Chapter 1Wedding night. Husband springs a sick game on me.
"Truth swap," he grins. "Deepest, darkest secrets."
He goes first, casual as hell: "Banged your bestie. Started it myself."
My blood runs ice-cold.
My turn now.
I lock eyes with him. "I killed someone once."
Dead silence.
"Bullshit," he laughs nervously.
I don't blink. "Try me."
His face drains white.
Game fucking over.
---
Ryan laughs in my face.
"Babe, relax. I was messing with you." That cocky grin spreads wide. "You look hot when you're jealous."
Ryan Blake. Trust fund prince. Total player.
Everyone freaked when he married me. The broke nobody.
One last wild night before commitment? Whatever.
He leans in, eyes gleaming. "Your turn now. Give me something good."
I touch his jaw slowly. "You sure? No going back after this."
"Hell yeah."
Wine rushes to my head. Old memories crawl up from the dark.
I lock eyes with him.
"I killed someone. Fifteen years ago."
"My own father."
THE CONFESSION
"Dad was normal once. Before gambling destroyed everything."
Factory accountant. We weren't rich, but we were happy.
Then 2007 hit. Stock market went crazy.
"Everyone threw money at stocks. Dad too. Started small. Got hooked fast. Then he stole from work. Small amounts first, then he borrowed 500 grand from loan sharks. Thought he'd win it all back before anyone noticed."
Ryan snorts. "Gamblers always think that."
"Yup." I take another sip. "Kept betting. Kept losing. Got fired. Sold the house, the cars. Still drowning in debt. Loan sharks beat him bloody. Said they'd kill him next time. Mom begged everyone for money. Even sold Grandma's house just to keep him alive."
We cried together. Dad swore he'd never gamble again.
Two weeks later? Another loan.
"'How long do I gotta suffer?'" he'd yell. "'One good hand and I'm golden!'"
Dad disappeared after that. Mom and I ran. New cities, new names.
Didn't matter.
They always found us.
My life turned into hell.
Then one day, Dad showed up outside my school.
Months of nothing. Suddenly there he was. Said he found work. We'd be a family again soon.
I was fifteen.
Stupid.
So damn hopeful.
I believed him.
I held his hand tight, talking nonstop. My grades, the math competition, everything.
"Dad, I'll work so hard! Scholarships, loans, whatever it takes. You won't pay a cent!"
He barely listened. Kept looking over his shoulder like someone was hunting him.
When I said I was thirsty, he handed me a Coke.
Already opened.
His hands shook bad. Soda fizzed everywhere.
I didn't see the fear in his eyes.
I drank it.
Every drop.
That Coke destroyed my whole life.
Chapter 2
"Wait, he drugged you?"
Ryan's voice cracks. "That's fucked up."
"Yeah, well. Gamblers lose their souls eventually. Being a dad? That stops mattering real quick."
After that Coke, I was gone. Lights out.
When I came to, I was in some hotel room.
Smelled like sweat and cheap cologne.
Dad was sitting there, acting all concerned. "You got overheated, honey. Don't push yourself so hard with studying, okay?"
Everything hurt.
My head was a complete blank.
Trying to remember felt like someone jabbing knives into my skull. Just broken pieces. Nothing fit together.
I was freaking out.
When we left, Dad wouldn't stop talking.
"Hey, don't mention this to your mom, alright? She's being difficult about me seeing you. But I'm getting back on my feet, I promise! Gonna send you to the best schools, maybe even overseas!"
I wasn't an idiot.
Something bad happened in that room.
Bruises all over my thighs. Blood when I went to the bathroom even though someone tried cleaning me up.
My school uniform was wrong. Different brand.
Walking made my insides scream.
I broke down and told Mom.
She dragged me to the ER immediately.
The doctor's face said it all before she even spoke.
Raped.
More than once.
By more than one guy.
A lot more.
I stopped existing after that.
Locked in my room for days. Couldn't eat, couldn't think.
Part of me wanted to just end it.
But mostly I kept asking myself, how? How could he?
Dad loved me, didn't he?
When other parents only cared about having sons, he bragged about his smart daughter. Paid for expensive tutoring.
My throat tightens up just thinking about it.
"This girl at my school, her dad bought her a piano. I mentioned wanting one too. Dad started working two side jobs, fixing old appliances, selling stuff. Came home one day with a brand new piano on his back."
Back when I was small, the road home was nothing but mud puddles. Dad noticed me trying not to mess up my new shoes.
So he hoisted me onto his shoulders without asking.
