Page 113 of Reckless Love

“You have a car, so you’ll have a roof over your head. But I can’t have someone who would be so careless with the people I love living under the same roof. I can’t trust you.”

“You’re not even going to let me explain?”

“I have one question. Just one. Did you know Landon and Ava would be in the car?”

“No!” Vanessa cries. “No. I swear. It was supposed to happen when we knew he was alone. Late at night. Coming home from work. Not—not after a charity event. I didn’t agree to any of that. You have my word.”

“I just wish your word still meant something.” I gesture to all her things scattered across the floor. “You need to be cleared out by the morning, or I’ll call to have everything removed. Your time in this house is done.”

Chapter Forty

Stephen

“Something is going on,” Ava says to me when we get into bed that night. “You need to talk to me. We don’t shut each other out anymore.”

I draw her close, and I run my hand along her back as I consider how and what to tell her. But I’ve never been good at doling out snippets of the truth to people I love, which is why Vanessa’s betrayal stings. When you love someone, you let them in, even when the version of you they see isn’t your best one. Especially when they ask you to reveal your truth.

“Vanessa was one of the organizers for the unionization at The Nile.”

“Vanessa, your sister, Vanessa?” Ava asks in disbelief.

“Yes, and I knew she was part of that. A conflict of interest, given that I was employed by Raul. But I thought I could handle it.”

“You did.”

“I don’t know if I did. Vanessa was also part of the group threatening Raul. She was…” My throat gets tight. “She knew about the car accident. She knew they were planning that.” Saying it out loud brings back the well of anger but also an unexpected grief. Vanessa isn’t the person I thought she was. I don’t know her anymore.

“Oh, my god,” Ava says, drawing back to search my expression. “You just found out?”

“I suspected that night. Her behavior. And I knew she’d been involved in other things. But I asked her, and she said she didn’t have anything to do with the accident. Owen told me today that the police have proof she was involved in the planning, at least to some extent.” Even if Vanessa denies the details, she knew the outline.

“Wow,” Ava breathes out. “I can see why you haven’t exactly been yourself.”

“I’ve kicked her out of the apartment. Told her to go somewhere else. I’m not having someone in this house who’s a danger to you or Landon.”

“She made a mistake, but that doesn’t make her a bad person.”

“She compounded that mistake by lying.”

“Will she go to jail?”

“I don’t know.” I take a deep breath. “I’d like to try to keep her out of jail if that’s all right with you. But I’ll understand if you want to see her punished in a bigger way. I’d understand.”

“Did she know Landon and I would be in the car?”

“She says she didn’t. The original plan was to have the accident happen when Raul was on his way home from work.”

Ava grows quiet against me, and I listen to her breathe, marveling that I get to do this, that my sister’s choices almost meant I wouldn’t hear this, feel this again.

“We’ve all made mistakes, haven’t we?” Ava whispers.

“Most of those don’t lead to people almost dying.”

“Mine did, though.” She draws back to look at me. “There’s a pretty straight line between me brushing you off and you almost dying.”

“That’s not true, Ava. I choose to run toward danger. That’s the job I had before I even knew you. Other people run away. I run toward.”

“But you were at that job because of me.”