Page 159 of Their Little Ghost

“It’s too risky,” I say. “He won’t listen. He never does.”

I need to do this.

“Who are you muttering to?” Dad asks. “See? I was right to bring you to Sunnycrest. You’re just like your mother. You never do as you’re told.”

“No one will ever have to follow your orders again,” Aiden growls. “She’ll be free. We’ll make sure of that.”

“And you three misfits think you can look after her?” Dad scoffs. “You, the kid whose whore mother didn’t love him, or what about him? The boy who burned his house down and killed his family! And don’t get me started on Twenty-Five. If you think you’ll skip off into the sunset, you’re wrong.”

I don’t have time to dwell on what Dad said as Erin claws her way to the surface. My skull feels like it’s about to crack in two.

“Ouch!” I yelp, clutching my head.

The pain.

It’s too much…

“Sarah!” Aiden catches my arm to steady me as I wobble on my feet. “Are you okay?”

Suddenly, I’m not in control anymore.

It’s Erin.

I’m simply a spectator watching the scene play out, powerless to do anything.

Erin, I think.Stop it!

“I need to do this,” she says aloud.

“Erin…?” Lex asks, sensing the shift.

She smiles. My furious shakes stop, and my shoulders slacken as her calmness washes over me.

“Erin?” Dad’s face softens instantly, noticing the change of my demeanor. “Oh, darling. Is it really you?”

“Yes,” she replies. “It’s me.”

“Your sister has got me into this horrible mess, and these men? They’re criminals,” he says. “I need your help.”

Erin doesn’t move.

“Why was nothing ever good enough for you?” she asks.

“What?” He frowns in confusion. “We can talk about that later, now?—”

“I always looked up to you,” she interrupts. “I believed you loved us, that you did bad things because you wanted to protect us. That was before I learned the truth. You tried to kill Sarah, and you torture your patients.”

“That’s a lie,” he says. “I don’t know what these men have?—”

Even in this moment, when he’s tied to an operating table and has no hope of escape, he still chooses not to take accountability for his actions.

“I saw videos of your experiments,” Erin says. “I watched you kill Alfred.” She wipes a tear from my cheek. “Did you ever really care about us? About me?”

“Of course,” Dad says. “You’re more important to me than anything. I’d do anything for you.”

“And Sarah?” she says.

“Your sister is sick,” he sneers. “She always has been.”