“But we can’t. We have to move on. And when I saw what you had done, I knew we couldn’t stay on that road.”

Tears fall faster now, but I wipe them away. “He was supposed to be with me. He was meant to be with me. And she’s the reason he’s dead. It’s her.”

He shakes his head. “Maybe she’s a part of it. But she didn’t know what would happen. You can’t do this.”

“I…I was so angry at him for leaving me. I couldn’t stand it. I know I wasn’t the best girlfriend in the world, but how could he leave me?”

He shakes his head. “I know why you wanted to hurt her. But this isn’t right. You know that. She may be a pain in the ass, but she doesn’t deserve that.”

I sniff. “She gets everything. And I have nothing. I don’t even have you.”

“You really think that Luisa and I are going to last?” he asks with an ironic laugh. I look at him. “We can’t go back. Every time we get back together, something is lost. I think by Christmas, we’ll both be seeing other people. But you’ll always have me, Hailey. All right?”

No. Nothing is all right. I think about that night. I’d sneaked up the trellis in the cold, but I could hear Luisa’s high-pitched voice, even from outside, even with the window closed. I scaled the peak of the roof, then went into Kane’s window, hoping I could cry to him.

But he hadn’t been there. Instead, I’d sat on his bed, feeling so alone.

It’s that loneliness that creeps over me now, threatening to crush me. I remember looking up at the trophies as I listened to the sound of them laughing together in the next room over.

I stared at Kane’s never-vacuumed blue carpeting for an eternity, waiting. I imagined Luisa’s sweet, angelic smile, brightening Declan’s mood in the way only I was supposed to be capable of. I remember the door opening, and the light spilling into the hallway.

And then I had my hand on the trophy.

I ripped it from the dresser. I stormed into the darkened hallway, wanting to beat that smug, candy-coated smile off her face.

I brought it down once, with calculated, silent force.

That was all it took. I raised it over my head again, but I didn’t need to.

The figure staggered backward without a sound, hitting the wooden flooring in the hallway, motionless before I could swing it again.

Good, I’d thought. Maybe that’ll smack some sense into her. Or permanently disfigure her.