I looked up with a blank expression.
“That’s all of them. Cameron’s bank account numbers,” she said with confidence. “There’s a
lot of cash too, but it’ll take me a bit more time to get everything to you.” I was seeing
red, but she didn’t notice and pointed to the card on the ground, “That’s got our accountant
’s contact information. The accounts are everywhere around the world. It can get complicated.
The accountant help you get the money out. You can trust him.”
If my two fingers hadn’t been tangled in metal, I would have torn the piece of paper to shreds.
But I settled for throwing it back in her face. Carly adeptly caught it.
“I don’t want your blood money.”
Tiny had started making his way to us as my temperature rose, but Carly bravely held him back
with the palm of her hand up. “It’s not blood money, Emmy. Cameron … would have wanted you to
have this. You need the money.”
“I don’t need or want anything from you.” My glare was meant to be demented, but the effect
was lost with the angry tears that rendered me pitiful.
“Em, please just take the money.” She tried to hand me the piece of paper, but I knocked her
hand away.
“You think that giving me money will make any of this better?” I was sobbing now. “You
betrayed him, Carly, all of you did. You were his only family. He trusted you. But like everyone
else in his life, you turned your backs on him the minute he showed he was human. I loved him
and he loved me. You destroyed that.” My voice was drowning.
Her lips were quivering, but the lingering tears never fell. “Don’t kid yourself, Emmy; I won
’t ever forgive myself for letting this happen. I will have to live with this for the rest of
my life.”
She glanced over my face for a long second. I could see the pain in her eyes. “When Bill died,
I thought I was going to die. Even after all the lies, I didn’t want to live without him. But
eventually, things started to get a little brighter again.” Carly gently reached her hand to my
arm and I let her. “I know you hate my guts and don’t believe a word I say, but things will
get better for you too. I promise. Life goes on. You need to move on with it.” She forced a
smile and then turned to walk away. The tears had finally broken through.
I realized that Carly and I now had more in common than ever—with Bill and Cameron dead, we had
both lost our brother and the love of our life. We had both lost Rocco’s light. We had lost so
much. But, in that moment, I felt sorrier for her than I did myself. For the rest of her life,
she would be stuck with Spider and with the guilt of Cameron’s death. For some of this, I
pitied her.
Without turning back, Carly called out as she made her way to the truck, “Keep yourself safe,
Emmy, and please, stay out of trouble.”
She proceeded to climb into the truck.
“I’m worried about you, Carly,” I blurted out after her.
She turned. Her head tilted to the side. “You’re worried about me?”
“Spider is dangerous. He’ll stop at nothing to get what he wants.”
This made her break into a smile. “I’m a survivor, Em. You don’t need to worry about me. Just
take care of yourself.”
She closed the passenger-side door, and they all drove away. I wiped my face clean. There would
be no more tears, I promised myself, even though I had no control over them.
I walked over to my new roommate and looped my arms around his thick, furry neck. He struggled
to get out of my bear hug to lick my face. After a few minutes, I sighed, released him from the
porch post, and led us into our new lives.