Her gaze flicks over to the pool house and my back straightens. The goose bumps trailing along my arms and my gut instinct tells me this woman isn’t here out of the kindness of her heart.
I see Harm’s gaze narrow on her before we all take seats on the opposite side of the table, waiting for her to talk. She stares at us all a beat before looking out at the backyard again, a sneer pulling across her lips. Her eyes blaze with something I can’t place before she turns back to us, opening the file and sliding a photo of Amelia across the table.
My fists clench under the table. “Why have you got photos of Amelia?”
“I’m afraid the Amelia you know, isn’t actually Amelia.”
Tris laughs out loud, as do I. “You can’t be serious.”
He starts to stand but she blurts out, “Her name is Beth Waters and she’s a murderer!”
What did she just say?
I want to throw this woman out myself but before I can say anything, Tris lays a hand on my arm, making me stare at him. His Adam’s apple bobs as he visibly swallows. “What are you talking about?”
The serious look on his face tells me this woman has his full attention. He can’t seriously be entertaining this! “Tris, this woman is clearly unhinged,” I tell him, my voice trying to sound even but even I can hear the way it hitches.
Her eye twitches and her hands flail about in front of her as she shouts, “I am not unhinged, I’m simply a concerned citizen looking out for your children!”
She aims her statement at Tris whose brow furrows as he lets go of my arm. “My kids? How do you know about my kids?”
She shakes her head, tutting. “What’s more important is why you’ve been leaving them in the care of someone that’s capable of harming them.”
Tris stands, pointing at her. “I don’t know who you think you are, but you can’t come into my home accusing people of things like that. Especially without proof.”
I pull in a breath. He mustn’t believe her after all.
The twisted smile she’s sporting stays firmly on her face as she hands him the file. “Here’s your proof.”
I can’t take my eyes off Tris as he flips through everything, his chest heaving as he throws the file on the table in front of me. “It’s all there.”
Picking it up, I flip through the news articles all depicting a “Bethany Waters” that looks exactly like Amelia. But it’s not until the last article that everything crashes down on me like a building collapsing in on itself and I realize that maybe this woman is telling the truth. Have I been fooled all along? “No, it’s not her, it can’t be.”
Harmony takes the papers out of my hands and I stand, spinning around and bracing my hands on the kitchen counter, my back to everyone as my world starts spinning.
“I had to tell you all before it was too late. I stopped by your house, but you weren’t in. I—”
I spin back around to face her. “You were at my house?” I pace up and down, everyone stopping what they were doing as the air gets sucked from the room when the door to the kitchen swings open, and in walks the devil herself.
I shake my head when I turn the key and the door is already unlocked; Tris always forgets to lock it. Pushing the door open and stepping inside, the soles of my Converse squeak on the marble floor. My gaze wanders over to the stairs at the black railing that flows up the side of it.
Nothing at all has changed inside, yet everything has.
Wiping my sweaty palms on the side of my jeans, I take a deep breath and shut the door behind me.
I place my purse on the table near the door before spinning around and walking down the hallway toward the kitchen.
I’m a few feet away when I hear voices which causes my brows to furrow. I wasn’t expecting anyone but Tris and Harmony to be here, but there’s definitely more than two different voices
Was this all a ruse to get me here? Would Tris really be that sneaky?
A deep, gruff voice says something, the tone thunderous before a female one replies. My hand stills on the kitchen door and I know it’s now or never. I have to tell Tris everything, explain to him that all I was trying to do was protect them all. If I don’t do it now, I’m afraid I never will.
Closing my eyes, I take a deep, calming breath before opening them back up and pushing the door open, taking two steps inside.
What I see in front of me has my feet sticking to the floor like they’re buried in concrete.
The door whooshes shut behind me, the air skirting across the exposed skin on my neck.
Nate’s green eyes focus on mine, shadowed with both anger and frustration—and is that relief sparkling behind it all?
I briefly meet Tris’s gaze and Harmony’s before someone else catches my attention out of the corner of my eye.
The goose bumps spreading along my arms tell me I know who it is before I look. I was waiting for something to come, but I never expected this.
When I turn my head and watch the woman with scraggly brown hair stand up and turn around, I know what I’m going to see, and when her dark, evil eyes meet mine, I suck in a huge breath.
“Phoebe?” My voice is raw, emotion blocking the normal sound.
“Beth.” I shiver at the sound of her voice; thick but with an edge to it it didn’t use to have.
I realize what she’s said a second too late, and my gaze swings over to Nate.
She’s told them.
“Nate—”
“It’s too late now, Beth.” My attention snaps to Phoebe as manic laughter overtakes her body. “They know who you are.” She takes a threatening step toward me. “What you are.” Her eyes flare with hatred before she spits out, “A murderer!”
No. No, no, no.
“I…” I can’t form any words. I’ve fell into a big, black hole and don’t know how to climb out. I turn my frantic gaze toward Tris, too scared to look back into Nate’s eyes to see the hatred that will surely be there. “Tris, I swear—”
“Is that your name?” he asks, his voice low and throaty. “Beth?”
