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“I don’t know what these men have told you, but they’re lying,” Dad says, opting to manipulate his way out of the situation. “You can’t trust them, Erin.”

“No,” I say, rising to my feet. My legs are still a little shaky, but I refuse to have this conversation with him looking down at me. “The only person I can’t trust is you.”

“You don’t know what you’re saying,” Dad says. “I know you’re mad, but, Erin?—”

“Don’t you dare say her name,” I hiss. My voice is as cold as ice, but my boiling fury erupts to the surface. “Erin’s dead.”

Dad’s cheeks turn ashen gray as realization dawns on him. His act is up.

“I know everything,” I say.

“Whatever you think you know is wrong,” Dad says. His pathetic excuses won’t work. He can’t worm his way out of the corner he’s backed into. Perhaps he realizes that. “You don’t understand.”

Lex and Aiden grab his shoulders and haul him to the operating table. Dad thrashes to free himself, but it’s no use. The guys are strong and effortlessly bind his wrists and ankles to the table.

In the corner, Doctor Warner stirs and crawls into a seated position. He’s thoroughly disheveled with his glasses askew on his face.

“Warner, raise the alarm!” Dad orders. “They’re back!”

“I can do this without you, Warner,” Eli says, extending his hand. “But it’ll be quicker with your help.”

“I’m sorry, Magnus,” Doctor Warner mumbles, letting Eli pull him up.

“What are you doing?” Dad asks, watching in horror as Doctor Warner moves to the workbench. “Warner! I’ll fucking destroy you for this!”

Doctor Warner ignores him. His hands shake as he crushes various pills into powders, measures liquids in various glass containers, and starts mixing them together.

“Don’t even think about using a low dosage because I’ll know,” Eli warns as Doctor Warner carefully adds a few droplets to turn the clear liquid a lurid green. “If it doesn’t work, we’ll strap you to the table next.”

“Call for help, Erin!” Dad begs, still feeding his disillusion. “I’ll take you home. You’ll never come here again. You can play piano—even study music at college! That’s what you want, isn’t it, Erin?”

Pathetic.

“Too little, too late,” I mutter.

He controlled every aspect of our family’s life for years, but he never truly cared about us. We were just like his patients. He’s a psychopath with a superiority complex. It’s only fitting he meets his demise like this.

“This is your final warning,” Dad says. “If you don’t do as I say, Erin…”

Of course he’s resorting to threats because bribery didn’t work.

“Stop calling me Erin!” I scream. “I’m Sarah!”

Dad’s lips twist into a cruel sneer.

“You!” he spits, searing me with a look of pure hatred. “What have you done to her? My Erin would never do this.”

The inferno building inside me finally explodes.

“You killed Erin!” I scream. “She’s dead because of you!”

“I got her back,” he says coldly, with zero remorse. “You’re the one who killed her for good.”

Please, let me speak to him.

“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.”

“Why are we wasting time talking?” Lex snaps impatiently.

I agree with him. This is a waste of time. Anyone can see he’s irredeemable.

“Give her more time,” Aiden says. “She needs this.”

“You don’t know what she needs,” Dad hisses. “I tried to save you, Erin.” His voice breaks. “I wanted to bring you back. Can’t you see I did it all for you?”

“If you love me, you’ll do the right thing,” Erin says. “Turn yourself in and close Sunnycrest for good. It won’t erase the pain you’ve caused, but it’s the first step. Will you do that for me?”

“Pain?” Dad snorts. “No one cares about the patients here or what happens to them.” He looks coldly around the room. “They’re disturbed!”

I can’t watch anymore.

“Goodbye forever, Dad,” Erin says sadly.

I feel her pain and resignation as she retreats.

She wanted to persuade him to do the right thing, but he’s beyond saving.

She always sees the best in people, but there’s not an ounce of good left in our father.

You can’t reason with evil. This isn’t a story where the villain has a sudden change of heart. He’s rotten to the core.

“Erin!” Dad struggles, arching his back to sit up, but his binds are too tight. “Please?—”

“Erin’s gone,” I snarl, reclaiming my place and channeling my inner strength. “And the only reason they are ‘disturbed’ is because you made them that way.”

“It’s ready,” Doctor Warner says, holding up a vial. “Do you remember what to do, Eli?”

Eli nods. “Of course.”

“I’ll destroy you, Warner,” Dad threatens. “If you want to take my memories?—”

“Take your memories?” Aiden laughs. “Is that why you think we’re here?”

