Shameless (Made For Them #3)

23. How To Get Away With Murder

Lula

T here’s a moment of silence at the table, as we take in what we just learned.

“What are you going to do about this?” Dad asks.

“If you want to go to the police,” Arianna pleads. “I understand. But please, there’s no reason to destroy all of our lives over this. Tilly didn’t mean to kill Eddie. It was an accident. And all Tom did was help us cover it up. I’m the only one who killed two people in cold blood. If anyone deserves to pay for it, it’s me.”

She isn’t wrong.

But this is the woman who was more of a mother to me than my own. She’s the woman who made Jules and Stefan. The love of Dad’s life.

I know what she did is wrong and unforgivable, but my heart hurts at the idea of what will happen to her.

“No,” Tilly argues. “None of this would have happened if I hadn’t decided to bring a shotgun to my talk with Eddie. Arianna just reacted under duress. If anyone should pay, it’s me. Just please, promise me that you’ll take care of Crew and Rikki for me.”

Tears are streaming down Arianna’s face. “When I say that they’re like sons to me, I mean it. But I can’t let you take the fall for this, Tilly. You’re my sister. We might not be related by blood, but if anything good came from Eddie’s cheating is that he gave me you and your boys. You’re my best friend more than Tiffany ever was. We’re family and I protect my own.”

The love Tilly and Arianna have for each other is an inspiration, even under these tragic circumstances.

“I’m sorry,” Dad says. “But I can’t let either of you go to jail. I love Arianna too much and I know she would never let Tilly go down for this. I’m going to take responsibility for everything. I should have stopped you and confronted Eddie man to man. The sheriff won’t have a problem believing that a jealous husband would kill his wife’s ex. This is the best solution for everyone.”

Crew shakes his head in disbelief. “Are the three of you for real? The sheriff would say that you all broke the law.”

Jules agrees with him. “Crew is right.”

If the circumstances weren’t so dire, I would be happy that they seem to have truly buried the hatchet.

Stefan clears his throat, his voice hoarse as if he were trying not to cry. “I know what you all did is horrible. But do any of you have to go to jail? I don’t want to call the cops. I’m sorry about Maura but Eddie and Trevor got what was coming to them. If feeling this way makes me a monster, I don’t give a fuck.”

Jules backs his younger brother. “Yeah, I’m with Stef. Besides, if we call the cops, we can’t guarantee they’ll believe whatever story we decide to tell them. They’ll dig deeper and there’s a good chance we’ll all go down. The three of you for murder and us for not immediately turning you in. I love you, Mom and I know you aren’t a serial killer or anything. I have no doubt that you’re never gonna hurt anyone again. The same goes for you, Tilly. And we can’t risk Tom going to jail. Lula was released under his supervision. If he gets arrested, they might send her back to New York to live with Tiffany and Howard.”

And Evan.

“No!” I cry out. “I would rather die than live with them. Evan would finish the job he started last night and I would have no one to protect me.”

“Last night?” Dad frowns. “What happened?”

I’ve been wearing a light, silky neck scarf around my neck to hide my bruises. “He assaulted me,” I cry, ripping it off. “He caught up to me while I was looking for Jenna and…”

When I’m done telling them what happened in the boathouse, Dad has tears in his eyes too. “Fuck. I’m so sorry, Lula. I thought you were safe with all of us around you. For what it’s worth, I never believed Tiffany’s story that you were having a fling with her stepson. I’ve always known you loved Stefan and Jules. But now that I know that piece of shit is still trying to hurt you, I don’t know if I can let him live. Maybe the cops will have another murder on their hands and at that point, I might as well take the fall if they ever find out more about Eddie’s death.”

My tears are about to overwhelm me. “No, Dad. Please, don’t. The guys made a deal with Evan and he’s going to leave me alone. Hopefully as soon as the sheriff allows it, he and Tiffany will go back to New York. I just wish he had killed Eddie, Trevor and Maura. That way, he’d go to jail forever.”

