Page 91 of The Tenant

“Whitney.” He looks down at his dirty sneakers. “I’m just not sure about this…”

“I can give you more money if that’s the issue.”

He jerks his head up. “That’s not the issue. Atall.”

I frown. “You said you could help me. Are you going to help me or not?”

He lets out a long sigh. “Just a minute.”

I wait in the living room while Elijah disappears into another room. I wait for a good few minutes, too antsy to even look at my phone, and then finally he comes back out carrying a paper sack. I note that it’s the perfect size to hold a couple of apples…or a couple of fingers. Talk about versatility.

Elijah thrusts the paper bag in my direction. “Here.”

I check inside. Sure enough, it’s everything I wanted. A Social Security card and passport for a new identity—something I hope not to need, but you never know what will happen after everything goes down tomorrow. I hadn’t predicted how things would go south with Jordan after all.

And there’s one other thing in the bag. A very small bottle filled with a clear liquid.

“Is this it?” I ask. “The tetrodotoxin?”

I was reading up on toxins, and I decided that tetrodotoxin—the poison in blowfish—was my best bet. I wanted something lethal that wouldn’t work instantly.

“Yes,” he says. “That’s it.”

“Perfect. Thank you.”

Elijah’s eyes look big behind his glasses. “This will kill him, you know.”

“Yes, that’s the point.”

Elijah already knows that I killed Jordan. He also knows about that bitch who stole Jordan from me. Like I said, he knows a little too much.

“Well,” I say with finality. “Thank you for everything.”

His face fills with panic. “Listen, Whitney, you don’t have to do this.”

I drop the bottle of tetrodotoxin back in the paper bag with my new passport and Social Security card. “Yes. I do.”

“You don’t,” he insists. “I mean, yes, Blake is an asshole who cheated on you. But who cares? He’s an idiot. He doesn’t even deserve you. You can just walk away from this.”

Elijah doesn’t know about what I did to Mr. Zimmerly and Stacie Parker. If he knew about that, he wouldn’t be telling me to walk away. He would know it’s far too late.

“I can’t let it go,” I say tightly. “How would you feel if the person you loved was having sex with somebody else?”

He gives me a sad look. “Believe me, I know exactly how that feels.”

It’s no revelation that Elijah loves me. It’s a fact that I have known for a very long time. I have used it to my advantage for many years, but now it’s gone too far. His infatuation with me has become annoying, and it’s starting to interfere with my plans.

“Elijah,” I begin in a patient voice that I have used before with him.

“I know, I know,” he sniffs. “I realize you don’t feel that way about me. But, Whitney, I would be so good to you. I would worship you every day, and I would never,evercheat on you like he did.”

I wish I could love Elijah. It would be so much easier if I did.

“I would treat you like a queen,” he continues. “I’d wake up every morning thinking how lucky I am just to be with you.”

“Elijah…”

The longing is plain on his face. For a moment, I wonder if he’s still a virgin. It doesn’t seem outside the realm of possibility. If he is, it is partially my fault. He has been pining over me since we were teenagers. He’s a nice enough guy, but his unrequited love for me has ruined his life. He would have been so much better off if he’d never met me.