BooksBarbecue
Back Someone Had to Do It
Chapters (39)
  1. Cover
  2. Praise
  3. Dedication
  4. About the Authors
  5. PROLOGUE
  6. 1
  7. 2
  8. 3
  9. 4
  10. 5
  11. 6
  12. 7
  13. 8
  14. 9
  15. 10
  16. 11
  17. 12
  18. 13
  19. 14
  20. 15
  21. 16
  22. 17
  23. 18
  24. 19
  25. 20
  26. 21
  27. 22
  28. 23
  29. 24
  30. 25
  31. 26
  32. 27
  33. 28
  34. 29
  35. 30
  36. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  37. THE STORY BEHIND SOMEONE HAD TO DO IT
  38. SOMEONE HAD TO DO IT: THE PLAYLIST
  39. DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

“What?” I snap, flipping around, ready to maul her if that’s what it takes to get her off my back, but the disturbing, closemouthed smile that is suddenly on her face startles me into momentary paralysis.

The tears are gone. Her smile looks like a slash across her face, like she’s The Joker and I’m Batman. She still doesn’t get it. I’m the fucking Joker. I will always have the last laugh.

And then I see it, and it’s like the laces of the world’s most constrictive corset are being yanked around my torso, compressing my lungs so close to my rib cage that I can’t breathe. Izzy, the marionette, unbuttoning her top enough to pull out a thin black wire that’s been secured to the strap of her nude bra.

I want to strangle her until all the youth and pretty drains from her face. I want to carve her open and drown her organs in fresh piss. There are so many ways I want to hurt this lying bitch.

But I get a chance to do nothing before her eyes land on something over my shoulder. Heavy footsteps stop. Right behind me.

“Ms. Van Doren.”

My world goes silent as Officer Glover circles me, a pair of shiny shackles dangling from her hand.

It’s too much to process at once. Izzy agreed to kill my father, then she forced me to turn my two best friends in because of her idiotic mistake. Then she fucking double-crosses me. When the fuck did she decide to betray me—or was this her plan all along? So many overlapping thoughts crowd my mind.

When I told Izzy she wouldn’t be getting the money, the bitch cried. I watched those pseudo tears roll down her cheeks. But inside she was laughing, because she knew I wouldn’t be getting a dime of it, either. She was one step ahead of me.

Izzy’s smirk morphs into a full-on smile, and it’s the strongest act of violence I’ve ever experienced.

The last laugh. She stole it from my throat right in front of my face.

When I’m in the back of the squad car, wrists clinking, a laugh finally slips through my mouth. It finally hits me, why all this is happening.

It had to be her. It had to be Brandi. I have no idea how, but this whole operation reeks of that bitch.

She’s almost as fucking good as me.

29

BRANDI