out that night, went through the woods to your house.

I followed her. That’s how we saw you talking to Kelli.

And that man. Derek. Dad’s enemies. We were hiding in the trees and heard everything you said before you went inside.

Kendall was going to kill you that night, but I talked her out of it.

Told her she’d get caught. But then later that night, she left again.

I woke up early and found her bed empty. ”

“So you took the car and went to find her.” Melissa ached all over, thinking of it—Rhiannon, just a girl herself, taking on the responsibility of keeping everyone else safe, of being a human shield between her dangerous younger sister and the rest of the world.

“You staked out the house in case she came back to get me. Then followed me to the jail. And went to Kelli’s house after you realized she was the one in danger. ”

“Kendall’s panicking, I think,” Rhiannon said. “Now that Mom’s body has been discovered, she thinks she’s going to get caught. She’s going after anyone who’s trying to get to the truth of how Mom really died.”

“Okay,” Melissa said. “So where is Kendall now?”

Amelia stood. “Who’s a threat? That’s who she’ll go after.”

“Derek Gordon? But he ran off after I accused him of killing Kelli. She can’t possibly know where he is. And I don’t see how she could overpower him. Even if she did take him by surprise.”

“That leaves…” Amelia trailed off, winced.

“You, Melissa. The woman who’s trying to steal her father away from her.

The one who’s responsible for the assault that landed him in jail.

Bad things didn’t start happening until you came into their lives.

It’s not fair, but it’s how she sees it. She’ll come looking for you next.”

“Me? But she doesn’t know where I am eith—” Melissa stopped short, a sudden panic washing ice-cold over the surface of her skin. Lawrence and Toby’s house was the only place Kendall would think to look for her. She wasn’t there.

But Bradley was.

Melissa fumbled for her phone and called Lawrence. She rose as the call rang through, clutching her keys, ready to run to the car if she didn’t get him. He answered.

“Melissa?”

“Lawrence. I’m about to come back home. Just—if Kendall Danver comes by, don’t let her in, okay? Don’t even answer the door. In fact, you should lock up until I get there.”

“Melissa, what are you talking about?”

“I’ll explain when I’m there,” Melissa said, her hand on the doorknob, getting ready to run.

“But Kendall is already here.”

Her hand stopped on the knob. Instead of turning it, Melissa braced herself against it as a wave of dizziness passed over her.

“Lawrence, I need you to tell me exactly where she is.”

“She’s in the backyard with Bradley. She said you asked her to come keep him company until you got home. Bradley was happy to see her.”

“I need you to go get him right now,” Melissa said. “Get him away from her.”

“Away from Kendall? Honey, you’re scaring me. What’s going on?”

“Just do it!” Melissa shouted.

She heard rustling on the end of the line as Lawrence moved through the house to the back. The sound of a sliding door opening.

“Lawrence?” Melissa asked, willing him to answer. To tell her Bradley was safe.

“They’re not here,” Lawrence said. “I’m so sorry, Melissa, I don’t know where they could have—”

Melissa ended the call. Spun around to face Amelia and Rhiannon.

“She has him,” she said, her voice pitching up, growing loud and shrill with panic. “She has my son. She’s going to kill him. She’s going to…”

Melissa couldn’t breathe. Amelia advanced toward her, hands out.

She met her in the center of the room, grabbed onto her arms just above the elbows.

Melissa fell halfway against her, let her shoulder some of the crushing fear that had come down on her shoulders—but there was little relief in it, in leaning against someone else.

Melissa was still imagining her boy out there somewhere with Kendall.

Or dead already, the life bleeding out of him in a ditch. Too late to save.

“We’ll find him,” Amelia said. “It’s going to be okay.”

“How?” Melissa demanded. “Where?”

“I know,” another voice came. The two of them, Melissa and Amelia, turned together. Rhiannon had risen from the couch, whatever brokenness that had been in her face gone and replaced by something else, something hard as stone. Certainty. Grim determination.

“She took him into the woods.”