Page 62 of Caging Liberty
“What’s wrong?”
She shakes her head.
“Ivy?”
When she doesn’t say anything, I prod her again, and finally she looks at me.
“This was a set up.”
One brow raises. “What?”
She blinks. “I mean, I did this. It’s my fault I’m this naïve. But today, Desiree made it seem like any minute you’d drop me... Or kill me. She told me this was a pattern for you, that you did the same to her. And before I talked to her, Sawyer said he’s just waiting on you to get tired of me so he can kill me.”
Goddamn it, Sawyer.
“Okay,” I drag out the word. “So what? You felt like you were fucked either way, so you had no choice but to sneak into my house and steal my gun?” I can hear the sarcasm in my voice, and I regret it. She either doesn’t notice or doesn’t care.
“I mean, yeah, but more than that, Desiree told me this was a crematorium that had a phone in the office and that she’d been waiting for someone like me to show up so we could save everyone. If she hadn’t told me that, I wouldn’t have…” Fresh tears begin to fill her eyes.
I sit as still as I can, sure if I move, I’ll snap. It takes all the willpower I have not to storm to the manor right now and throw Desiree against a wall. And yet I’m not remotely surprised she’d try to do this. But Iamsurprised she was sly enough to pull this off. Maybe she isn’t as dumb as I thought.
“How could I be so stupid?” Lib mutters to herself.
“Did she give you the code for the gate too?”
Lib nods.
Fucking bitch. She sent me after Lib, knowing what it could mean for her. Like I said, I don’t often go against Sawyer. And this is a crime worthy of death.
She wanted Lib dead.
I could kill Desiree. It scares me how badly I want to.
But I won’t. I already have more than one ghost haunting me.
Lib laughs dryly. “God, she even told me you killed a woman.”
My chest seizes. I’m taken back to the night, feeling the sweat on the back of my neck, the humidity in the air. I feel the anger, but most of all, I feel the regret, see the body flat on the rocks. I close my eyes and focus on my breathing.
“I can’t believe she’d do that,” Lib whispers.
I open my eyes, doing my best not to show the turmoil churning my insides.
I should tell Lib what happened before someone else does. Everyone knows I’m a murderer. Hell,sheknows I’m a murderer. She knows what happened with Julio.
Someone’s bound to tell her about Beth.
I look at Lib as I debate over this in my head. If I don’t tell her and she finds out, she will no doubt never trust me. But if I tell her now … how would it turn out any differently?
It wouldn’t.
But still…
“She wasn’t lying about that,” I admit, my voice surprisingly even.
Lib looks at me. “What?”
I take a steadying breath, feeling my face harden. “Years ago, I had a personal slave. She was a woman Sawyer met in The States, and he talked her into coming to live on the island. I bought her six weeks into her being here, and we lived together for a year.”