Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 76298 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 381(@200wpm)___ 305(@250wpm)___ 254(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76298 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 381(@200wpm)___ 305(@250wpm)___ 254(@300wpm)
“What are you doing here, Dean Wotherspoon?” I use his title to try to remind him that he’s not some society asshole playing pranks against a rival house. He’s an administrator, a serious adult with real responsibility, and this is going way too far.
But if he knows he’s gone over the deep end, he doesn’t seem ashamed.
“You were in my house earlier today, when Emilio visited. I understand he didn’t know you’d followed him over, and it’s a real shame you chose today to act like your sister.”
I click my teeth together like he just punched me in the stomach. “What do you mean, like my sister?”
He waves a hand. “Everyone knows she followed Emilio around ceaselessly. She even wrote that stupid article about his smuggling activities. Do you have any idea how much damage control I had to take on after the accident because of her?” He shakes his head, pacing, hands behind his back. “It wasn’t supposed to happen. You have to understand that. Her fall was an accident and I didn’t mean for her to get hurt. But she’s dead and now I’m dealing with the consequences.”
“You killed her. You admitted it in that recording.”
His eyes snap up and meet mine. He looks pitiable, pathetic. “I thought I was helping.”
“What happened, Dean Wotherspoon? What really happened? How did my sister die?”
He stops pacing and takes a steadying breath. Slowly, he tilts his head, and closes his eyes like he’s remembering that night in detail. “I was out for a walk. You saw me on one of my walks, didn’t you? I like to hike around the island, and that night I thought I was alone. Students don’t wander the forest after sundown, but when I heard yelling, I had to go investigate. I hurried up the trail and found your sister and Emilio, engaged in some kind of altercation. To this day, I still don’t know what it was really about, but your sister’s intensity frightened me.
“She was screaming at him. She kept saying that she was the only person that cared for him, and that she was going to ruin him and break him, and he kept telling her that it was over, that she couldn’t come around the house anymore. It sounded like he was breaking up with her. She snapped and ran at him and dug her fingers into his throat. He seemed surprised and tried to make her stop, but she wouldn’t, only kept squeezing and thrashing.
“I ran over to help. I thought she was going to kill him, but when I got close, both of them looked over in surprise. She stepped back, releasing his neck, and I grabbed at her. I was trying to pull her away from him, but it was dark and I was out of breath and she was flailing around. Instead of away from the cliff’s edge, she yanked from my grip and slipped.
“Emilio tried to save her. He dove, nearly fell himself, and grabbed for her arm. It was lucky he didn’t go over with her. But he missed and all I heard was her scream as she disappeared, plunging down into the water.”
He finishes his story and stares down at his hands like he can still feel their grip on my sister’s wrist.
“You went after her,” I sat quietly. “You climbed down and tried to rescue her.”
“Emilio did. He nearly got himself killed trying to save her, but the water was too rough and he had to turn back, and it wouldn’t have mattered. Not by the time we got down there. He tried, we both tried, but it was too late. She was gone.”
I let that sink in. My sister attacked Emilio, tried to strangle him—as much as I hate it, that sounds like something she’d do. The memory of that night, her fingers around my neck, the reason my voice is so low and raspy—it rushes through my brain like a lighting blast.
She tried to do the same thing to Emilio.
Then even after that, after she tried to ruin him and tried to kill him, Emilio still tried to save her life. He dove for her the same way he dove for me, and swam out for her, but it wasn’t enough. He tried, but he failed.
And it’s this man’s fault.
Dean Wotherspoon. This simpering, wretched, worthless piece of trash. He killed my sister with his awkward incompetence. If he’d only left them alone, Lucy might still be alive. I’m sure Emilio could’ve thrown her off him if he’d wanted to. Lucy was athletic and strong, but she was still half his size and half his weight.
“If it was really an accident like you’re making it sound, why didn’t you just tell someone the truth? Why hide it?”
He laughs softly and rubs his face. “I’ve asked myself that a thousand times. I should’ve just called for help right away. Instead, I covered it up, and by covering it up, I let Emilio take control of my life. I made things immeasurably worse. You must understand, Kaye, that Saint Parras is more than a school. There is power here, influence, money. The children of the elite come to this place to learn how to take their positions in life and their safety is left in my hands. If anyone finds out that I was even tangentially involved with your sister’s accident and that I tried to cover it up, Saint Parras will be ruined. I will be ruined. And I cannot allow that.”