My Sister Faked the Fall. This Time, I Filmed It. novel · Chapter 17 of 24

Chapter 17: A Sister's Price

I drove home faster than I should have.

The kitchen door stood open.

Kylie sat at Gran's table with her phone flat in front of her and the speaker on.

A recorded voice finished the usual warning, and a click followed.

"Kylie, darling."

My mother's voice came out of the phone, soft and warm.

"Hello, Mom."

"Oh, my girl. They've put me in a horrid little room with no window. Have you eaten?"

"Yes."

"You sound tired. You've been crying."

Kylie looked up and saw me in the doorway.

She did not wave me away.

I stayed where I was, and Finbar came up behind me and held his camera low.

"Now listen," my mother said. "Willa has turned you against me, and I forgive that. But you and I know the truth. You and I are the same kind of person."

"Are we?"

"We take what we need. We don't wait for the world to hand it over." Her voice dropped. "My lawyer will bring you a paper tomorrow. All you have to do is sign it."

"What does it say?"

"That the plan was yours. Just yours. Kylie, you'll get eighteen months, perhaps less. I'll visit every Sunday. I'll put money in your account. When you come out, I'll buy you a little house."

"And you?"

"I'll be home by Christmas. It's the only way anyone survives this."

"Survives."

"Be my good girl."

Kylie closed her eyes.

On the table, her hand had gone white around the edge of the phone.

"You said that when I was six," she said.

"What?"

"In the county office. You told me to be your good girl, and I said yes, and you took me home." Her voice was shaking, but it did not stop. "I've been saying yes for twenty-one years."

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