Page 55 of Sinful Empire (Mount Trilogy 3)
Destiny’s head bobbed as she rocked. Her tears stopped falling as she bit her lip and nodded. It showed incredible fortitude for a teenager to switch off her emotions so quickly.
“Please don’t leave her in there with him,” she begged me. “Please don’t.”
“Don’t worry. I’m not leaving her behind. I’d never leave her behind. Can you be strong for me?”
“Yeah. Yeah. Please, just get her.”
“Breathe, Desi.”
She nodded again, still rocking, but hauled in a deep breath.
I shut the door and headed first to the shed next to the house. It took me all of thirty seconds to find a can of gasoline. I ran inside and up the stairs, then poured it on every flammable surface except the bedroom quilt. That I tore off the bed before I ran downstairs and carefully wrapped Hope’s body in it.
The piece of shit beside her had already lost consciousness. I’d never know what truly happened before I got here, but it didn’t matter now.
I grabbed the Zippo in my pocket, then lifted Hope into my arms and headed for the door. Before it slammed shut behind me, I flipped open the lighter and struck it. When I tossed it onto the living room floor, the gasoline ignited. I strode toward the car, heat from the fire on my back, and Destiny’s stricken face staring at me through the window.
Hefting Hope’s body higher, I opened the back door and laid her inside across the seat. “Don’t you fucking look back there, Desi.”
She jerked her gaze forward as I shut Hope inside. I flung open the driver’s side, dropped into the seat, and turned the key.
“You’re not going to fucking LSU anymore, Desi. You’re getting a hell of a lot further out of this town.”
Sirens wailed in the distance as I burned rubber on the cracked pavement, leaving the burning house behind.
Destiny sniffled, reining in her grief the same way I shut down mine. “I want to stay with you.”
I didn’t look at her as I blew through a stop sign. “No. Not an option. Pick any college you want, and you’ll get in. But you’re not staying here. I want you as far away from me as possible.”
We were almost back to the Quarter when Destiny finally spoke again.
“I heard MIT has a really good computer-science program.”
I turned to look at her. Resilient as fuck. Another flower growing between the sidewalk cracks. “Then MIT it is.”
We never talked about Hope again. Before I shipped Destiny off to MIT, I tried to bring up her sister, but Destiny shut down completely, like a broken toy.
I never told Destiny that I buried Hope in a mausoleum outside of town, and made sure she al
ways had fresh flowers on the anniversary of her death and on her birthday.
I also never told Destiny that I hadn’t forgiven myself for what happened that day. For not protecting them better. For not getting there sooner. For not knowing whether I killed Hope.
Instead, I focused on the future, making sure Destiny’s was settled. That was all I could do.
Keira
Present day
I fight through the darkness and open my eyes. Pain radiates throughout my entire body, and it’s a hell of a lot worse than after the car accident.
The only light in the crypt comes from the full moon sneaking through the cracks in the mortar in one upper corner. It’s not enough to see the horror of what’s around me, but I can smell it.
“Mags?” My voice breaks in a whisper as I steel myself against the pain and reach out to touch her. “Mags, you can’t be dead. Please.”
Our last words were spoken in anger, and I can’t live with that.
If I get to live.
