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Back One White Lie Save as PDF
Chapters (59)
  1. COVER
  2. About the Author
  3. DEDICATION
  4. ONE
  5. TWO
  6. THREE
  7. FOUR
  8. FIVE
  9. SIX
  10. SEVEN
  11. EIGHT
  12. NINE
  13. TEN
  14. ELEVEN
  15. TWELVE
  16. THIRTEEN
  17. FOURTEEN
  18. FIFTEEN
  19. SIXTEEN
  20. SEVENTEEN
  21. EIGHTEEN
  22. NINETEEN
  23. TWENTY
  24. TWENTY-ONE
  25. TWENTY-TWO
  26. TWENTY-THREE
  27. TWENTY-FOUR
  28. TWENTY-FIVE
  29. TWENTY-SIX
  30. TWENTY-SEVEN
  31. TWENTY-EIGHT
  32. TWENTY-NINE
  33. THIRTY
  34. THIRTY-ONE
  35. THIRTY-TWO
  36. THIRTY-THREE
  37. THIRTY-FOUR
  38. THIRTY-FIVE
  39. THIRTY-SIX
  40. THIRTY-SEVEN
  41. THIRTY-EIGHT
  42. THIRTY-NINE
  43. FORTY
  44. FORTY-ONE
  45. FORTY-TWO
  46. FORTY-THREE
  47. FORTY-FOUR
  48. FORTY-FIVE
  49. FORTY-SIX
  50. FORTY-SEVEN
  51. FORTY-EIGHT
  52. FORTY-NINE
  53. FIFTY
  54. FIFTY-ONE
  55. FIFTY-TWO
  56. FIFTY-THREE
  57. FIFTY-FOUR
  58. Acknowledgments
  59. THIS IS JUST THE BEGINNING

Vera bit her lip. ‘I swear I did. When you first moved in. Or when I told you about Sam and Claire and all that. That’s his excuse for being on this block – he has to check on his wife’s properties. I know I told you. I even asked you if you’d ever met her, his wife.’

I stared at her. Was she lying? I remembered, vaguely, her mentioning something about Sam’s wife, but never a name, never a clear warning. It was almost like she’d purposefully omitted it.

‘Could you have been any more cryptic about it? You don’t even think it’s relevant information, something you might want to mention more than in passing?’

‘Don’t, Lucy,’ Vera said.

‘Seriously,’ I said, walking closer now. An awful part of me almost wanted to push her, I was so mad. ‘You know Sam’s dangerous; you know he’s angry, he’s threatening you, and you can’t even give me a fucking heads-up.’

Her lips pressed into a thin, tight line, but she didn’t back away from me, only crossed her arms. ‘Are you serious?’

‘Yes, I’m serious,’ I said. ‘You should have told me!’

Her eyes went completely still. There was a pause, long and heartbreaking, before she spoke. ‘I’m sorry, Lucy. I guess I’ve been a little busy mourning my husband. And before that, planning this whole thing so you could get away from your ex. Rushing everything and setting up John to be murdered to save you.’

I took a step back as she glared at me, her eyes narrowed to slits.

It’s not my fault it’s not my fault it’s not my fault.

Her cheeks flushed, she kept going: ‘And now Davis has found you, and I’m trying to take care of you, I’m trying to hold you together even though I’m coming undone myself, and you won’t even tell the police? Do you know how crazy that is? Do you know how dangerous? Instead of protecting yourself, you’re over here, grilling me about things I may or may not have told you. Coming up with these bullshit theories about people breaking into your house, which doesn’t even make sense. Why the hell would Sam want to frame you and not me, the person he actively hates? You’re the one who first pointed it out – it’s always the wife. You’re not the center of the universe, you know.’

My eyes welled as I walked toward the door. I prayed that she would stop me, pull me close, but she didn’t even look at me as I pushed the door open and rushed outside, into the snow.