Rellik(44)

Her eyes met mine, glaring. “I’m not a stalker. I didn’t know who you were at first. You wouldn’t even tell me your real name. My name is Mikaella Martin. Ella is my nickname. When I was little, my mom left me with my grandma. She said it was only temporary and she was trying to protect me from something. She never came back. My grandma died shortly after, and I have had no one.”

“Life is rarely fair. I’m still not seeing where I fit into all of this.”

“No one ever told me why my mom was scared for my safety. It took years of digging and research to even find out what had happened to her.”

“What happened?” I shoved my hands in my pockets, struggling to see where all this was going.

“She’s dead. At least I think she’s dead. Murdered. I can’t prove it.”

“And you thought I’d understand? Losing a parent gave us some common ground?”

“No. Katie.”

“Don’t you dare talk about Katie.” I struggled to contain my anger, but Ella was twisting a knife into my heart.

“I don’t want to bond with you over losing someone. Our bond is Katie.” Her eyes were pleading with me to understand, but if she thought looking like Katie was going to help her cause, she was sadly fucking mistaken.

“Katie killed herself. She wasn’t murdered. You have one minute to explain what the fuck you’re talking about, or I swear to fucking God, I’ll call the number and lead whoever it is you’re running from to your fucking door.”

“You wouldn’t.” She left the cover of the porch as she struggled to collect her thoughts.

“You have no idea what I’m capable of, Ella.”

I followed Ella from under the cover of the hotel back into the downpour. She stood with her back to me only a few feet away.

“What is it you’re not telling me?” I yelled over the sound of the rain. She shook her head and looked toward the ground.

“I can’t.” Her voice trailed off as her shoulders shook under her sobs.

“Goddamn it, Ella!”

I waited for her to respond, but she remained silent. Wiping my hand over my wet face, I brushed away the drops that clung to my skin.

“I saw the look on your face when you mentioned the picture,” I said. I began to pace, struggling to keep my anger under control. “You knew her. Who are you, a cousin or something?”

“No.”

“You’re fucking lying to me.” I couldn’t calm my thoughts. I was clinging desperately to my last thread of sanity.

“I didn’t know her. I couldn’t have.”

“Why is that?” I stepped closer, the energy in my body causing me to shift my weight from foot to foot. The anticipation of the truth was rushing through my veins like a high. If you could overdose on pain, I would gladly welcome the emptiness of the end over the not knowing.

With a deep breath, she closed her eyes and shook her head, her dampened hair falling over her pained face. She was struggling with her own demons, and part of me felt drawn to her because of that.

“Because she had already died before the Alexanders adopted me.”

My body stilled, frozen as the words she had spoken washed over me. I hadn’t felt fear like this since the night Katie died. All these years I’d struggled to move on, and the Alexanders had simply replaced Katie like a fucking family pet.

“What the fuck did you just say?” Grabbing her shoulders with each hand, I held her in front of me, afraid she would run from her own past that she had struggled to keep a secret.

“You aren’t the only one who saw Katie when you looked at me.” Her eyes met mine, pleading for understanding. She looked as though she was going to be physically ill.

“And Bryce?” Squeezing my eyes closed, I braced for the harsh truth that leaving Bryce alive that day I’d kicked his ass had not only taken Katie’s life but also destroyed Ella’s.

“I’ve read the articles. They suspected sexual assault, but with the rain, there was little evidence. Not enough to tie you to it…or anyone else.”

“Ella.” I clutched my chest, the crippling pain too much to endure. Bryce hadn’t been successful in his attack on Katie, but it was more than apparent something had happened. She wouldn’t have ended her life otherwise. Regardless of what anyone else thought, I would have never hurt Katie.

She nodded as a sob escaped her. “I know it wasn’t you.” Her body lurched forward as she began to cry, confirming what I’d known all along. I wished I’d left the bullets in the gun. The sweet pain of death would have been fractional compared to the torture that was unleashed with her words.