Chapter 15

Shaw

       As much as I loved my sister, there were times I wished she stayed in Vancouver and didn't move to Spruceworth. I still didn't understand why she did in the first place. She was a city girl, and Vancouver was definitely the place for her.

       Yet she chose to live somewhere the complete opposite.

       And right now was one of the times I wished she didn't move here at all.

       "I don't have time for this, Viola," I said. "Kendra is going to be here any second to drop of the kids and I really don't want them listening in on this argument. I told you what happened."

       "And I don't believe you," Viola said. "You said you only hit Cassidy once. With the injuries she sustained to her head, there is no way she was hit just once. Or even twice for that matter."

       "Does it really matter how many times I hit her?" I asked. "She had a gun pointed at me, and there was nothing else I could do. I went to prison, went to trial, was found not guilty. It's a done deal."

       "It's not done, Shaw, because I know when you're hiding something," Viola said. "I'm your sister."

       I snorted. "Not all the time."

       "What exactly is that supposed to mean?" Viola asked.

       "Oh, nothing, nothing," I said. "Except how you're never seem to care about me when I'm going through difficult times, like Mom dying and me trying to get sober but not being able to no matter how I tried. Or when I was in prison. You never even visited me."

       "Because I had to do my job as a police officer," Viola said. "I couldn't just drop work just to visit you."

       "I was in there for weeks," I said. "Surely you weren't working every single minute of every single day. Holden works part-time and has school and he visited me. Kendra works full-time and had to watch our kids and she visited me. Even Lawrence visited me and he's still not okay with the fact that I'm dating their son. The point is you're never there for me when I really need you."

       "Don't turn this around on me," Viola said. "We were talking about you and the fact that you lied about the way you killed Cassidy. What really happened?"

       "Okay, you want the truth?" I asked. "Yes, I did hit her more than once and if that was in my statement, then there was a higher chance that I would be found guilty of misconduct. I really was only doing it to protect myself."

       "You know what?" Viola said. "I don't believe you. I can tell when you're lying and right now, you are lying. Are... are you covering for someone? Did someone else actually kill Cassidy on purpose?"

       "No," I said.

       She still didn't believe me.

       No surprise there.

       She never believed a single word I said. I mean, she was right to this time since I was lying, but still. The one time I actually needed her to believe me, she wouldn't.

       Viola was a police officer and honestly, I didn't think she would keep it a secret that Julian really killed Cassidy if I told her the truth, even if I begged her too.

       "Shaw, seriously, just tell me the truth," Viola said. "Who are you covering for?" I didn't even reply before she looked over at Holden, who was leaning against the staircase while silently watching me argue with my sister. "Was it you?"

       Holden scoffed. "No. And Shaw is telling you the truth. He would have told me otherwise if he was covering for someone else, so there you go."

       "You do know I'm going to keep looking if Shaw doesn't tell me the truth, right?" Viola asked.

       I sighed deeply. She really wasn't going to let this go. "Alright, alright, I'll tell you the truth but you have to promise not to tell a single soul. I don't care if you're a police officer. If you tell anyone, I would have went to prison in vain."

       "So you are covering for someone?" Viola asked.

       "Yes, I am," Shaw said. "And no, I'm not going to tell you who it is. That is staying between me and the person who did it. But believe me, if word gets out that I'm not the true killer, something bad will happen."

       "Something bad will happen if you don't tell the truth," Viola said. "It's going to come out eventually and everything will crash down."

       "The only way it will come out if I or the other person admit to it, and I'm not going to," I said. "And neither are you. I'm serious. If you want to make it up to me for not being there for me after mom died, then you'll do me this one favour."

       "Fine," Viola said. "I won't say anything. But I'm serious. The truth is going to come out eventually. It always does."

       Viola didn't say anything else before leaving my house, closing the door shut behind her quite loudly. I sighed and rubbed my forehead. "I just made a massive mistake telling her," I said.

       "No, I don't think you did," Holden said. "If you didn't tell her, she was probably going to keep snooping until she found out, and she possibly would have told someone."

       "Well, let's hope she still doesn't say anything about it," I said. I didn't think she would for the time being, but that didn't mean she wouldn't say anything about it in the future.

       I just really hoped this would be one of the times I could actually depend on my sister when I really needed her because so far, she hadn't really been the most supportive sister.

       Not when I became a teen dad. Not when Mom passed away. Not when I needed someone to help me become sober. She just stayed where she was in her home in Vancouver. She never wondered how I was doing.

       If she was going to let me down the one time I really needed her, I still wasn't going to be surprised.

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aww poor baby shaw. <3 i wish i could make things easier for you but i love the up and coming drama that's going to happen.

i mean what drama? drama? what even is that? idk what it is.

^^my face right now, feeling utterly confused because i have no idea what this drama thing is