Free Troubled Waters (The Lake Trilogy, Book 2) by AnnaLisa Grant Page A

here.” I grasp his hand tighter, feeling his pulse beat at his wrist proving his life. “But, I don’t understand. What…what happened?”
    “After my father’s House Call, Luke, Claire and I knew something had to be done. Your refusal to back down was going to set him off and we knew that his next move would be severe. As you know, it was. We tossed around some different ideas. I kept going back to us running away together, but, besides the fact that Luke said that would happen over his dead body, he and Claire were level-headed enough to know that we’d end up running forever. That wasn’t the life I wanted to give you.
    “At first Mom and I were just going to be gone, disappear into thin air. We knew he’d put on a show for the media by calling the big dogs out with a manhunt. We also knew it wouldn’t last long. So, we thought we could just ride it out for a few months. Luke and Claire were keeping me up to date with you, so I didn’t feel like I had completely lost you.
    “My father had Furtick watching your family even after he called off the search…even after he wanted us declared dead. It was then that we realized, until he had two bodies, he was never going to believe we were really gone.” Will takes a deep breath and composes himself. It’s difficult for him to explain the story of how he came to break my heart for the purpose of keeping it. “I’ve said before that my father would rather see me dead than let me live my own life, and it finally occurred to me that that wasn’t an over dramatization. It was true and became the only option. The only way mom and I would ever truly be free is if we were dead.” He sighs and rubs my hand again. “Are you ok? Do you want me to stop? Do you want to ask me anything?”
    “I don’t understand why you didn’t tell me,” I say directly to the room. “I could have helped.”
    “I knew my father would come to your house to look for me when mom and I didn’t come back from Hickory. Your greatest help was your genuine response,” Will says. I know he’s right. I remember standing on the trail in Asheville with his father. Even though Will and I technically weren’t together, he saw right through me and knew there was more to our relationship.
    “Whose idea was the car accident?” I ask. Silence fills the room. No one wants to answer because they know, after the horrific tragedy of losing both my parents in a car accident, how much this, more than any other detail, crushed me.
    “It was mine,” Luke finally says.
    “Why?”
    “Honestly? It was the easiest accident to fake. When we began talking about the logistics it started coming together that Will and Eliana could reasonably be traveling to or from her family in Hickory. Gregory wouldn’t go within a hundred miles of that place so we knew it was our best bet. Layla, it was the hardest decision we made, but it provided the easiest way to pull it off.” Luke’s response is pained. I can tell it hurts him to explain a conscious decision that caused me the pain not only of losing Will, but that resurfaced the agony associated with my parents’ death. Now I know the sobbing he and Claire shared with me was for their genuine anguish over what they were doing to me.
    “What about Eliana…tonight at the library?”
    “If you had obeyed orders, you wouldn’t have seen her and found out this way,” Furtick says breaking his silence.
    “Really? And what exactly was the plan for ending my agony?” I ask with obvious annoyance. Furtick is still pissed at me, but I can’t worry about that now. We’ll smooth things over later when I’m satisfied my questions have been answered.
    “Eliana has been taking classes and we didn’t want to risk you running into her. She wasn’t supposed to be there the day you got your books. And you were not supposed to be on campus tonight. We’ve gone to great lengths to make sure your schedules did not intersect,” Luke answers.
    “Why was Will