Page 69 of Camera Stays On

“Whatcha doing?” Sawyer asked. “If she wants to try to run, let her. It won’t be the first time. Maybe her getting punished is what she needs to figure out she can’t run from me. Our souls are attached. Have been since we were kids. That night started something I couldn’t really undo. You remember that?” He laughed.

I swallowed hard. “Remember what?” I asked, not taking my eyes off the spot where she’d gone.

“Oh, I can’t remember his name. Ray something or other. Our first kill. Her Ma was my next one. That one made me feel a little guilty, if I’m being honest. Since she’d gotten sober and all. But I tried not to make her suffer too much. Not like we did Ray.” He cackled dryly.

I turned my head slowly. “You killed Andi’s mom?” My stomach sank.

“Had to. How else would I get her back to Collingwood?”

I flinched back, stumbling over my own feet.

He rolled his eyes, as if I were the one being dramatic.

“Purdy doesn’t even miss her. It’s fine. Go get dressed, and we can get this over with. We’re losing daylight.”

I stared at my brother. I’d been living with a cold-blooded killer this whole time. How could he commit such atrocities and just laugh? Realizing I had little choice, I went back inside and rushed up to the second floor, right to my room. Much like what I assumed everyone’s rooms looked like now, mine had been torn apart, with all my clothes removed. Ignoring the mess, I went to the bed, where two suits on hangers lay neatly with a note between them.

Choose where you’ll stand, dear brother. Mick will be the one officially signing the license, but we can act out whatever scenario you want.

I looked between them. One was the suit I’d worn to the wedding as his best man. The other was a Catholic priest’s all-black uniform, complete with a clerical collar. There was a Bible beside it. I opened it, finding it bookmarked to Corinthians. The words love is patient were highlighted in yellow.

We weren’t even Catholic, where did he get this?

I threw the bible back onto the bed, as if it had burned my flesh.

So, my options were to stand and watch her marry my brother or to perform the ceremony.

Great.

Chapter 29

Andi

I STARED FROM the trees at the brothers seeming to argue. I couldn’t hear them clearly, but they were fighting. Ash waved his arms wildly, while Sawyer seemed to just be laughing. Sawyer had snapped. I wasn’t sure when it happened, but the man I’d grown up with and had once been ready to marry was no longer here. He’d been replaced by a monster hellbent on hurting...

Me.

I wasn’t sure what his end goal was. Or, maybe I was. I just didn’t want to admit it. He had pulled the trigger when I lunged at him. If my injured leg weren’t enough, the wedding dress—and him in a tux—was a pretty clear sign. Continuing my walk through the woods, I stared at the forest floor below and the trees above, looking for traps. Bea had been hurt. I wasn’t sure what had happened, but I’d seen her mangled foot. When Asher had told me about traps, it was safe to assume that’s what he was referring to. Had Sawyer set out literal traps for us to run into? I shuddered.

As I trekked through the trees, pretending to look for flowers, I reflected. How did we get here? I’d be lying to myself if I said there weren’t signs. The visit in Chicago and the subsequent fire. The complete replication of my childhood bedroom. Sawyer was obsessed with me, and he was hurting everyone in his path. Even me.

I shuddered as a montage of the events from the last few days played in my mind. Lux’s death, my gunshot, the burning of the clothes, Bea’s leg. This entire movie was one big trap.

“Do you remember the first time we met?”

I jumped at Sawyer’s voice and swerved around. He stood near a tree, six feet away.

“What?” I hadn’t even comprehended his question—I was too startled.

“That first day? You’d been so lost and scared. Your mom was yelling as she unpacked your van. Ash and I had been so excited to hear we were getting new neighbors, and that they had a kid named Andi. We thought it stood for Andrew.”

My gaze fell to the ground. I did remember that day. I closed my eyes tight, trying to push away the dark memories of my childhood, but that one was a strong one. The whole Delambre family had come out to watch us. My mom had been so irritated by our new “nosy neighbors.” Mrs. Delambre had later brought over brownies and tried to introduce herself, but my mom wasn’t interested. She’d taken the tray and tossed the brownies into the trash.

“Don’t you dare dig them out,” she ordered, wagging her finger at me. She’d then told me she was having food delivered for dinner—which wasn’t true. She passed out on the couch, a bottle in her hand. With it being the first night in our new place, there was nothing to eat. Desperation to quell the rumbles in my small belly caused me to silently rummage through the trash, where I found a brownie still intact. I cried as I ate it, ashamed of how poor we were, and how nice the lady next door had been. It wasn’t until I was older that I realized we never had food in the house, not because of our financial situation, but because Angel Marin didn’t want to spend her money on something that didn’t benefit her.

I was so embarrassed growing up, and I’d hoped to God no one ever found out the truth about my mom. My prayers were pointless. Within weeks of us moving there, everyone knew.

I looked up from the ground and stared coldly at Sawyer. Resentment, not just for my leg, Lux, and Bea, but for forcing me to think about my mother, stilled me. He didn’t seem to notice my visceral reaction to him bringing her up.