Free Twisted Lies 2 by Sedona Venez

a flushed face, her mouth tightened
before she turned on her heel and staggered up the stairs.
    ***
    Jade’s voice jerked me out of the past.
“Sin? Are you okay?”
    “I miss him so damn much.” Tears filled my
eyes, making me feel like that broken girl once again. I wiped away
my teardrops, hating I was still racked with so much guilt and
self-loathing about that day.
    Instead of telling him, I hate you , I
wished all I had said was, I love you, Dad.
    She walked toward me with her arms wide
open. “Come here.”
    I swatted her arms, but she pulled me into a
hug anyway. I quickly hugged her before stepping back.
    Her eyes softened. “Let it go. Forgive
yourself and remember how much he loved you.” She stepped forward,
smoothing my hair. “Honor his love for you and wear the
bracelet.”
    It was time to let go of the guilt. I
couldn’t bring him back, and pretending I didn’t miss him almost
every day was disrespectful to his memory. “Yeah, you’re right,” I
said. “You know you’re the bestest friend ever?”
    She sidled beside me, hip-checking me. “Yes,
I am, and don’t you forget it.”
    I yanked her hair before strolling out of
the living room with her on my heels. Stopping in my guest bedroom,
I went to the pile of fabric stacked on top of the trunk. Pushing
aside the folded remnants, I stared at the old worn trunk that used
to be my father’s. Running my fingers along the worn leather, I
smiled. Dad had dragged the ratty old trunk around the country to
every place we moved. The scratched leather was so worn and dirty
that I couldn’t tell the original color.
    Unlatching the lock, I lifted the top.
Pulling out a stack of photos and sorting through them, I blinked
when I saw one of Dad and me, taken on the beach. He was smiling
and I was sticking out my tongue at the camera. I missed him. I
fucking missed him every day. How abruptly I had lost him hurt. It
had changed me, leaving me vulnerable and scared to let any new
people into my life for fear of losing them.
    “Sin?”
    I cleared my throat. “God, I haven’t seen
this stuff in years,” I muttered, continuing to sift through the
photos. I stopped at a photo of a blond-haired version of myself
hugging Jade.
    She snatched the photo. “Ew, it’s blond Sin.
Promise me you’ll never, ever dye your hair again.”
    “You don’t have to worry about that,” I
mumbled. I dug into the bottom of the trunk before pulling out the
small silk bundle containing the bracelet. Unwrapping the fabric, I
saw the impressive agate silver was still in excellent condition. I
ran my fingers against the stones set into the silver. Holding it
up, I examined each of the panels in between the stones,
hand-engraved with patterns from scrolls to flowers to
cross-hatching plaids. It was strange that this was the first time
I’d actually noticed the ingraining. After clasping the bracelet
around my wrist, I started to close the trunk, when something odd
caught my eye.
    I blinked and then blinked again. “What’s
this?”
    I yanked the piece of red leather peeking
out of the broken bottom of the trunk. No, it wasn’t broken. I hit
the bottom. With the thump of my palm, a secret compartment shifted
completely, and a plume of dust rose, revealing a well-worn leather
ledger.
    “What is that?” Jade asked impatiently,
looking up from admiring the photos.
    “Some weird journal was buried in the bottom
of my dad’s trunk.” I lifted the cover and flicked through the thin
paper. It crackled against my fingertips.
    “What’s in it? Dirty secrets?” Jade
asked.
    The first several pages were a collection of
names. This was not my father’s handwriting. The initials G.L.C.
were scrawled in red ink at the bottom of every page. Next came
numbers and phone numbers. All the pages had codes running along
the margins.
    “Nothing I understand.”
    The ledger had been deliberately concealed
in the false bottom. Why did Dad hide this?
    My dad had been the most transparent