My Stepsister Stole My Husband. He Was My Killer. novel · Chapter 8 of 24

Chapter 8: Ask Me Twice

The phone in my pocket had been recording since the stairs.

I kept my hand on it and my face calm.

"What's in the box, Shane?"

"You know what's in the box."

"A girl who died on your birthday."

"Her twentieth," he said.

He sat down on the edge of his old bed, between me and the door.

He did it slowly.

"Her name was Phoebe. She was nice. She loved me very much and she wanted to go home to Ohio. Her mother had a lawyer who wanted her to move the money out of my reach."

"So you pushed her off a roof."

"I held her hand and we went up to look at the stars."

I stared at him.

He said it in the same tone he used to ask whether I wanted milk.

"She was going to leave," Shane said. "People are happiest right before they stop. I think about that. She looked so surprised."

I felt sick.

My whole body wanted to run.

I made myself stay.

"Nine years," I said. "Nobody ever asked you."

"A scholarship boy with a dead girlfriend? Everyone was kind. Marshall paid for the funeral."

He smiled up at me.

"You were twelve when Marshall moved me into his world. I used to look at that house and think, one day all of this."

"You started with Phoebe's trust."

"A starter. A thirty-percent holding in Caldwell Group is a bigger meal." He tilted his head. "You were always going to be easy. Your mother died young, your father didn't see you, you were so hungry for someone to be gentle. I was gentle."

"And Brynn?"

"Brynn is a gift. Her mother's money is tied up, but she'll sign anything I put in front of her, and she'll sign it twice if I say I love her." He shrugged. "She thinks I cut the rail for you. She'll be a very sad widow, but not for long."

← Chapter 7 · All chapters · Chapter 9 →

Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend