Page 128 of Angels Are Falling

It went like that, Amelie’s voice steady as she confirmed Bella hadn’t ingested any of the ‘snow.’

I caught my own lips moving along behind her questions, half a beat late, like a man praying that all the answers came back right.

The saving grace was that the twins didn’t hear the madness because their rooms were far away and they were probably engrossed in their game station.

“I’ll take her to the hospital,” Kai announced. “Dr. Bower recommended keeping her overnight just to make sure nothing’s wrong.”

“Okay. I’ll stay with the boys.”

As if remembering I was still there, Kai’s gaze flicked to me for just a second. “You guys should come with me.”

My hand was already in my jacket, searching for my car keys, even though I knew Kai had only referred to Amelie and the twins when he said “you guys.” I was just hoping they’d let me tag along.

“There’s no point in taking the twins to the hospital. Mrs. Bea will be home in an hour, and then I’ll meet you. It’ll give me time to pack an overnight bag for Bella.”

They spoke like a fully functioning working pair, while I stood in front of the door, not quite crossing it, no idea how to help. Kai reluctantly agreed and left with Bella, while I stood there uselessly.

It looks like snow. Did Mommy send this for me⁠—

Bella saw snow only once, right after our parents died. Amelie told her that our mom sent her snow because she missed her. Bella still believed that story. My little sister picked up my drugs because she thought it was a sign from our dead mother, and that was how I’d endangered her life.

Shame curdled in my stomach.

“Amelie.” I spoke her name as if it were a prayer, hoping for a lifeline.

Her gaze landed on me.

“God, Am, I don’t know what happened. I didn’t even know it was gone until she—oh, God.”

I tried to grasp for more words just as she charged toward me. I opened my mouth again just as Amelie slapped me across the face.

Chapter

Thirty-Eight

AMELIE

My palm was on fire.

My hand held the shape of Stefan’s face, and the terrible part was that it felt like the first honest thing I’d said to him since he returned.

It looks like snow. Did Mommy send this for me⁠—

Bella saw snow exactly once, right after we buried her parents, and I told her that her mother had sent it down because she missed her. I invented it on the worst night of her little life so she’d have one soft thing to hold on to. And today, my own white lie took her by the hand and led her straight to a bag of cocaine in the grass.

“Am. I-I—” he stuttered.

“You what?” I snapped.

“Oh, God. I didn’t mean to… I’d never hurt Bella. You know I would never.”

“You would never,” I said. The words tasted like acid. “Yet you did.”

Of course, Stefan hadn’t done it on purpose. His bad decisions merely followed him around and landed on everyone in his vicinity.

It would have been easier if he had done it on purpose. But this, the carelessness from a man who supposedly loved us, there was no fighting that. There was only putting distance between it and the kids.

“I fucked up.” His voice cracked in the middle of it. “Monumentally. There’s no version of this where I get to explain but let me. Please. I’d just found out Kai’s parents killed mine. I wasn’t myself.”