“Oh, Harlow,” she whimpered, and her sobs increased. “Harlow, it’s Hadley, she—she drove her car into a-a-a—” She broke off, and I heard the phone being shuffled.
My dad’s voice didn’t sound much better, but he was able to get the words out. “Honey? We’re on our way, but can you get to the hospital? Hadley drove her car into a house. She’s alive, she’s going to be fine, but they said they think she was under the influence of something,” he said. “Did you know she was into this? How did we not know?” he asked himself before I could answer.
Not that I could or would anyway. I couldn’t even speak. My sister drank at parties, but never even to the point where she had to make up for it the day after. She definitely didn’t drink in the afternoon, and I could only assume “something” meant something other than alcohol. And that wasn’t Hadley. My eyes found Collin’s. No life, but they were still smiling.
I wanted to scream that it was Collin’s fault; that whatever Hadley had done was because of him. But then I would pay, Knox would try to save me, who knew what would happen to him, and then the rest of my family would pay even more than they already were.
“Harlow?” Dad asked. “Can you get there? She needs one of us there, and we’re still three hours away.”
“Of course, I’ll be there as soon as I can,” I said.
Dad choked out a sob. “It’ll be okay, Harlow. She’ll be okay. She will. She’ll be okay.”
I nodded, though he couldn’t see me. Because Hadley would be okay, as long as I kept my mouth shut and tried to make Collin happy. “See you soon. Love you,” I whispered, then ended the call.
“Go make yourself presentable. Try to cover your cheek, and make sure your neck is covered. I’ll take you,” Collin said in a businesslike tone. “We can’t have you around them by yourself, now can we?”
I’d been staring at the floor, but when he finished talking, I slowly looked up at him. Inside I was screaming how much I hated him. I was taking all my anger from the last two and a half years out on him. I was making him regret ever touching me. On the outside I was still as stone as tears silently fell from my cheeks onto the floor.
WHEN WE GOT home hours later, I understood just how much planning had gone into that punishment—and in only a matter of hours that morning. Once my parents had arrived at the hospital, we’d only been able to stay for another twenty minutes before Collin had told them about his parents’ anniversary dinner, which we “weren’t allowed to miss.” But only after swearing we would be back, and promising he would get Hadley moved to a suite in the hospital. Just enough time for my parents to see that I was alive and mostly well, and well loved and spoiled by my husband, and to remember why Collin was their favorite.
But not long enough for them to notice my hatred toward him, why I would tense whenever he went near Hadley, or why he would give me a look that promised so many horrible things when I left his side for more than a second. And of course, with everyone so focused on Hadley, no one noticed my shaking, my too-thin body, or the red mark on my cheek I hadn’t attempted to cover.
Hadley had had a nearly lethal dose of PCP in her system when she’d driven her car into the side of a house. In her state, she’d climbed out of the car—even with a broken arm—and had fought police officers when they’d attempted to restrain her. Police officers who had just happened to be following her.
She was heavily sedated and handcuffed to the hospital bed with those same officers stationed outside her room when we’d arrived. But then Collin had saved the day when he announced he’d make sure all the charges against her were dropped, and would take care of the damage costs. Of course, he’d waited to do all this when my parents had shown.
In their hysterical state, my parents had only been thankful for my husband and what he was doing. While I was thankful this wouldn’t go on Hadley’s record, I couldn’t stop from studying the officers as they’d taken the cuffs off my sister, and then left. Because there was no way something like that could just go away the way Collin had made it—especially with this new chief Collin hated so much—I knew they were receiving money from my husband. Just as the officer who had arrested me had.
“Get ready,” Collin said without a glance in my direction as he took off for the bedroom.
I waited until he was in there before going into the guest room to check the closet. I’d known—well, hoped—Knox would know to leave when we did, but was still disappointed when I found the closet empty and bed made. The windows in there were still closed and locked, and the front door had been locked when we’d come home, so I wasn’t sure how he’d left, and knew I didn’t have time to go around trying to find out.
I walked into the bedroom just as Collin came out of the closet—already in a different dress shirt with a tie in his hand. His face showed that he’d been wondering where I was.
“I told you to get ready,” he growled.