They Faked Their Deaths, I Faked My Recovery Chapter 05
Graham made it to the roof one step too late.
He lunged. His hand closed on empty air.
She was there, and then she wasn’t. And all he could do was watch.
His knees buckled, but he caught the railing and held himself up. He looked over the edge and screamed.
“Mara!”
No one answered. No one ever would again.
Graham ran down every flight of stairs to the ground. By the time he got there, Mara’s parents had arrived with Wesley.
None of them were ready for what they saw.
Graham dropped to his knees in the blood. He reached for her, hands shaking, wanting to hold her one last time, even if it was only what was left of her.
But there was nothing left to hold.
From that height. All that was left was blood and broken bones.
Her parents stared and couldn’t make sense of it. Their minds refused to connect the blood on the ground with the daughter they knew.
This was the little girl who’d started doing the dishes at five years old because she wanted to help.
The daughter who never forgot a birthday, who always had a gift ready.
—
The girl who picked up part-time jobs in high school so she’d never have to ask them for money.
The daughter who sent them money every month, even when she could barely afford rent.
Was she really… gone?
Her mother crumpled to the ground beside the blood, sobbing so hard the words kept breaking apart.
“Mara, don’t do this to me. I was wrong, okay? I was wrong!”
“You want the same shoes Sloane had? I’ll buy them. You want eggplant parmesan? I’ll make it tonight. The police academy? I’ll pay every cent. Anything, Mara. I’ll give you anything!”
“Mara, come back! Please, baby, just come back and look at me!”
Sloane showed up last.
She took one look at Graham and her parents on their knees, wailing, and something ugly rose in her chest.
Mara just couldn’t help herself, could she? She’d fought Sloane for attention her whole life, and now she was doing it from the grave.
Why were they all falling apart over a corpse?
Sloane walked over and pulled Wesley against her. Her voice was sharp with irritation.
“Mom, Dad, why would you bring Wesley here? You don’t think this is going to traumatize him?”
—
“Don’t be scared, baby. Mommy’s taking you to get ice cream.”
Wesley sank his teeth into Sloane’s arm and shoved her away, tears streaming down his face.
“She’s not a bad person! My mom is here!”
“You’re not my mom! Mara’s my real mom! You’re a bad person. You killed her!”
Sloane yanked her arm back, wincing. She looked at the boy in front of her, and something cold settled behind her eyes.
She’d raised this child for three years.
And underneath it all, he still wanted the mother who’d never even been there for him.
Someone else’s child would never really be hers. She saw that now.
Sloane turned to Graham, her face tight with frustration.
“Graham, look at him! If we don’t rein him in now, he’s going to end up just like his mother.”