Influenced Eva Robinson (polar express read aloud .TXT) 📖

Whirling, Hannah swung for his face. But she’d never punched anyone before, and her fist sailed wildly past his jaw. She nearly lost her balance, but she gripped the railing.

It was only at that point that she noticed the gun pointed at her, in Stella’s gloved hands. “Stop.” Stella’s voice was shaking—her hands too. “I don’t want to hurt people, but I’m not letting anyone ruin my life. I’m not going to prison. I don’t belong in prison, obviously. And neither does Luke.”

The flowers in her hair dangled, wilting in the heat.

“We’re going to need you to calm down, Hannah,” Luke said again. “Because I’ve done this for you and Nora.”

“You killed people?”

“It’s like I said. Everyone is trying to get ahead for their family. It’s not like you earn enough to put Nora through college; you won’t even be able to pay off your own loans. The cost of tuition is outrageous. The cost of housing in Cambridge is mind-boggling, and now it’s spreading to Arlington, Somerville… She’ll need AP classes in high school. She’ll need extra tutoring. And she’ll need a lot of money for college, obviously.”

They’d just murdered Rowan right in front of her, Stella was holding a gun to her head, and Luke was standing here talking about the cost of housing and tuition like they were at a freaking garden party.

It was slowly dawning on Hannah why he was always so calm, so rational.

None of this rattled him. Psychopaths didn’t feel anxiety.

“So if I want to look after Nora,” he went on, “which, frankly, is my job as a father—if we want to be good parents, we have to help her get the competitive edge, or she’ll fall behind. We both know that. All I’ve done is find a way to earn extra money to put it aside for her. She’s going to do great things, Hannah. We’re all in this together.”

She stared at him, the blood roaring in her ears. “Did you kill Arabella?”

“No.” But his eyes shifted quickly to Stella.

The gun shook in Stella’s hands, but from the determined set of her jaw, it looked like she meant business.

If Stella shot her, Nora would end up being raised by a monster. Hannah couldn’t let that happen.

She raised her hands. “Think about what you’re doing, Luke. You don’t need to do this.”

Luke steepled his fingers, then pressed them to his lips. “Look, Annie. I didn’t want to kill you. I just wanted full custody of Nora, and I didn’t think you’d give it to me.”

Hannah stared at him. “Of course I wouldn’t. But why would you want full custody? You have a job.”

“I’m going to help him,” said Stella. “He told me you’re not a good mom.”

“Nora takes after me,” said Luke. “You can tell she’s inherited my cognitive skills. If I raise her correctly, she can turn out just like me. A PhD. Everything. I’m afraid you won’t do an adequate job. You’ve been falling apart emotionally as it is.” He wrinkled his nose. “You’re a mess, Annie. I’m not sure you’ve been a great parent to Nora lately. And being around you is sort of… depressing. I want her to reach her full potential. Any parent would want that.”

“Have you been doing something to me? Have you been… Luke, I’ve been feeling like I’m going insane. I never sleep. And I was sure I was poisoned. Have you been doing it to me somehow?”

He sighed. “Maybe it was a bad idea to turn me down, Annie. It seems you’re not functioning very well without my help, are you? You’re psychotic; you can’t keep a job. You passed out drunk around a dead body. Maybe you’ve learned your lesson now, but somehow I’m not sure.”

Her legs were going weak. “Have you been messing with me out of revenge? Because I turned you down?”

“I mean, you were already losing your mind, Annie. I hardly had to do anything.”

“What did you do?” Hannah yelled. “I thought someone was drugging me!”

Stella’s hands were now shaking wildly. “He had to make sure the courts would see it his way. He wanted to make sure he could give Nora a good life, just like I want to give my kids a good life. And I’m sorry, but you’re not a good mom. He’s going to move in with me. We’ll raise our kids together, make sure they get the best. Everyone wants the best for their kids, right? We’re all just parents here.”

Hannah wanted to throw up. She couldn’t let Nora anywhere near Luke ever again. “Are you out of your mind? He’s using you. He has no intention of moving in with you.” Hannah’s fists clenched, and rage crackled through her nerve endings, burning away some of the fear. A shrieking whistle started to rise in the hollows of her mind. “Luke, you are a psychopath.”

“Am I?” He pulled out his phone and started typing, as if he didn’t have a care in the world. “I haven’t actually hurt anyone, so I think that’s more than a little melodramatic.”

She stole a glance at Stella, slowly piecing it together. The way he’d looked at her when she’d brought up the murders… Luke hadn’t killed anyone—but Stella had. The shaking in her hands suggested that, unlike Luke, she wasn’t a psychopath. But she was his pawn.

Maybe Hannah could appeal to Stella instead.

“I won’t tell anyone,” Hannah said quietly. “I’m just like you. We’re single moms, looking after our kids, right? We’re in this together.” She pointed at Luke. “He’s using you. He’s getting you to do everything risky for him. You’re the one holding the gun. You pushed Rowan. He’s getting you to take the fall.”

“We have a life planned together. Arabella was a threat to it. And Peter, too. It’s just like he said,” Stella stammered. “Everyone is trying to look out for their own families. There’s nothing wrong with that, is there?”

There is if you kill people, you