“Yeah, if his powerful father didn’t clean up his mess as usual,” Crew snorts. “The only way people like Evan really go away is in a coffin. Now, if he died and we could hide that fucking bag in his room…”

Jules clasps Crew’s shoulder. “What if we could do that and make it look like an accident? He’s going to drive the electric boat, right? If we tell him we have a faster one, he’ll want to drive the new one.”

“But the new one isn’t safe. Tory said there’s a problem with the insulation and if we turn it on in the water, we’ll get electrocuted.”

Jules nods. “Exactly. But Evan doesn’t know that.”

Crew’s eyes are two dark, hard sapphires. “That motherfucker deserves to die. After what he did to Lula and to Amber. The reason why my friend stole and crashed his yacht was that Evan had roofied her at school and he took advantage of her.”

My hands are shaking. “He told me he did that all the time.”

Arianna looks disgusted. “That young man is a threat to every woman out there.”

So it’s decided.

“We need to be very careful,” Dad says. “We have only one shot at this. If we fuck this up, we’re all going down.”

Jules

Two days later

Evan enters the boathouse as if he fucking owns the place.

I’m standing on the front part of the hull of our new boat. We’ve painted the body and I’m placing the finishing touch, a Star Thunders logo decal.

The boat is still hanging from the ceiling, held in place by chains. We’ve debated if we should leave the prototype unfinished, but we decided to paint it on the account of the fact that Evan wants to drive it to show off.

He wants to be filmed looking cool and an unfinished boat wouldn’t have the same appeal. If we need to trick him, he has to want it.

“Hey losers,” he barks, stopping right behind me. “I’m here to cash in on our deal. Here’s the signed deal that I’ll forgive Crew’s debt and all the rest.”

I purposely ignore him, making a show of applying the decal.

“Did you fucking hear me?” Evan raises his voice.

That’s when I turn to face him. “Yeah, just give me a second. I’m just finishing up here.”

Getting a rise out of Evan is so easy, I don’t even have to try that hard. “Well hurry the fuck up, I don’t have all day.”

I jump off the boat.

That’s when Stefan and Crew arrive with Lula.

“If it isn’t my favorite sister and her brother-husbands. Are you here to witness my triumph? I’m gonna be faster than your guys could ever dream of.”

Crew scowls at him.

Good. We need to act the way we normally do around him, or he’ll get suspicious.

“Let’s get this over with, Johnston. But before I even let you near our boat, I want to check that your letter has everything we agreed on.”

Evan throws the white envelope he’s holding in Crew’s face. “Here’s your fucking letter. I’m a man of my word.”

Napoleon’s ears perk up and a low growl shakes the pooch’s little body at Evan’s F-bomb.

“I’d be careful if I were you,” Crew warns him. “Napoleon hates foul language and he’s in a particularly bad mood today.”

Evan bares his teeth, looking as aggressive as Napoleon. “That mutt has bitten me twice already. Keep him under control, or I promise you there won’t be a third time.”

Crew ignores him, making a huge show of reading the letter Evan just gave him. “It looks like it has everything we discussed. Have you ever driven a speedboat, or do you need a driving lesson?”

The provocation hits the intended target. “Of course I have. Not one used in competitions, but I’ve driven a few powerboats. The commands are all the same, right?”

Crew nods. “They should be. Let’s get you a helmet and let’s get this show on the road.”

Evan ignores him, turning to Lula. “Here, sis. Start filming when I tell you. When I go viral, I might tag you.” He gives her his phone.

I clench my fists, fighting the urge to kick his ass when he brushes Lula’s fingers with his.

Lula hits play while Crew gives Evan one of our spare helmets.

Stefan comes to talk to me, just as planned. “Is the new boat ready for Lake Ozarks?” He’s loud enough to be heard by the others.

“Yeah,” I confirm just as loudly. “We have an even better boat than the old one. You’re looking at the next fully electric speedboat that will beat the current world record.”