"Princess express coming through!" Laughing like crazy.
Up there, the whole world opened up. I threw my arms out, squealing.
Orange sky forever. Wind everywhere.
That's the dad I remember.
Strong. Happy. Mine.
How'd he turn into the guy who sold me?
He tracked us down eventually.
Showed up on his knees, tears and snot running down his face. "Baby girl, please. They're gonna kill me. Literally chop me into pieces. I'm in deep, millions deep. But listen, they made me an offer. You work for them, just five years, and my debt's cleared. That's nothing, right?"
Everything felt surreal. Like watching some sick movie.
He kept slamming his forehead on the ground.
"Five years! Pop some birth control, you'll be fine. Come on, don't let them butcher your old man!"
Mom walked in right then.
Lost her shit completely.
"Are you fucking SERIOUS right now?! Get out of my house!"
They went at each other, scratching, grabbing.
Then Dad's hands closed around Mom's throat.
Pure panic in his bulging eyes.
"I don't have a choice! You don't get it! I watched them torture someone, they're animals! They'll cut off my hands, rip out my organs while I'm still alive!"
Mom clawed at his grip, face going purple, making these horrible choking sounds.
Dad squeezed harder, veins popping out on his forehead and neck.
THUD.
Dad's whole body jerked.
I'd grabbed my trophy off the shelf.
State Math Champion.
Heavy brass base.
Smashed it into the back of his head.
My brain just... stopped working. Pure static.
Dad flailed around trying to grab me.
Mom snatched the lamp cord, looped it around his neck.
Yanked with everything she had.
His eyes looked like they'd explode out of his face.
I swung again.
Harder.
Dad collapsed.
Stopped moving.
Mom pressed shaking fingers to his neck.
"No pulse. Oh god. He's dead."
We murdered my father.
Both of us.
She was protecting her kid. That's not wrong.
I didn't want to be a sex slave. That's not wrong either.
But the cops wouldn't see it that way. We'd go to prison.
My entire future, gone.
We just stood there frozen, no clue what to do.
Mom crept to the door, peeked out. Empty alley, nothing but moonlight.
Except for one problem.
Mrs. Carter from the corner store.
Thank god she was blind.
We crammed Dad into a huge laundry bag, started dragging him down the alley.
Right past her shop, she called out.
"That you, Annie's mom? Awful late to be out."
The old lady sat hunched in the dark, those milky dead eyes swiveling toward us.
Mom's hands slipped. The bag hit concrete with a wet thump.
"Oh! Yeah, just, uh, trash run!"
Voice way too high, cracking at the edges.
Mrs. Carter's blind stare didn't move.
"Mighty big bag for trash. And it smells real fresh. Can't be dumping that kind of thing, you know."
Chapter 3
My brain shut down completely.
Mrs. Carter wasn't blind.
She'd been faking it for years. Collecting disability checks.
Cold sweat soaked through my shirt. I couldn't breathe.
What now? Is she calling the cops?
Blackmail? But I had nothing. Zero money.
Those cloudy eyes fixed on me.
"I can help. If you trust me."
I stop talking. My throat's dry.
Ryan's hooked. "And then? Come on!"
I lean back slow. "What would you do?"
He thinks. "Take her help, probably. You're screwed either way. Might as well risk it. 2005 had way fewer cameras. Maybe you'd get lucky. But what could some old lady even do?"
I smile. It feels cold.
"We had two choices actually." My face half hidden in shadow.
"Two of us. One old woman. No family.
"Kill her too. That was option two."
Ryan goes pale.
I grab his hand. It's freezing. Wet.
"Yeah, I thought about it. Everything was spinning. For one second, I got it. Why my dad did what he did. When you're cornered, everyone gambles. We'd all bet everything to survive.
"I chose to trust her."
Mrs. Carter pointed at her kitchen. "Bring him in here."
We dragged the body inside.
She looked at Mom. "What's your plan?"
Mom had watched too many crime shows. Her voice shook. "Dump him? Ocean? Landfill maybe?"
Mrs. Carter laughed. Sharp and mean.
"Really? How? Take a cab? The bus? Wrap him in what, a trash bag? You got a suitcase lying around?"
Mom shook her head.
"Call a cab this late, driver remembers you forever. You got no supplies. Nothing. Ocean's eighty miles away.
"Plus, body temperature shows time of death. They trace it back. You're both done."
Mom looked destroyed.
Then Mrs. Carter said something that froze my blood.
Her voice went quiet.
"Not hard to fix though.
"No body means nothing to measure."
