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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

Then, the sound of the key turning in the lock, of Vera’s steps echoing across the hardwood floors. Desperate to protect myself, I grabbed the wine bottle, still sitting on the island, and held it tightly as her face appeared, her expression riveted in shock, in the doorway of her kitchen.

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FORTY-SEVEN

‘Lucy?’ Vera said. ‘What are you … what are you doing in my house?’

‘Don’t play dumb,’ I said, gripping the bottle tighter. ‘I know the truth.’

Vera’s eyes flitted to the bottle in my hand, then back up to me. ‘What are you talking about?’

‘This,’ I snapped, pointing to the knife on the ground. ‘You had this the whole time.’

Her eyes caught the knife, and she drew in a quick breath. ‘Lucy, I –’ she said. ‘I’m not going to do anything with that.’

‘Stop lying,’ I said. I stared at this woman, this maniac. She was a sociopath, had to be. A black widow who’d spun a web that was so many steps ahead of anything John and I could even think of that we hadn’t stood a chance. ‘Just stop lying for one single fucking second. I’m not as stupid as you think I am.’

‘I’m not,’ she said. ‘Just calm down. Sam’s been arrested – this is all over.’

‘How did you pull it off?’ I asked, my voice aching with fear, with regret. ‘Grab it when you found us in bed together? Hold on to it until you could use it?’

Vera shook her head, but my words were spilling freely now, unrestricted. ‘Or did you get it even before that? One of the first nights you came over? That’s why you were so eager to be friends with me from the start, right? You needed someone to pin it on. You needed me. How could you?’ I asked, my voice cracking. ‘How could you?’ My heart raced, and my hands were sweating, and yet the tears came anyway, the hurt pushing its way through all the fear and the horror.

I had loved her, in my way. I had loved her, and all along she’d been … It was too awful to think.

‘It’s not like that,’ Vera said, eyes flashing to the bottle, still held tight in my hand. She pointed to the knife, her hand shaking. ‘Please, just calm down, you’re not thinking straight. Sam’s in jail. I don’t think it was you. I know you cared about him, like I did –’