The Deal Changer (Book IV)

Chapter Sixteen - World's Greatest Sister

                           Chapter Sixteen

                     World's Greatest Sister

IT WAS STRANGE TO DRIVE IN THE SUNLIGHT.

Strange because, just several hours ago, I was arguing with Matthew about me driving with little sleep. But I knew I had no choice, and I had no time to load up my bags in an airplane to fly out to where my father was going to be buried. I knew I had to get in the car and drive until I got there with no stops and zero naps. But the problem with me jumping into the car and driving was the fact I had no car. Matthew didn't tell me this until I asked for the keys to my car. Apparently, it wasn't just my house that burned to the ground, but my attackers poured a gasoline trail to my garage and burned up my car and my motorcycle. While Matthew was mostly saddened because of what could have happened to me, I was saddened about having a car worth over one-hundred-thousand dollars, he bought me for my birthday, being destroyed.

It was another thing to be guilty about.

Matthew didn't see the dollar signs, but I did. I saw hundreds of thousands of dollars burned to the ground. Every remodel of my house, every new appliance, every fancy electronic, they were all gone. My sloppiness came at a literal cost.

So when I asked for the keys to my car to be able to drive to my father's funeral, Matthew had to break the news to me. I was crushed, but I immediately asked for the keys to any of his other cars or even a ride to a car rental place because I knew I had to go to the funeral. Matthew didn't give me the keys immediately.

"We'll fly out together," he had said. "I don't want you to have to go alone."

I had already thrown a bunch of clothes into a backpack and was looking for my phone by then. "Flying will take as long as me driving. And you can't attend because the funeral is at noon. It'll be sunny and you've already suffered burns."

Matthew didn't like me going alone. I don't think it was only about my safety, but he seemed bothered by me going to this without him. Maybe he thought I'd have an emotional breakdown or something? "I could wait at a nearby hotel. Be there when you're done?" he had pressed.

I was heading down the stairs with him behind me then, my mind too focused on the drive to stop and talk about it. "I don't know if I'm getting a hotel room. And if I do get one, it'll probably be halfway home. Can you drive me to a rental place?"

He had grabbed me by my wrist to stop me. "Anna, please? I want to be there."

I didn't meet his eyes. Truthfully, the reason I didn't want him to come is because I didn't want him to be around me. It was easier for me. It was easier to hate him when I focus solely on his lies and manipulation without him being beside me saying sweet things. I wanted to remember the monster he was, truly, rather than see the man who pulled me out of a burning house.

Matthew had given me the keys to a red sports car he never drove, not a word spoken. I knew I had hurt him by rejecting him, but I also knew it was best I went alone. And while we shared a farewell kiss and he told me to call him the moment I arrived there, there was a tension between us; a tension I had created.

I was about an hour from Jeremy's when I started to feel the exhaustion from staying up all night. Jeremy told me last night the funeral would be at noon today. It was a terrifying conversation, especially after all he had said on my voicemail days before my father's death.

"What do you mean he's dead?" I had demanded, still shaking from thinking Jeremy had offed himself.

Jeremy wasn't particularly talkative. "Um, he, um, he was killed."