“And you want me to look innocent?”

“Aren’t you? I know Belle is.”

“How can you be sure?” Jack pressed, her green eyes narrowed. There was a brightness to them. There had always been a brightness to Jack, as if she’d swallowed the sun and was glowing from the inside.

For years Lily had wanted to be close with her. She’d wanted to be Raven’s sister. Only one person had stood in her way, and now that person was out of the picture. “I know what you’re thinking,” Lily said. “Belle came up with the plan to murder my mother. But we were scared little middle schoolers then, and we were convinced Raven was going to die. We somehow convinced ourselves we were characters in a fairy tale, taking down a monster.”

“A wicked stepmother,” Jack murmured.

“Yes! But we wouldn’t have gone through with it. I know we wouldn’t have, and besides, why wait three years to commit the murder? If someone had done it sooner, Raven could’ve come home, and I could’ve…” Lily trailed off. She didn’t want to remind Jack that Raven wasn’t the only victim of Evelyn’s wickedness. Lily had been her earliest victim. The first and last person to be hurt by her. “Someone else must’ve killed her. Someone with a reason to hate her now.”

“Someone like you?” Jack asked, cocking her head to the side. Clearly, she hadn’t forgotten any of it. Lily’s veiled hints. Her desperation. “You hated your mother more than anyone, and you kept the Recipe for the Perfect Murder after all this time. If Belle’s not the killer—”

“I didn’t hate my mother,” Lily corrected. “I was scared of her, but I always thought, once I got out of here…” She broke off, frowning. For a moment, she thought she’d felt something stir in her chest, something like sorrow. Something like loss. “Now that she’s gone, I’ll never get to make peace with her. I’ll never know if it was possible.”

Jack took her hands. She was warm, and Lily reveled in the feeling of it. She’d been touched so rarely in this place, and only when a certain someone had come to visit. But romantic entanglements were forbidden at the Rose Hollow Wellness Facility, so even then they’d had to steal their kisses. Clasp hands under tables and squeeze for the briefest of seconds. It had been enough, until it hadn’t anymore. Now Lily was desperate to get out of here and truly be with the person she loved.

But first she needed to tie up some loose ends.