They Faked Their Deaths, I Faked My Recovery Chapter 06
Sloane expected what always came next: Graham pulling her close, soothing her, the way he always did.
It never came.
Instead, Mara’s parents were the first to slap her.
“Who the hell are you calling a criminal? Mara was a hero. She solved more cases than anyone in this family will ever know. She’s dead, and you’re still dragging her name through the mud?”
Graham got to his feet. When he looked at Sloane, there was nothing in his eyes but hate.
“Sloane, tell me Wesley was wrong. Go ahead. If you hadn’t stolen her work and called her a traitor in front of the whole world, she’d still be alive. You killed her.”
Sloane pressed a hand to her swollen cheek, staring at them.
They’d all lost their minds.
That morning, every single one of them had treated Mara like she was nothing. Now they were acting like Mara was the love of their lives.
All because she was dead?
Sloane’s voice broke, thick with self-pity.
“I get it, okay? Mara’s dead, and you’re all gutted. But you don’t get to put that on me!”
“If she’d just let me have the credit, none of this would’ve happened! I
—
wouldn’t have had to go live. I wouldn’t have had to say any of that.
She did this to herself! She was too selfish to share, and it killed her!”
“Shut up!”
Graham and both her parents slapped her at the same time.
They stared at her, and for the first time, they saw what she really was. The disappointment on their faces curdled into something darker.
Mara was her sister.
Sloane had gone on camera and called her own sister a criminal.
She’d driven Mara to the edge and let her fall.
And she didn’t feel a thing. Her only complaint was that Mara hadn’t been generous enough to hand it all over quietly.
Did this woman have a conscience at all?
The pain hit all at once: three hands, three sharp blows, her whole face on fire.
Sloane doubled over, clutched her chest, and coughed hard.
She tasted blood. Her whole body burned from the inside out.
She looked at Graham, the man who’d chosen her. At her parents, the ones who’d always put her first. None of them would even meet her eyes. She turned and ran.
The sky went dark.
Sloane sat alone in a private room at the restaurant.
—
She sat there for a long time before she swallowed her pride and opened the family group chat.
[My awards banquet is about to start. All the department brass will be there.]
[Dad, Mom, Graham, I want you all there. Bring the kids. This is the most important night of my life, and I need my family with me.]
[I’ll forget everything that happened today. I don’t blame any of you.]