Chapter 4

An hour later, my phone rang.

Heath was furious. "Macy Lawton, you've gone too far! Why would you post something like that on Kyra's account? She tried to kill herself!"

A photo came through right after.

I stared at the image of Kyra, her face white as a sheet. There was a deep gash on her wrist. I could not move.

Then Brody's voice came through, ice-cold.

"Macy, no one in this family would do something that cruel. Go clear it up right now. Tell everyone you were jealous of Kyra and that you made the whole thing up."

My hand was shaking so badly I could barely hold the phone. I was furious at Heath and Brody for giving Kyra all their love and attention. However, Kyra and I had been friends once, and I had never wanted her dead.

I said, my voice raw. "Brody, I'll go clear it up now."

Less than a minute after I hung up, I deleted the comment. Then I posted an apology in the replies.

[I'm sorry. I want to publicly apologize to Kyra Donnelly for my earlier remarks. I was acting out of jealousy. Nothing I said was true. Please stop attacking Kyra.]

It set off a firestorm.

My social media was overrun in seconds. Kyra's followers flooded my inbox with hate. They called me in the middle of the night to threaten me. Someone even found my home address and threw paint on the door, spray-painting the words 'go die' across it.

All I could do was hide inside, too afraid to step out. I spent night after night unable to sleep, falling apart.

When Heath called, I thought things were finally turning around. However, there was no comfort in his voice. He spoke about it like it was nothing.

"Just ignore them. It'll blow over. You were the one who drove Kyra to attempt suicide. She's fine now, but you still deserve what you're getting."

I froze. I did not say a single word. I just hung up.

At least I could leave for the program tomorrow. I just had to get through one more day.

…

The next morning, I packed my bags early and got ready to leave. I had barely reached the front door when I heard Kyra's voice, dripping with self-satisfaction.

"Heath, Brody, I told you Macy wouldn't let me take the heat. See? All we had to do was send one fake photo and the whole thing blew over."

Heath chuckled. "Our Kyra really is the smart one. But Macy took a pretty big hit from all of this too."

His gaze shifted to Brody.

A flicker of guilt crossed Brody's face. "When Macy gets back, we'll make it up to her."

The words hit me like a bolt of lightning. I staggered back several steps.

Everything I had been put through, every insult, every threat, had all been orchestrated. Kyra had never been hurt at all. They were even congratulating her for being clever.

So what about everything I had suffered?

I threw the door open, stormed toward Heath, and slapped him across the face.

"Why did you lie to me? Do you have any idea how much abuse I took because of this? Do you know how many nights I cried myself to sleep? Watching me get played like a fool, falling all over myself to apologize to Kyra. You all must have loved that."

All three of them stared at me in shock.

Heath's expression darkened. "Kyra got attacked online because of your comment too. What you went through was deserved. Consider us even."

I looked at Brody.

He nodded. "Macy, you took things too far. Kyra isn't like you. She grew up in foster care. You at least have Heath and me."

"Mace." Kyra grabbed my arm, her face a picture of wounded innocence. "That photo was just me wanting to know what it felt like to be loved by someone. I was going to take it down in a couple of days. Please don't be mad at me. Okay?"

"No. We're done being friends." I pulled my arm free, grabbed my suitcase, and walked out the front door.

Heath's voice erupted behind me. "Macy Lawton, where do you think you're going? If you walk out that door today, don't ever come back!"

I did not slow down. I walked out of the home I had lived in for 22 years.

Behind me, Brody's voice followed. "Don't worry. She'll be back. Without us, she's got nowhere to go."

I let out a bitter, hollow smile.

Brody was dead wrong. It was not that I had no home. It was that he and Heath had destroyed it.

…

The plane cut through the clouds, and everything from before fell away below me.

I was never coming back.