For the first time since she arrived, my mother’s face softened. I saw that she understood the question underneath the question. “People leave for all kinds of reasons,” she said. “Obviously there are selfish reasons, but sometimes people leave because they think it’s the right thing to do. Sometimes they think it’s the only thing to do.”
I was silent, absorbing this.
“For what it’s worth, I think Cami must have thought it was the only thing to do.”
I looked at my mother, waiting for her to elaborate.
“Well, surely you could see she loved you,” she said, that irritated line appearing again.
I hadn’t. Not really.
“People these days don’t know how to read between the lines,” my mother said, shaking her head. “No one pays attention anymore.”
Before I could say anything, a notification came in on my phone. Encrypted. It was from the source I’d hired to find Cami and Emma. I couldn’t read all of it yet. I had to get on my computer to use the decoding software, but the first word was promising.
Update.
“Thank you for coming by,” I said. “Really.”
Her eyebrows climbed at the abrupt dismissal. “You didn’t let me do anything for you,” she said, her voice edging on a complaint.
“You did do something. Something important. Now I have to walk you out. This is about Cami and Emma.”
I walked her to the elevator even though the urge to tell her to see herself out was nearly overpowering. She had her chin up, her back stiff, but she relented to peck me on the cheek goodbye. “Let me know when you find them.”
“I will.”
She hesitated before stepping onto the elevator. I didn’t try to hide my impatience. “I love Emma, too,” my mother said so formally she could have been inviting me to high tea rather than declaring affection for her granddaughter.
I nodded. “I know.”
The elevator doors slid closed, and I raced back to my office. My fingers flew across the keyboard, and I skimmed the unencrypted message so quickly that I had to go back and look at it again to make sure I’d read it right.
Because I couldn’t have read it right the first time.
There was no way.
But after I’d read it again, slower this time, I realized I hadn’t been mistaken.
My mouth went dry. My vision narrowed to pinpoints. Rage swam through my bloodstream until it boiled underneath my skin.
There had never been a real threat.
It had been Robert and Elyna all along.
30
CAMI
Again, I felt as though someone had grabbed the edges of the rug I was standing on andyanked, flipping me head over heels, leaving me spun out and disoriented. How often had this happened now? More times than I cared to think about, but I wasn’t getting any better at sticking the landing.
The nausea roiled my stomach just as intensely as before. Sweat broke out on my forehead. A faint buzzing blocked up my ears. I stared fixedly at the message on the screen, then began scrolling up. The messages were clearly set to delete after twenty-four hours, but the ones that were still there told me everything I needed to know.
My mother and Robert had orchestrated the threats.
Which meant they were never real.
Which meant I’d run for no reason.