Part Three in the riveting romantic thriller about a family on the run from a deadly past, and a first love that will transcend secrets, lies and danger...
Betrayed, heartbroken and determined to save her family, Tessa Carson refuses to give in to Tristan Walker’s pleas for forgiveness. But her own awakening psychic gift won’t let her rest until she uncovers the truth about her family and her past. And Tristan is the only one who can help her sift through the secrets to find the truth hidden in all the lies....
Run to You
Part Three:
Third Charm
Clara Kensie
Dedication
To K:
I.H.Y.D.
Contents
Chapter Thirty-Six
“Did you hear me, Tessa?” Tristan said.
I’d heard him. He’d just told me that Dennis Connelly wasn’t the killer, my parents were.
I heard him say it, and I tried to tell him he was wrong, that he was lying, but shock and fury and disgust formed a block in my throat, choking off my words, cutting off my air.
“Some of what your parents told you is true,” Tristan said. “Your father was a journalist. He used his press pass to meet politicians and businessmen. Your mom was the special events director at a hotel. She knew when politicians and important people were coming. Your dad used his press pass to meet them too. Then he’d watch all of them with his remote vision. If your dad saw them do something unethical, your parents would contact them anonymously and demand money from them. That’s how they made so much money. Blackmail. Not writing a newspaper column and planning parties.”
I blinked again, slid farther away from him. He was lying. He had to be.
And yet he continued. The putrid, rotten lies, each one worse than the last, came spewing from his mouth like vomit.
“If the victims refused to pay, if they called the police or started investigating who was blackmailing them, your mother would use her PK to give them heart attacks or brain aneurysms. She’d kill people and make it look like a car accident, or illness or suicide.”
I stared at him and tried to let the words sink in.
But they wouldn’t.
Because they were lies. All of them. Every single one.
“I’m so sorry.” He reached for me, but I slapped him away and scrambled off the cot.
“You said you would never lie to me again,” I seethed through clenched teeth. “And that is the most vicious lie I’ve ever heard.”
“I’m not lying. I wish I were.”
“That man came to our house to kill us,” I said. “My father watched him slice open two people with his mind.”
“Dennis Connelly has one psionic ability, and that’s telepathy. He cannot slice people open with his mind,” Tristan said. “Your parents built him up to be some kind of all-powerful, indestructible super-villain. They demonized him to keep you scared and obedient.”
I cringed. That lie was the worst of all. “They would never do that to us.”
“We have evidence.”
“No, I have evidence.” I yanked my shirt up. “That man, that monster, did this to me.”
He touched his fingers to the scars and I flinched. “He didn’t even know you were cut until I told him last week. He thinks you must have gotten cut on broken glass when your father pulled you from the car window.”
“Does he deny trying to kidnap me too?” I tried to growl it, to sound strong and menacing, but my voice came out high and uncontrolled.
“He did put you in his car,” he said. “But he wasn’t kidnapping you.”
“How
