I wheezed. “Hailey.”
“Hailey. She has nothing to do with this,” Lana’s words were slurred. Somehow, she’d picked herself off the ground though.
“She has everything to do with this,” Hailey screamed, casting a glare up at Lana. “She’s part of their little secret society. I saw her there in that creepy house at the end of the woods.”
She looked up. I tried to follow her gaze, but couldn’t turn my head all the way. Were we close to The Lab? I screamed just in case. Screamed louder for good measure. She clamped her hand over my mouth, my eyes were wide on hers as I tried to scream again.
“Shut up. No one can hear you anyway.”
“This is going too far,” Lana said. She was shaking.
“So playing dead wasn’t going too far?” Hailey shouted. “Causing an accident and making your friend think you committed suicide wasn’t too far?”
“That was different,” she whispered. “I was trying to protect—”
“My father, yes, I know.” Hailey looked at me again. “Lana’s been fucking our father. She wanted your brother to butt out so I helped her plan this whole scheme. I watched them go to parties at that creepy house. I watched them as they fucked outside. I watched those people for months. Stupid elitist secret society. I should be a member you know? My mom’s a member.”
“Is that what you want?” I coughed once, twice, three times. “Is that why you’re doing this?”
“No. How silly do you think I am?” She laughed. “I already have what I wanted. My mother, on the other hand, is sad. Cries herself to sleep because dad no longer wants her. Because Lana took up all his attention.”
“Ella never had him,” Lana shouted. “Felipe is married. He’s always been married and always will be married. Your mother should’ve learned by now that she wasn’t going to keep him.”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“You won’t have him either. He’ll never give you the Bastón last name,” Lana said.
“Yes, he will.” Hailey roared as she lunged at Lana.
I whimpered, helplessly trying to break free of the ties around my ankles and wrists. I didn’t want to hear about women fighting over my father. I didn’t want to hear about his relationship with Lana or Ella or how Hailey believed she was his daughter. The rational part of me knew she was probably telling the truth, but a bigger part of me wanted to fight it, to shield myself and my family from the wave of embarrassment and heartache this would bring. I closed my eyes as I thought of my mother. She’d always been so rational, taking her time to truly understand people’s reactions and feelings, but no amount of experience as a family therapist could save her from her own husband’s betrayal. My brothers would be pissed. Lincoln especially.
“Deacon, take care of this,” Hailey shouted. “Your little doll is getting out of control.”
“Digging grave,” Deacon called out.
Digging grave. I kicked into overdrive and thrashed some more, pulling my feet apart, my ankles. Nothing worked.
“Lana please,” I begged, but they were still having a face-off.
“I didn’t want you to get hurt,” Lana said. “I swear. I didn’t want to hurt Lincoln either but he kept getting in the way. Felipe kept blaming me for Lincoln’s actions and saying that he should’ve never gotten involved with me, so I tried to help by leaving.” She cried. “I didn’t know he’d lose his mind like that.”
“I don’t care,” I shouted. “I don’t fucking care. That’s in the past. Help me now.”
“Our father hid her away.” Hailey walked over to me, pushing the sole of her boot onto my chest. I coughed again. “Can you believe that? I came up with this brilliant plan to get rid of her and his solution was to keep her hidden away until he figured everything out. Hidden away so that he could keep fucking her.”
“You blackmailed him,” Lana shouted. “You took pictures of us together and blackmailed him!”
“I saved your fucking life, you little shit.” Hailey took her foot off my chest and glared at Lana before looking at me again. “We bonded over that though, dad and I. We bonded over this secret. How I was keeping Lana safe until he figured out what to do and how to save the rest of his little friends from going down. He trusted me not to let her leave. Not that she wanted to.”
“I did want to,” Lana whined. “I tried to leave.”
I thought about the exhaustion on Hailey’s face that day at the coffee shop when she showed up with Deacon. I thought of the scratches on her hands and how she said she’d chased a sheep that escaped. Lana was the sheep. My chest felt heavy.
“You sent the text messages,” I whispered.
“I did.” Hailey smiled. “God, my sister is smart.”
“I wanted to leave,” Lana wailed. “I wanted to leave and all you did was tie me up and drug me. I told you I wouldn’t tell and you kept drugging me.”
“Bullshit,” Hailey roared. “Don’t believe a word she says, Mae. She caused that accident and then threw herself off that cliff so that Lincoln would believe she was dead.”
“I wish I would have died!”
“Bullshit,” Hailey roared again. “You knew you wouldn’t die because I told you where to jump. Don’t act like you’re innocent. Mae’s not going to believe the bullshit you’re spouting.”
“My brother could have died.” I fought against the rope again, my muscles tightening with every movement.
“Your brother has nine lives,” Hailey said, disdain in her voice. “Deacon injected him with enough drugs to take down a horse and even that wasn’t enough for that fucking . . . ” She took a deep breath and exhaled. “It doesn’t matter.”
“Hailey said the accident had to happen. Lincoln had to think I was gone, dead, so that he wouldn’t report your dad. If he thought . . . if he thought I was gone, he’d just let things be.” Lana hiccupped.
Hailey shot me a look. “Lana wanted dad to move her to Mexico City so she could live in one of dad’s lavish penthouses.”
“Stop calling him dad,” I screamed, wishing I could cover my ears. “Please stop. Please stop.”
“He is my dad though, and now he’s finally ready to act like one.” Hailey grinned maliciously. “And when you’re gone, he’s going to need a new daughter to dote on.”
Dread flooded me. I glanced around, looking for ways I could escape this. Deacon had stopped digging and was chugging down a bottle of water. How deep was the hole? Would they kill me before tossing me in there? Would they stab me and make me suffer or shoot me and get it over with?
“Lincoln didn’t even go to the police to tell them I’d jumped,” Lana said, her voice still shaking. “He just kept quiet.”
“That’s not something a good friend would do,” Hailey said. “Right, Mae? You’re a good friend, aren’t you?”
“I won’t tell anyone about this.” My words were rushed, desperate. “I won’t tell anyone about this if you let me go. I swear.”