Page 112 of The Family Guest

“Tanya, why are you doing this to me?” I shivered, trying to ignore my stinging fingers and toes.

“You should ask your mother.” She kept the gun pointed at me. “But unfortunately, you won’t have a chance.”

My breaths came out in steamy puffs. Hot tears, part from the cold, part from fear, leaked from my eyes, each one freezing as they fell to my cheeks. I was about to be dinner for a pack of hungry wolves. They’d fight over me tonight…

Then, suddenly, a voice called out.

“Tanya! Put the gun down! Let’s talk.”

My mom!

I pivoted in her direction, and as I did, Tanya grabbed me from behind. One arm gripping my neck, choking me. The hand of the other holding the ice-cold gun to my head.

I was as good as dead.

SIXTY-TWO

NATALIE

Paige was still alive!

I wanted to get down on my knees and thank God, but knew I had to stay focused. In the moment. One step ahead of Tanya. I was dealing with a sociopath. She was holding my daughter prisoner, my husband’s gun digging into her temple. One click away from shooting her.

“Tanya,” I yelled, about twenty feet away from her. “Let Paige go.”

“No! Only if you tell her the truth.”

The awful truth. The lies I lived. The lies I hid. An icy, violent shudder ran through me as she ranted in her venom-filled voice, her British accent gone.

“Tell her, Natalie, who you really are! What you did or I’ll blow her brains out!”

I never wanted to be her again. Ever! But with Paige’s life at stake, I had no choice.

“Paige—”

Tanya cut me off. “Move closer so we can hear you better. I don’t want your precious Paige to miss one word.”

Hesitantly, I took ten baby steps closer, my boots digging into the thick blanket of snow. As I neared them, I lost my footing but saved myself from falling.

“Closer!”

I took a few more cautious steps. Now on the dock, standing directly in front of them, I was so close I could see the fear in Paige’s eyes, the madness in Tanya’s despite the blinding snow.

“Continue!” barked Tanya.

“Paige…” I looked my daughter straight in the eye. “My real name is Billie Rae Perkins…”

Paige blinked with confusion. “That can’t be…Billie Rae is dead!”

Tanya snickered. “Wishful thinking. Confirm it, Natalie!”

“Paige, it’s true.” Her jaw went slack. “Please, you have to believe me.”

Tanya smirked. “Now, tell her who I really am.”

I was shivering so much I could barely get words out. “P-Paige, Tanya is my daughter…my other daughter…my firstborn child.”

I’d dropped the bomb. Revealed the horrific secret I’d kept my entire adult life.