I swallow, my arms wrapping around my waist. “Yeah—”
“Are you fucking serious!” he thunders, taking a step toward me. “You’ve been living under my roof for the last six years! I don’t even know who you are!”
“You do know me,” I whisper, willing my legs not to move back as he takes two more giant steps across the kitchen toward me and closes the space between us.
“I let you into my kids’ lives! You watched them when… oh, God, did you ever hurt them?”
Tristan has never shut down on me, but right now I don’t get any indication as to what he’s thinking. The Tristan I’ve known for the last six years—the one who has become like a brother to me—is slowly disappearing in front of my eyes, replaced by a man that looks like a stranger.
“What?” I seethe, my eyes widening. How could he think that?
Turning toward Phoebe, she’s now leaning against the refrigerator, watching us with a grin on her face. This is what she wanted—to see my family fall apart and leave me with nothing.
“Tristan!” Harmony exclaims, standing from the table and walking toward us. “You’ve not even let her talk.”
“Seems like the news articles did all the talking for her, unless she has anything to say for herself?” Nate interjects, aiming his statement at me.
My head reels back at his serious tone, and when I finally pluck up the courage to look at him, my breath catches in my throat at the blank, emotionless expression on his face.
“What articles?” I manage to get out.
He stares, assessing me, a muscle in his jaw ticking before he points to a pile of papers on the table. “Tell me we didn’t read them right, Lia—Beth, whatever your name is.”
I take a wobbly step forward, holding my breath as I walk past Tris and pick up the first piece of paper. It shakes in my hand and when I read the fake headline, my head whips toward Phoebe.
“Why are you doing this to me?”
&n
bsp; She raises a brow, a manic, unhinged laugh escaping her again. She really is unstable. “Doing this to you?” She steps forward, her lips lifting up into a sneer. “You killed my baby!”
“You know what happened and it wasn’t that,” I whisper to her.
Her arms fly up and I flinch, thinking she’s going to hit me, but instead she slaps the sides of her head. My eyes widen as she keeps doing it, chanting, “You killed my baby,” over and over again.
“I didn—”
“You did!” she screams, her hands gripped in her hair as she pulls. “You were meant to be watching her! You did this! You!”
I shake my head, my throat burning as I try to swallow, backing away from her now outstretched hand. My mind is screaming at me to run away from the danger—her—as she starts to pace in front of us all. Turning around to face Tris, I say, “You don’t understand—”
“You’re damn right I don’t understand! Things haven’t been right with you for a while. You’ve been cagey for the last couple of months and then out of the blue you move out. And now this?” He watches me for several seconds, his gray eyes searching for something, but I can see the doubts he has loud and clear.
“I was going to tell you everything today,” I murmur, moving my gaze to Nate who is still standing against the counter, watching me like a hawk. I hold up the piece of paper. “These aren’t real, Nate. There were articles, but these aren’t them.”
I can tell he wants to say something to me but he holds himself back, walking over to the table and picking up an article. His eyes narrow and he turns toward Phoebe who now has her arms wrapped around her waist as she rocks back and forth in a standing position. “What dates are these articles from?”
Her head whips around, her dead-eyed gaze not really focusing on him. “You think I’m lying?” She shakes her head, turning her face down and whispering, “I’ll make her pay, Avery.” Her hand comes out, almost as if she’s stroking thin air as she smiles down at… nothing. What the hell is going on? I want to turn to Nate and beg him to believe me, but I can’t take my eyes off Phoebe as she looks back up at us. Her eyes go from loving to hateful. “She’s been telling you she’s Amelia when she’s not, and you think I’m the one lying? Look what she did to my baby!”
Silence rains down on us and as I turn my gaze to the other three people in the room, I can’t tell what any of them are thinking. Tris gathers Harmony in his arms on the other side of the kitchen, and her honey-eyed gaze meets mine. She doesn’t know me well, but I silently plead with her to believe me and the small smile that lifts her lips tells me she hasn’t been swayed by Phoebe.
Movement out of the corner of my eyes has my gaze swinging back to Nate and I stare as he pulls his cell out and starts tapping at the screen with his thumb.
“I don’t think, I know.” He glares at her, holding his phone out in front of him. “Care to explain this?”
I watch with wide eyes as she stays where she is, her lips twisting up on one side. She knows what she’s going to find if she looks at his screen. I don’t understand what her endgame is here, did she really think she’d get what she wanted by coming here and doing this? I can easily explain to them what’s going on and clear it all up, so why do this now?
“Why?” I ask, the word out of my mouth before I realize. “Why now, after everything?”
“You know why,” she says through gritted teeth. “You need to pay for what you did.”
I close my eyes briefly, taking a breath that doesn’t quite fill my lungs. “You’re not achieving anything here.”
The sound of the front door banging shut has us all snapping our attention toward the kitchen door before Izzie’s voice rings out. “We’re home!”
My panicked gaze bounces around the room, and when it lands back on Phoebe, she raises a brow. “Want to bet on that?”
Izzie bounces into the kitchen, her smile spreading even wider when she sees me standing here. “Amelia! You’re home!”
Panic thrashes through me like the waves in the sea on a stormy day at the look Phoebe is giving Izzie. Her beady eyes scan the length of Izzie, from the tip of her blond head to the pink sneakers on her feet.
