Three months ago, four kids were run off the road by a drunk driver and pronounced dead at the scene, leaving their families to grieve and wonder why accidents had to happen.
The four left behind families, and namely, five specific siblings: all sen...
Jordan had no idea what had taken her so long in coming to this realization; maybe the fact that she didn't especially want to add a half-brother to the mix of her family, and especially not Roland as said half-brother. But thinking back on the past few years of her life, everything was slowly starting to make sense inside her head.
***
It was two o'clock in the morning during the fall of Jordan's sophomore year of high school, and she was located where she always was when she couldn't sleep: lying on the couch with the television muted in front of her.
She could hear her mother in the kitchen, washing dishes anxiously. Her mother was the only person Jordan knew who washed dishes anxiously. She always did when she was waiting for Neil to come home after curfew.
Neil never listened to curfew.
The garage door could be heard opening and Jordan felt herself becoming sleepy.
Finally.
"Why are you home so late?" Jordan heard her mother mutter from the kitchen, where the garage door was slamming shut. "I told you midnight."
"It's only two, Mom." Neil replied stiffly, "And last I checked, I don't have to listen to you anymore. I listen to role models, not whores."
"Excuse me?" Julia Conrad gasped, "I understand that you're upset. It's a lot to take in, but that doesn't give you the right to call your mother a whore."
"Does it give me the right to tell him who he is?" Neil asked, "Or maybe I'll just let it slip to Erin."
"Don't you dare." Jordan's mother growled, "I would sooner have you shipped off to boarding school than have you running your mouth to the whole city."
"Then do it. I don't know why you haven't yet. Anything's better than staying in this house with you as a mother."
Jordan was growing bored with this conversation, and finally pulled herself off of the couch, popping her head above the banister that divided the living room and kitchen.
Her mother spun around and put her hand to her mouth.
"Jordan?"
"What's up?" Jordan asked, walking over towards the staircase so she could go to bed, "I'm not really interested in whatever you two are fighting about, so just leave me out of it."
Julia nodded slowly.
"Of course, sweetheart. Have a good night's sleep."
The last person Jordan heard speak before she walked up the stairs was Neil.
"You have nothing on me now."
***
That had been the first time Jordan had overheard a conversation like that, during Neil's junior year of high school. They had continued until his death—whispered arguments in the middle of the night that Jordan only ever heard in passing.
She honestly had never cared. She tried to ignore Neil as much as possible, putting distance between herself and the brother that would derail her social standing if he was associated with her in any way.
"What do you mean, Neil knew?" Roland asked impatiently, "How did Neil know but you didn't?"
"He always made these little comments to my mom." Jordan replied hastily, "During his junior year he started calling her a whore, making references to infidelity, quoting the Bible about adultery when we all knew he had never opened the Bible before in his life," She shrugged, "I always just assumed he was being rebellious. He wasn't exactly the perfect child, so this wasn't too far off from the norm."
"Calling his own mother a whore?"
"You didn't know Neil." Jordan and Mary both said at the same time. Jordan held back the bile that she felt at remembering that her supposed best friend knew Jordan's brother in a far different way than anyone was comfortable with.
"Why is Neil knowing about his mom any different than Victoria knowing about my dad?" Lindsey asked, speaking for the first time in a while.
"Neil knew that a child came out of that affair. There was—is—living, tangible proof that it happened. It's me. With your dad and my mom, there's just the words of the people who know about it." Roland replied.
"That's the best motive I've heard so far." Michael said, writing it down in his stupid sketchbook, "But why would Roland's dad and Jordan's mom want to order Jordan to kill me?"
"Easy." Jordan laughed, "You tried to kill Steven Green's only daughter. While he has us like this, why not get revenge?"
Roland shifted uncomfortably but didn't argue the point. Jordan knew his father; he was an insanely successful prosecutor with no conscience and no empathy. Roland knew it; everyone knew it.
This wasn't beyond him.
"Well then I know how to catch him."
Everyone looked at Michael in shock as he turned to face Jordan, his eyes locked on hers as she felt her heart start to race.
"How?"
"You're going to kill me."
A/N: An on-time update! Yay!
Thank you guys for all the birthday wishes on Monday, you're the sweetest and I love you all.
ALSO! Killer Instinct will now ALWAYS be at least one chapter ahead of Wattpad on Radish Fiction! Chapter 34 was up yesterday and Chapter 35 will be going up today! SO make sure to go check out @kathpowell on Radish and get your updates early!
And for any Recalling Lincoln Carter fans, The Many Loves of Samantha Greene is now up on Radish as well in an edited version! So feel free to check that out as well!
-Katherine
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