8
Three months later, I showed up at Summer’s
birthday party.
“There are two Miss Millers? Am I seeing
ghosts?”
“You have to think carefully, this must be the
crazy Miss Miller. She’s famous for this.”
“Crazy? Doesn’t look like it. Didn’t they say
she died?”
<
Sne aia so many things to make ner sister
run away and be the one for her parents.‘
99
Everyone was whispering.
It didn’t matter.
Summer’s face turned pale when she saw me.
My parents looked like they’d seen a ghost.
Jake was the first to react. He walked over
and lowered his voice.
“We planned everything for you. You ran
away. What are you trying to do now?”
“This party is important. Mr. Holbrook is
coming. Whatever it is, we can talk about it
later.”
Summer looked confused. She was sure that
even if I looked better, she would be safe.
Everyone hated me.
Nobody would help me.
“Of course. I’m honored.”
Good.
I turned to the guests.
“As you all know, Miss Miller was kidnapped
and suffered for years. She was found a few
years ago. But the group never got caught.”
“Luckily, the police caught them. And the
criminal…”
“This is a gift? The police caught the
criminals. It wasn’t you. Stop causing trouble.”
“Yeah, we knew about this a month ago. We
demanded a harsh sentence. What are you
trying to do?”
My parents interrupted me.
But I saw the panic on Summer’s face.
“You know the result but not the process.‘
“Let’s open the gift.”
I played the recording on my phone.
“That Miller girl was one of the kids we took.
She’s rotten.”
L
“How so?”
They said the kids didn’t know how to hide
things. They knew we ran away separately, so
they chased us separately.
When they caught Summer, she offered to
lead them to me for her freedom.
Everyone gasped.
It wasn’t what Summer had said.
“Did you agree?”
“Yeah, but we weren’t going to let her go.”
“I knew she was trouble. She’d betray her
sister, who saved her. Then…”
Summer smashed my phone, and the
recording stopped.
“It’s a lie!”
She started crying.
“Daisy, you’re trying to say those words!”
My parents and brother refused to believe
- me.
They stared at me with disgust.
I smiled.
Sean gave me the recording. I knew he
wouldn’t lie.
“The criminal is Leo Brown. You can ask
him.”
The Miller’s lawyer was there. He contacted
the police.
When he hung up, he looked at me.
“Police say Leo Brown killed himself.”