“This must be Izzie.”
Phoebe moves toward Izzie and my instincts kick in, but I can’t get to her fast enough. Izzie looks up at Phoebe as she stops in front of her, lifting some strands of her hair and running it through her fingers.
I step forward, coming to a stop a foot away from Izzie, my hands reaching out to pull her away from the woman who is completely unstable.
“Stay away from her!” I hear Tris’s panicked voice warn, his footsteps coming closer.
“So beautiful, don’t you think, Avery?” She looks beside her, talking to empty space before her head slowly moves back around, her dead eyes meeting mine as she drops her voice so only me and Izzie can hear. “Is this why you came here? To replace my baby with another version of her?”
“Amelia?” Izzie’s soft voice asks, her eyes shining with confusion and fright.
I lunge forward as her other hand starts to lift, pulling Izzie behind me and squaring up to Phoebe. My gaze doesn’t move from hers as Clay and Harmony’s mom walk into the kitchen. My hand is yanked off Izzie’s arm, and when I tilt my head to the side, I see Tris’s murderous gaze, but it’s not pointed at Phoebe—the person he should be worried about—it’s directed at me. Can’t he see how dangerous she is right now?
Harmony’s mom stares at all of us in turn before asking, “What’s going on?”
“Could you take the kids upstairs for me, please, Tilly?” Tris asks, his eyes not moving from mine.
“I… sure.”
Tris walks Izzie over to Harmony’s mom, his muscles tense as he stands at his full height.
Harmony steps toward him. “Tris—”
“No,” he interrupts her, holding his hand up and waiting until both of the kids are out of the room. “Leave.” I take a relieved breath at him telling Phoebe to leave, but when he walks back toward us, his gaze focused on me, the breath is sucked back out of me. “You’re not welcome here.”
The burn of tears itches my nose and I try to swallow against the lump building in my throat to no avail.
“Tris, please—”
“Get. Out.”
I take a step back as his nostrils flare and for the first time since I’ve known him, I’m scared of what he might do or say. His breaths become pants as his chest heaves and I understand then. I understand that it doesn’t matter what I say or do right now, he won’t believe me when he has this woman standing in his kitchen.
However much I hate that he won’t hear me out and let me explain, I know he needs time to process—they all do.
“Tris,” Nate growls. “You’re not listening to her.”
“I don’t need to listen!” he shouts. “She’s been around my kids for six years and I haven’t got a fucking clue who she is!”
Nate’s nostrils flare and his green eyes meet mine. “Maybe you should let everyone calm down—”
“I don’t need to calm down, I need them out of my house and away from my kids!”
His words feel like a physical knife to the heart and I lift my hand to my chest and rub it, trying to soothe the pain.
I’m not going to get anywhere today. My plan to tell them all what’s been going on hasn’t worked, and right now I don’t know what to do or say. Dad would know. As soon as that thought flows through my mind, I realize I’m not on my own. Dad will be here tonight and he’ll be able to help me explain it all. I just need to wait until then. But first...
Nodding my head once, I straighten my back before saying, “I’ll leave as soon as she does.” Turning back to face Phoebe who hasn’t moved an inch and is still standing a foot away from me, I pull a determined expression on my face.
I stare at her, trying to understand what she’s thinking right now, but there’s nothing in her eyes. They’re as dead as they could ever be. This can’t be the end of her pla
n. All this time and all this build up for this? It doesn’t ring true; there has to be more to it.
“Out. Both of you.”
Phoebe’s lips lift up into a sneer and something flashes in her eyes briefly, what I see in their depths has a shiver rolling through me. A promise, of what I’m not sure, but I feel it in my gut that she won’t stop until she’s achieved what she wants.
She gives me one last look before turning around and walking toward the kitchen door while murmuring to herself. Turning her head at the last minute, she looks at me over her shoulder. “You’ll get what’s coming to you.”
It’s not a threat, but a promise.
Tris follows her out of the kitchen, holding the door open and looking at me expectantly.
I take one last look at Nate, begging him with my eyes to not lose hope in me before I shut off my emotions.
I walk through the door, down the hallway and out of the house.
Standing on the first step, I watch as Phoebe seems to disappear into thin air before I walk over to my car.
I stare after Amelia—or Beth, whatever her name is—wondering what the fuck is going on. That woman—Phoebe—is clearly deranged yet Tris sent Amelia packing as if he believes everything she said. We need to call the police!
I turn away from looking at the door to shove my cell in his hand, the screen showing the real article and not the doctored one that sits on the table.
“You should’ve let her talk,” I growl before running out the kitchen door after her.
“Lia, wait!” I shout when I get outside, but she doesn’t stop, quickening her pace toward the SUV. I jog in front of her, blocking her path. “It was her, wasn’t it?”
Her eyes don’t quite meet mine as she stares past me. “What was her?”
I think back to the day I walked into the pool house and tried to see what was in the package on her coffee table. “The packages; why you were acting so secretive; everything.”
She looks away, her face crumpling up before she gains control of her emotions and turns to look back at me.
Fighting Our Way (Broken Tracks Series Book 2) Page 29