Page 197 of The Next Lie
Why you want to kill me. Why you had to kill my family. Why you felt the need to bring me to Louuisiana.
I give her a shaky smile. “Why the invitation?”
She lifts a shoulder in a half-shrug. “Because it’s just the way of things, dear. Enjoy your walk.”
She walks away. Delia practically yanks me along the same route and through the doors.
“I can’t believe this. Our grandmother…I can’t believe you didn’t tell me she was our grandmother—”
“Quiet.”
“No!”
She grabs my hand.
I let her because the hallway turns, and behind us, the two guards have entered the corridor.
Not rushing.
Just following.
Delia pushes open a narrow door at the end of the hall and pulls me outside.
Warm air hits my face. We come out on a side terrace overlooking a service drive, not the formal garden where people smoke and take elegant photographs. It’s all stone, with an iron railing, and potted citrus trees. Beyond it is a low brick wall, a black gate built into it. A narrow street beyond it lit by old lamps and the occasional sweep of headlights.
“Shit…I came out the wrong doors. Shit, shit, shit.” She paces forward a few steps, then back. “Okay, if we go down this street, then that way, we’ll be at the front of the building. Come on.”
I yank my hand free. “What the hell are you doing?”
“Getting you out of the chapel path.”
“Meaning?”
She turns on me, eyes bright behind the mask. “Meaning she told me to bring you there.”
My pulse stumbles.
“Isabel.”
“Do not say her name like she is a mere person.”
“What was supposed to happen in the chapel?”
Delia looks toward the door. She doesn’t answer fast enough.
My stomach turns. “Delia.”
“I don’t know.”
“You’re a damn liar.”
“I don’t know all of it.” Her voice cracks at the edges, and that makes me angrier because I can hear the girl underneath. “I have a pretty good idea, though.”
The door behind us opens. One of the red-rose guards steps onto the terrace. The other stays inside, blocking the hall. Delia’s spine goes rigid.
The man outside smiles politely. “Ms. Rosario requested you both return.”
Delia lifts her chin. “Tell her we are getting some air.”