Evan should bite in three, two, one…

“Wait a second. You have a faster boat? I want to drive the future world record boat. I’m not forgiving a half a million dollar debt to drive your second best boat.”

“You’re driving our current competition boat. That’s what we agreed on.” Crew argues. “The new one isn’t ready yet. We’re still trying it out and running tests.”

“Bull-fucking-shit,” Evan bites out. “You’re giving me a slower boat, so I don’t look cooler than you. Are you scared I’m going to be faster than you?”

Crew scoffs. “The only thing I care about is that you don’t fuck up a boat that cost eight figures to build. If you crash it, the accident with your yacht will look like a little fender bender between two reasonably priced cars. I’m not risking our season to help stroke your ego.”

This is the moment of the truth. If Evan backs off, I’ll text Tom to let him know that we failed and our only hope is to make sure that someone finds the bag with the bloody clothes in Evan’s room. We’ve already crashed Eddie’s phone with a hammer.

But if I know assholes like Evan, they never back off.

“I’m not gonna crash your boat,” he argues. “Even if I did, I’m good for it. With my trust fund I could afford five of your boats.”

Crew looks at me and Stefan. “I don’t know. We’re ready to compete in the next official boat race, we can’t risk damaging our new boat.”

I cross my arms over my chest and shake my head. “It’s not gonna happen.”

Evan insists. “You’re gonna let me drive your new boat, or the deal is off. You wasted my time, assholes. I promise I’ll press charges, Crew. Enjoy your fucking boat from jail.”

Lula intervenes like we agreed. “Please, Jules. Let Evan drive the new boat. I don’t want Crew to go to jail.”

After a little more arguing between us, I relent. “Fine. But one scratch on this baby, you’re gonna foot the bill, understood?”

I press the button that will lower the boat into the water.

“The code to start the boat is five, three, two, one, eight. Don’t enter it until I’ve given you the ok.”

Evan’s cocky grin goes from ear to ear. “Start filming, sis. I’m gonna show these losers how to go faster than lightning.”

Lula nods, pretending to press the recording button.

We agreed that we don’t want this on film.

Our official story will be that Evan snuck in without our knowledge and got into the wrong boat.

It’s completely in line with something that asshole would do and it’s the only way to avoid unwanted scrutiny from his lawyer who prepared the agreement or from Tory who warned us not to turn on the engine if the new boat touches the water.

We watch with bated breath as Evan gets into the cockpit and enters the code.

Blue sparks flicker in the two outboard motors in the back of the boat. That’s totally normal.

The moment of the truth is in the next few seconds, when Evan opens the throttle.

Electric boats are odorless, less susceptible to vibration and quieter than their traditional counterparts.

The moment is almost anticlimactic. There’s no huge sparks, no loud noises coming from the boat.

Maybe a few more blue waves of visible electricity than we’re used to seeing.

The only loud noise is Evan’s screaming as his body gets shocked by the full power of the two motors.

The boat jolts forward but the asshole must have let go of the throttle, so it eventually slows down and comes to a complete stop, swaying gently with the motion of the sea.

We wait for any signs of life from the cockpit, but there’s none.

Lula drops Evan’s phone. “Do you think he’s gone?” she whispers.

“We’ll find out in a little while. Let’s leave for now.”

As planned, we lock up and then break in. An alarm will sound in Mom’s office, giving us the excuse to come and check what triggered it.

Tom arrives a few minutes later. “Let me get one of the lifeguard dinghies to go and check why the boat is out.”

If Evan survived, he must be in bad shape anyway. But the electric shock should have stopped his heart on the spot.

“Call the sheriff,” Tom yells. “There has been a terrible accident.”

From The Star Cove Gazette

The Twinberry Cove killer dies in electric boat malfunction.

From The Star Cove Herald

Son of Senatorial Candidate and Federal Judge revealed as killer of his late girlfriend, local entrepreneur and local drug dealer after he died from being electrocuted by the faulty engine of a powerboat.

From The New York Political Gazette

State Senate candidate withdraws from the election as his only son is killed in a boat accident.