“You could have killed her. It wasn’t meant for Tracy,” Steve said, his voice tight with barely contained anger. Cassie stood in the middle of the kitchen, her heart hammering. She’d known this moment would come.
She’d just hoped it wouldn’t be like this, with everyone looking at her like she was a monster. “It wasn’t meant for Tracy,” she repeated, her voice cracking. “It was meant for Ross. ”
The silence that followed was deafening.
Amy’s eyes went wide. Steve’s jaw tightened. And Cassie knew there was no taking it back now. —
It had all started so innocently.
A sunny morning, a fancy breakfast, a bit of banter with the family. Granny Cassie had made a spread, which was unusual. Darren had been grateful, as always, but Cassie’s sister Amy had been snarky as always, taking a dig at her. “See, why can’t you be grateful like Darren?
” Granny Cassie had said. “Maybe I would be if I was from Eastern Europe,” Amy shot back, and Cassie felt her blood simmer. It was the same old thing. Amy always had a comment about Cassie’s Polish background, about her education, about her life.
Cassie had a good job, she read books, she took her career seriously. But Amy always acted like she was better, just because she was the golden child. That morning, though, the real trouble started when the phone rang. It was Steve, Amy’s husband.
Their daughter, Tracy, had collapsed and been rushed to the hospital. A codeine overdose, the doctors said. Tracy had been a mess, worrying about gossip, insisting she hadn’t taken anything. “The only thing I had different yesterday was that smoothie,” Tracy said from her hospital bed.
“I made them myself, and I feel fine. It’s very strange. The doctor said it was a huge dose. ”
“Well, it must have been spiked,” Steve offered.
Cassie had been at the house that morning. She’d been in the kitchen. And Tracy’s eyes had locked onto hers. “Cassie was there in the morning, Steve, and she looked furtive,” Tracy said.
“My new shawl looks furtive,” Cassie shot back, but her voice was shaky. Tracy hated her guts. She always had. And now she was pointing a finger, trying to drag Cassie down with her.
—
But Cassie had bigger problems than Tracy’s accusations. Her relationship with Ross, her boyfriend, was hanging by a thread. He was an ex-con, trying to make a life for himself, working a job he hated. And Cassie was desperate to keep him close.
“I want him out of our lives,” she’d confessed to her sister, Ty, just days before. “I was desperate. You’ve no idea what he’s like. ”
She’d had a plan.
A stupid plan. A couple of tablets crushed into his travel cup, just enough to make him fail his pee test at his prison job. Enough to get him fired, so he’d have to leave, so she’d be free of the constant worry, the constant fear that he’d slip back into his old ways. She hadn’t meant for Tracy to drink it.
She’d put it in Ross’s cup, but somehow, Tracy had gotten hold of it. And now her niece was in the hospital, fighting for her life, and everyone was looking at Cassie like she was the poisoner in their midst. —
For a moment, it had seemed like she might get away with it. Tracy was recovering, and there was no proof.
The police were called, but it was all supposition. Cassie had held her breath, waiting for the storm to pass. But then Steve had come to her. His face was pale, his eyes cold.
“I thought I should let him know,” he said, his voice flat. “I’m guessing it’s his tablets that he stole. ”
“Stole? ” Cassie had tried to play dumb, but she knew it was over.
“Steve, please. I did put a couple of tablets in Ross’s smoothie. I admit it. And it was just so he’d fail his drugs test at work.
That’s all. ”
“That’s all? ” Steve’s voice rose. “Tracy could have been allergic.
She could have had a reaction. Or Ross, or Amy. You put a drug in his drink, and you have no idea what it could have done. That’s not ‘all’.
”
Cassie had tried to explain, to make him understand. She’d been desperate. Ross was ruining her life, and she had to get rid of him. But Steve wasn’t listening.
He was looking at her like she was a stranger, like she was the villain in his family’s story. “I need to protect my family,” he said, his voice barely a whisper. “If we just sit down calmly,” Cassie started, but Steve cut her off. “I said stop it.
I can’t deal with you anymore. I really thought this was it for me. ”
“Me, too,” Cassie whispered, her throat tight. “And it still can’t be.
”
“Goodbye, Cassie. ”
“Steve, please. Steve, I love you. ”
But he was already walking away, and the door closed behind him with a final, hollow click.
—
Cassie stood in the quiet kitchen, the only sound her own ragged breathing. She’d lost him. She’d lost Steve, the man she thought she was going to spend her life with. She’d lost her family’s trust, her own self-respect.
All because she’d been too scared to let go, too desperate to hold on. She picked up her bag, her hands trembling. Whatever time she had left, she was going to make it count. She was going to remember every single bit of it.
And she was going to live with the weight of what she’d done.
