“If I’m a psycho,” I tell her. “You made me so by murdering my husband. The one man who cared for me.”
“Oh please,” her voice echoes around me, full of pity, no remorse to be heard. “Libby and I cared about you far longer than him. We were always there for you.”
“You weren’t there for Libby, were you?” It is a low blow. Really low, but I am angry, and angry, rage-filled Ava doesn’t make the best decisions. “Had her believing you were off at college this whole time. Where were you really, Kenzi? Learning to be Christian’s lapdog.”
“Shut your fucking mouth, Ava,” she hisses. “You don’t know anything about what I’ve been through.”
“And you turned a blind eye to everything I went through,” I shout back. “Pretend all you want, Kenzi, but you always knew more than you were letting on.”
Silence greets me. I doubt it is because I hit a nerve. More likely she is?—
“I did.” I freeze at the sound of her voice. Her hot breath is on the back of my neck. “But do you honestly think I could have done anything? My father was a monster who didn’t need meand sent me away the first chance he got. But you? The whore’s daughter? You might not have been treated as precious, but he wanted you. He was obsessed with you.”
Snarling, I yank on my gun, but it is too late. Kenzi has it in her hand and points it at the back of my head before I can sayfuck you.
“I’ve learned some tricks, big sis,” she mocks. “Don’t make me use them on you.”
I scoff. “You’re not the only one with tricks.”
If she thinks I am going to let her take me to Christian or kill me—she is about to get a reality check. As soon as I feel her body shift, I twist out of the way of the gun. Kenzi didn’t a physical grip on me, and it is easy to duck out of the way of the barrel. I grip the wrist holding my gun and twist it over quickly. The move throws her off balance and she drops my gun onto the hay-covered floor.
Spinning around, I sweep her legs out from under her. She lands hard on her back with a groan. With lightning-fast speed, she recovers, flipping back to her feet like a ninja. Where the fuck has she been? League of Assassins? Training with Oliver Queen?
Her gaze on me is askance. I smile at her and wink. Kenzi wasn’t expecting me to be able to go toe to toe with her.
Bitch doesn’t know I’ve leveled up.
“I don’t want to hurt you, Ava,” she cautions as we circle one another. “There’s a lot that needs to be explained.”
“I’m not letting you take me back to your psychotic brother,” I hiss at her. “You’ll have to kill me first.” I pause and shrug nonchalantly. “Or I’ll kill you.”
“Really?” she huffs. “You’d kill your own sister?”
“You stopped being my sister the moment you killed the man I loved,” I growl and lunge at her. My arms wrap around her waist in an attempt to tackle her. I am slightly bigger than her,but I can feel the muscles beneath my grip. She isn’t the only one who has underestimated her opponent. Using my momentum against me, she wraps her arms around my upper chest and rocks backward even faster as she lets us fall to the ground.
Fuck.
Kenzi bucks her hips when we land and sends me crashing over her head in a heap.
That hurts like a bitch.
Taking advantage of my momentary disorientation, she grabs one of my arms and twists it painfully behind my back, driving me face down into the ground.
“I didn’t kill him.” Her words are a mere breath against my ear.
“Liar!” I roar, my head snapping back to catch her in the face. Kenzi yelps, loosening her hold on me. She rolls onto her back, clutching her nose for a second too long. Her moment of weakness is my time to strike. “You taunted me!” Getting to my feet, I land a kick to her side. Kenzi grunts. The force of my strike sends her rolling onto her stomach. Another kick, but this time she is ready.
Reaching out, she snatches my ankle in her grip and pulls. The move sends me careening to the floor on my back. She is on me. Straddling my waist as she delivers a blow to my left side. Oh, I hope I still have a spleen after that shot.
“There’s more at work here than you know,” she wheezes through her broken, bloody nose. The droplet of blood drips down her face onto my chest. “I’m not your enemy.”
I spit at her.
“You weren’t there!” I snap, bucking my hips to dislodge her. It doesn’t work. I need to distract her again. “You blamed us for killing her, but you weren’t there.”
“That was the point,” she says it so matter of fact. “You needed to believe what I was telling you.”
“You still murdered him,” I cry, tears leaking from my eyes. “You took him from me and left me all alone. Everyone always leaves me. First my mother. Then Libby. You took the last good thing I had in my life and blew him to hell.”