Free Twisted By Love, Reincarnation Tales, Book 1 by Jasmine Haynes Page B

her innocent little eyes and
say But oh, it wasn’t my fault . Sometimes she’d even done it
without realizing. That’s the way she was. Toni had made her pay in
the end, even if it had taken years. The night she’d slashed her
wrists had been the ultimate. There’d been lots of blood, but Toni
knew she hadn’t hit anything major. Poor, poor Livie, she’d been
frantic.
    Obviously that payback hadn’t been enough.
Because Livie was doing it again. But how had she found Reese? It
wasn’t possible. Toni hadn’t even used his real name, always
calling him by his middle name. That had made her special,
different from every other woman he’d known, but it also kept him
safe from Livie. Yet she’d found out anyway. How? Toni sucked in a
breath. Maybe Livie had been going through her text messages,
spying on her.
    She grabbed the phone and deleted all her
history. Then she couldn’t resist sending him another text message,
short and sweet: I need you.
    Yeah, let him feel guilty about dumping her
like yesterday’s garbage. He’d pay; they’d both pay.
    Toni smiled, letting her lip curl
maliciously. So who should she tell first that she knew what they’d
been up to? The answer was obvious: Livie. That would have far more
impact. Oh, the delicious guilt.
    Of course, Toni was well aware that it could
be coincidence, that Livie might not have known . After all,
they worked in the same building. But that was the whole point,
Livie never took responsibility. She didn’t even have to try to hurt Toni. No, she just did things without thinking.
She marched through life without a thought for her very own sister,
never paying attention, never caring.
    The fact was that Livie had everything and
Toni had nothing.
    Sitting there sipping Livie’s costly
chardonnay, Toni started to plan. She’d continue sending Reese
sweet, loving messages, begging for forgiveness—gag—and she’d keep
telling Livie how wonderful Reese was, how delicious he was in bed,
how badly she needed him back, how she couldn’t go on without him.
Then bam, she’d lay it on Livie, something dramatic like You
stole my man. Yeah, she wanted Livie hooked on him before she
realized she had to give him up.
    God, what if Livie invited him here? Toni
didn’t want him to know before she was ready. She jumped up,
grabbing three photos off the shelf of Livie’s entertainment
center. One was of her and Livie when they were high school, one
more recent, and another of the whole family before Dad died.
Hopefully Livie wouldn’t notice they were missing. And if she did,
Toni could say she hated the way she looked in them. Toni always
had an excuse for everything. And Livie always believed her.
    She whirled around at a noise drifting down
from Livie’s bedroom. A cry. Or something. She went to the edge of
the hallway, stood silent a moment, listening. Another cry, louder
this time. Livie was having one of her nightmares.
    Good. Toni padded back to the sofa and
finished her wine, letting her sister dream the dreams of the
damned.
     
    * * * * *
     
    Livie simply needed to get out. Or go
completely insane.
    She’d had a nightmare Friday night. Saturday
morning she’d woken with a massive headache after too much wine.
Then there’d been Toni’s incessant moaning and crying all day long
and into the evening. Toni could be so needy. Of course there was
nothing Livie could do. The final straw had been last night’s bad
dreams.
    This morning, Toni was afraid of being alone
and wanted to go shopping with her. No way. Julia and Toni
absolutely hated each other. Livie left feeling halfway between
guilty and relieved. As much as she wanted to help her sister, she
just couldn’t take one more day of Toni and all those intimate
sexual details. God, please, no more.
    “Here, have more tea. I’ll do your tea leaves
afterward.” Julia poured the Chinese tea into Livie’s cup, the
leaves swirling then settling to the bottom along with the rest.
This was her third, and