Mother was evil. And Gabi was just like her. Gabrielle did things to make Adam sick. She liked the attention she got when she brought him to the doctor, the pity everyone showered on her. All Gabrielle ever wanted was to be the center of attention.

But it was Melinda who drowned the twins after Gabrielle dared her to. Gabrielle always called them brats and wanted to be rid of them and if Melinda was a true friend, she would prove it by drowning these rats. I don’t think Gabrielle knew quite what she was dealing with in Melinda. It wasn’t until after Melinda killed my brother-in-law Max that Gabrielle found out.

I looked around the bathroom, my gaze lingered on the windowsill and I smiled. They’ve gotten bigger. Just the other day, I placed a few containers with plants on the sill. They were small yet but starting to grow. Belladonna. Beautiful lady. Bridget’s beautiful lady.

Gabrielle wanted the twins exhumed. She suspected she herself had been poisoned. She knew the twins were. She also suspected me as the poisoner. Mother was pretty good at it, but I grew to be better. I learned how to beat Mother at her own game. I gave her things that made her very sleepy. When Mother slept, I was free.

Why didn’t Mother ever punish Gabrielle like the rest of us? Gabrielle never had to play the pool game. Never had to drink one of Mother’s smoothies. It just wasn’t fair. Gabrielle rubbed it in our faces that she was Mother’s favorite. She’d pull my hair, slap my face, trip me if I walked by her, and all Mother would do was laugh. I was forced to come up with my own punishments for Gabrielle. At first, I just did things to make Gabrielle sick.

I gave her cadmium—the same thing Mother fed the twins—but when Gabrielle told me, “I know what you’ve done with the poison, and soon Mother will know what you’ve done,” well, I knew what I had to do. I gave Gabrielle something that would give her cancer. I wanted her to suffer for what she did to my brother and sister, how she coaxed Melinda to drown them. For what she was doing to me.

Once I learned that Gabrielle wanted to get custody of me, and started to tell me about the room she was making in her basement to keep me in, I had no choice but to get rid of her quickly. When she called Mother and Father wanting to reconcile, she asked to speak with me too. This is how I knew.

I lied. Mother did not kill Gabrielle and Adam. I did.