He moved closer, wanting to wipe it away. Then he turned to my mother, his voice low and shaking as he tried to stay calm.
“How could you stream those words live and attract those crazy fans here?”
“What if this drags Heidi into it?”
Guilt flashed in my mother’s eyes, but after hearing that, she snapped, “Who told her to do wrong? She brought this on herself.”
I stepped back, avoiding his hand, and spoke calmly.
“I didn’t come here to force a marriage. Atlas's canceling the engagement with me to marry Heidi has nothing to do with me. I came here to act as bait, to lure out the Butcher.”
Mom’s face instantly went pale.
Before she could speak, my brother slapped me hard across the face. His face was tense with both anger and panic.
“I told you not to use a serious case that took the lives of so many girls as some way to get sympathy!”
He took a deep breath, his eyes cold, his voice cutting with anger. “You’re just like that best friend of yours, selfish and heartless!”
“She betrayed Spencer and ran off with the money.”
“Afraid of being hunted, she forged evidence, put that note in the victim’s hand, and faked her own death.”