Dad hesitates, and his forehead wrinkles in confusion.

“As much as we’d like to put you through every twisted experiment you inflicted on us, we have bigger plans,” Lex says.

“We’re not going stop your reign of terror,” Eli says, taking a remote control with a red button out of his jacket pocket. “You are.”

Fear flickers across Dad’s face. “No!”

Aiden and Lex hold him down while he struggles like a flailing fish, and Doctor Warner approaches.

“Hold his arm still,” Doctor Warner says. “Pull his sleeve up.”

Their backs are turned, so I can’t see exactly what they’re doing, but when Doctor Warner withdraws, a small patch of blood stains my father’s white shirt.

“Let’s see if this works,” Eli says with a twisted grin. He clicks the button on the remote. “Tell us how Alfred died.”

Dad’s face reddens. He bites the insides of his cheeks to stop himself from talking. Eli clicks the button again. The urge to speak is too strong to overcome.

I watch in fascination as words burst from Dad’s mouth in a breathy gasp. “He was electrocuted!”

“How do you like having to do what I say?” Eli smirks. “Not fun, is it?”

“Can I g-go?” Doctor Warner stammers.

Aiden looks like he’s having second thoughts, but I step in.

“Let him leave,” I say. “We got what we wanted.”

Aiden clenches his fists, but nods reluctantly. “Go, before I change my mind.”

Doctor Warner doesn’t need telling twice. He bolts away, skidding and almost tripping over his own feet in his hurry.

“What’re you going to do now?” Dad hisses.

Despite his menacing glare, there’s a glimmer of something else behind his eyes—fear. He’s finally learning exactly how he made his victims feel.

“You’re going to tell us where to find Erin’s remains and your records,” Aiden says. “The real records. The ones that document every experiment you’ve ever done. You’re going to take them down to the station and confess.”

“I won’t,” Dad sneers.

“You have no choice,” Eli says, passing the remote to Aiden.

Aiden clicks the red button. “You won’t attempt to escape or run.”

Dad grits his jaw as Lex undoes his binds. His face contorts, like he’s in pure agony, but his free will is gone. His own weapon has been turned against him.

“Kill me,” Dad says. “You want to see me suffer, so kill me.”

“Trust me, I’d like to,” Lex purrs. “But killing you would be too easy.”

Dad turns to me. “Sarah, think of what this is going to do to your mother.”

“She already knows she married a monster,” I say. “She’ll be safe when you’re locked up. You’re finally going to get what you deserve and, while you’re rotting in jail, your career, reputation, and everything you’ve built will be destroyed.”

His cruel stare zeroes in on me. “You have always been my biggest failure.”

Even though he knows his life is over, he still uses the last of his energy to make me feel small.

Lex lunges, but Eli grabs him before he lands a punch. Shame. I would have been happy to see him with a broken nose.

“No!” Eli says. “We can’t have the cops asking questions.”

“But—”

“Eli’s right,” Aiden says, returning his attention to my father and clicking the red button. “You will never speak or look at her again. You’ll only speak again when I tell you to.”

Lex scowls. However, he takes out some of his aggression by roughly hoisting my father up and tying his hands behind his back. Although restraints shouldn’t be necessary, it doesn’t hurt to have a backup measure in place.

“Before we leave, you have a decision to make, Sarah,” Aiden says. He hands me the remote. “You can return to your old life, or you can make yourself disappear.”

I stroke the smooth plastic object in my hands. It’s virtually weightless, but it holds so much power…

“Disappear?” I look down at it. “What do you mean?”

“Your father killed Erin,” Eli says. “He could have killed you both.”

“You choose what happens next,” Aiden says. “We said we’d give you freedom. It’s up to you how you want to spend it.”

If Sarah and Erin Acacia both die, I’m free to start over. Or, I could return to Mom and pick up the pieces of the life I left behind as the daughter of a criminal. The decision is easy.

“You killed both of your daughters,” I say, clicking the red button. “You will confess to your crimes.” I toss the control to Aiden, not wanting to see my father again. “Can we go now?”

“Take Sarah to the cabin and wait for us there,” Aiden says.

“I’m not coming with you?” I ask.

“You’re dead, remember?” Lex says. “You can’t be running around Pasturesville.”

“Come on.” Eli wraps his arm around my shoulders. His embrace is warm and comforting. “It’s time to go home.”