Free The Lost Sister by Megan Kelley Hall Page A

sometimes even in his bed). Waiting for an opportunity to pounce because he would never give in to her wishes. He remembered the quote that Cordelia told him once at a tutoring session after school. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. He laughed bitterly as he thought that the darkest demons of hell had nothing on Kate Endicott.
     
    “So she’s back,” Kate said to Darcy. “Wonder how long it’s going to take for her to come visit me? Or maybe her boyfriend Finn won’t let her because we screwed up his plans to turn Ravenswood into a shrine to his beloved Cordelia.” She laughed as she cradled the cell phone against her diamond-studded ear. Word was quickly spreading to the girls about Maddie’s return.
    Stretching her legs out on her chaise longue, Kate looked out at Hawthorne Harbor from the windows that wrapped around the house. She pulled her Burberry wrap closer around her willowy body and took a sip of her Baileys-spiked hot cocoa.
    Darcy relayed the information about her run-in with Maddie at Hawthorne Academy. Kate wanted every detail—even down to what Maddie was wearing, how she looked, what she said—everything.
    “I doubt it,” Darcy said. “She’s still pissed about what happened with Cordelia.”
    “Please,” Kate said, deftly grabbing a cigarette and lighting it in one swift movement. She inhaled deeply and then exhaled as she spoke. “Like Maddie is so innocent. She was right there with us. If she’s going to blame anyone, she should blame herself for trying to force Cordelia onto us. She’s the one who should have known better. She knows who’s really responsible.”
    Kate was infuriated. Girls were bullied all the time—and it never hurt anyone. At least not seriously or in any permanent manner. Her parents used to encourage her to withstand her older sister’s torments growing up. Kiki Endicott berated Kate for crying, telling her that she needed to grow a thicker skin and get tough. Her older sister, Carly, sneered at her little sister’s tearstained face.
    “Suck it up, Katey-Cat,” Carly would shout at her younger sister. “Who’s ever gonna like a crybaby like you?” And then she would tug at her sister’s blond locks, or pull the head off a favorite doll. Kate even woke up one morning with a large wad of gum gobbed up in her long hair.
    “It’s really Madeline’s fault, if you think about it,” she said in a hushed tone to Darcy. She didn’t want any of the cleaning women to overhear her conversation. She knew how fast gossip flew around Hawthorne. “I mean, it was her cousin that came into town and started all of this. So if Maddie has come back to point fingers, then I think it’s our responsibility to give it right back to her—give her what she deserves.”
     
    As soon as Finn heard that Maddie was back in town, he went to see her. Unfortunately, no one came to the door at the old Victorian on Mariner’s Way when he rang the bell. He knew about Abigail and her battle with cancer and that she was probably right inside the house watching him, maybe even too weak to answer the door. He was going to leave a note, but then decided against it. He’d come back another time. Instead, he took a detour on his way home and visited a place that always brought him comfort and hope. He walked by the faces of the Pickering sisters that had been carved into the wall at Ravenswood and wondered how long this wall was going to last. If the Endicotts had their way, this wall would be demolished along with the rest of Ravenswood in order to build their luxury hotel. And then he would lose his last and final tie to Cordelia.
    He had added Cordelia’s face to the wall that commemorated his ancestors, and continued the tradition started by his great-great-grandfathers. He brushed the ivy from the faces and some dirt from the crevices around the carvings. They almost resembled the old carvings of gargoyles he’d seen on old churches, but the faces were softer, more cherubic