Sweet Liar (Candy #2)(58)

Theo. It felt like a brick was lodged in my throat each time I thought of him. My fingers itched to dial Alison and ask her again if she knew any more about the treatment that helped my mother. I’d only asked her twice since that first time. I knew I was impatient, but the clock was ticking. It felt like there was no time to waste. I decided I’d call her tomorrow, since I’d just asked her this morning.

Staring at the grocery list in front of me on the counter, I mulled over the food items I’d need from the market if I decided to cook something. I was still eyeing it indecisively when my phone dinged with a text. It was from Drew, and my jaw fell open at what I saw there. It was a litany of expletives, all directed at me.

My fingers tightened on the phone as I reread his text. What the hell? I had started to send back something just as rude when the doorbell rang. My pulse jumped at the thought that Drew was out there, but then I heard Jonah’s voice. He was calling my name through the door.

I punched in the code to turn off the alarm before pulling the door open. Jonah was out of breath as he pushed past me into the house. “You’re alone?” he asked, standing in my living room, looking around frantically.

“What’s going on?”

His shoulders slumped as he turned to me. “I couldn’t let it go, Candy. I had to tell my father.”

My heart pounded harder, even though I had no idea what he meant.

“About Drew and what happened at school today. He’s holding something over you. I could see it in your face. You wouldn’t talk to me about it, and I couldn’t take the chance that Drew might hurt you or worse.”

The message on my phone. “Did you just come from Drew’s house?”

He rubbed his face and looked away. “No. I came here first. When I told my father, he left in a hurry. He believed the Hoyts were hiding something, and now he’s sure of it. I didn’t know if he was coming here or going there.”

“He went there,” I said, holding out my phone with the text message still on the screen.

Jonah read the message, his jaw flexing as his eyes scanned over it.

“You have no idea what you’ve done,” I said quietly, knowing my hopes of helping Theo were being dashed. “How could you tell your father? I said it was nothing.”

“Candy . . .” He took a step toward me and I stepped back, but he moved with me, gripping my shoulders. “What do you mean? Tell me what I’ve done.”

“You keep choosing him. Every time you have the chance to choose me, you pick your father instead.”

“You’re wrong. I choose you. Every choice I make I’m thinking of you.”

Jonah walked me into the kitchen and sat me down at the table. He took the chair across from me and reached for my hands. My fingers were tinged purple, made that way by stress, and I stared at them, feeling all my hope slip away.

He rubbed my cold hands with his warm ones. “Talk to me, Candy. Tell me what’s going on with Drew so I can help you.”

I pulled my hands back. “I can’t do this with you anymore. You act so nice, and then you betray me all over again. You have to go. You have to leave me alone.”

He stared at me, my words sinking in and hammered home by the look of utter despair I knew was on my face. The strained silence between us dragged on, but Jonah didn’t move. A strange determination darkened his eyes.

When the quiet was finally interrupted by the dinging of his phone in his pocket, he pulled it out and cast a weary look at me. “My father’s here. Let me get rid of him, and then I need you to talk to me because I’m not going anywhere.”

He stood and walked to the front door. Anxiety flooded me when I heard Victor’s voice in my house. Jonah hadn’t gotten rid of him. He’d let him in, and now they were arguing. It took a moment to push to my feet, and when I slowly walked out into the living room, there he was.

His dark eyes moved between Jonah and me. The look on his face sent the blood rushing to my ears as I broke out in a sweat. I turned to Jonah, looking for help, but he couldn’t seem to make eye contact with me.

“Your father kept a small safe. Where is it?” Victor demanded.

I sucked in a short breath. The safe. How did he know about it?

Jonah stared at me hard, his face like stone because I’d kept this secret from him. Apparently he was the one who felt betrayed now.

“He asked Alison Hoyt to hold it for him,” Victor said. “He told her to give it to you if anything happened to him. When she refused, he did something else with it.”

My nails dug into my palms. He’d asked Alison to hold the safe and she said no? She told Victor that? Did she know what was in the safe? Had she guessed?

“Where is it?” Victor asked sharply.

“I don’t know,” I replied, frustrated at the tremor in my voice.

Victor stalked toward me, and I took a step back. His dark eyes were fierce, and sent a chill up my spine.

He placed his hand against the wall above my head, and leaned in close. “Candace,” he said in a surprisingly even voice. “Just tell me.”

I realized he probably didn’t think much of me. He thought this would be easy, that he could intimidate me and I’d tell him whatever he wanted.

“Tell you what?” I asked, hedging.

He cocked his head to the side. “You know what. The safe. Tell me where it is.”