Page 105 of Half Truths (Secret Society 1)
“Why don’t I give you the run-down?”
“Hailey, I don’t like this.” The voice came from the person she’d been talking to.
It was a soft, melodic sound that shook, and vibrated inside me when I realized it was not Ella. I fought to look at the person. Hailey acknowledged my curiosity and put a hand beneath my neck, lifting me slightly, gently. Lana came into view. Lana. Alive. She wasn’t dirty. She wore jeans and a cashmere coat. Her hands seemed to be tied, but other than that, she looked fine. Lana was alive. She hadn’t jumped. What the hell had my brother seen?
“You’re alive,” I choked out.
“Of course she’s alive.”
“Hailey, I don’t like this,” Lana repeated, tears in her eyes.
I hadn’t known Lana on a personal level, but she’d always been kind to me. The Lana standing here was a contradiction of the high school Lana, popular and bright. She was a contradiction to the naked, naughty Lana I’d seen in pictures at The Lab. This Lana was frightened, and off. Something was wrong with her, but I couldn’t pick up what. Was she drugged? Maybe. A loud thump made me turn away from Lana, toward where Deacon stood. He was wiping his forehead with the sleeve of his jacket, a shovel in his hands before he started digging. My eyes widened. A strangled noise built in my throat. I coughed again and it seemed to go on forever. I felt like the dirt beneath me was weighing down on my chest. Was Hailey planning on killing me? Burying my body? Or was that what she was doing to Lana?
“What are you going to do?” My voice shook, a slight wheeze escaping me.
“Maybe you can use your investigative skills to put two and two together,” Hailey said. I looked at her as she lowered my head. She touched my temple. “You’re bleeding pretty bad.”
“You’re going to kill me,” I whispered.
“It’s all I’ve been thinking about since I was a little girl,” she said, her brows furrowing as if she almost felt sad about admitting it.
“Hailey. Please.” I shook my head. We didn’t know each other when we were kids. She was losing her mind.
“Our father should have paid attention to me,” she said with a tsk. “But instead, he was busy doting on you, his little princess. Little princess with the hip clothes and lavish birthday parties.”
My head was spinning. It took me a moment to wrap my head around her words. Our father. It struck me at once. I jerked back and looked at her, really looked at her, then shook my head. She couldn’t be. It was implausible. How would my father have . . . she was the same age as Lincoln. He couldn’t have . . . could he? Couldn’t he? Bile rose in my throat. I started coughing, then choking on it. I needed my inhaler.
I wheezed. “Hailey.”
“Hailey. She has nothing to do with this,” Lana’s words were slurred. Somehow, she’d picked herself off the ground though.
“She has everything to do with this,” Hailey screamed, casting a glare up at Lana. “She’s part of their little secret society. I saw her there in that creepy house at the end of the woods.”
She looked up. I tried to follow her gaze, but couldn’t turn my head all the way. Were we close to The Lab? I screamed just in case. Screamed louder for good measure. She clamped her hand over my mouth, my eyes were wide on hers as I tried to scream again.
“Shut up. No one can hear you anyway.”
“This is going too far,” Lana said. She was shaking.
“So playing dead wasn’t going too far?” Hailey shouted. “Causing an accident and making your friend think you committed suicide wasn’t too far?”
“That was different,” she whispered. “I was trying to protect—”
“My father, yes, I know.” Hailey looked at me again. “Lana’s been fucking our father. She wanted your brother to butt out so I helped her plan this whole scheme. I watched them go to parties at that creepy house. I watched them as they fucked outside. I watched those people for months. Stupid elitist secret society. I should be a member you know? My mom’s a member.”
“Is that what you want?” I coughed once, twice, three times. “Is that why you’re doing this?”
“No. How silly do you think I am?” She laughed. “I already have what I wanted. My mother, on the other hand, is sad. Cries herself to sleep because dad no longer wants her. Because Lana took up all his attention.”
“Ella never had him,” Lana shouted. “Felipe is married. He’s always been married and always will be married. Your mother should’ve learned by now that she wasn’t going to keep him.”
“It doesn’t matter.”
“You won’t have him either. He’ll never give you the Bastón last name,” Lana said.
