Read Online Kill You Last by Todd Strasser - Free Book Online

it. The fact that he couldn’t be honest with me hurt. My eyes began to well up with tears. I sniffed, wiped them away, and stared across the photo studio at the autographed photos on the wall, unable to look at him. “Dad, please just tell me the truth.”
    He finished his espresso, turned the little cup upside down on the saucer, and sighed. “Okay, Shels, you want the truth? Maybe we did stretch it a little with some of the girls to cover our expenses. But think about who I was doing it for—for us. For our family, our house, our cars, our vacations, clothes, you name it.…You have no idea how much money it takes to live the way we do.”
    “Couldn’t you have just told us to cut back?” I asked. “Mom and I would have done it in an instant.”
    Dad spun the little cup around in the saucer. The rattling sound echoed through the empty studio. “You mean, admit I was a failure?”
    That caught me by surprise. “No! You’re not a failure. You’re a success. You’re amazing. You take beautiful pictures. You run a photo studio and a modeling agency. I mean—” I waved my hand toward the photos of successful models and actors whose careers he’d helped launch. “I mean, look at the people you’ve worked with.”
    Dad snorted derisively. “Past performance is no guarantee of future results.”
    “You should have told us,” I said, feeling terrible. “I don’t need to live in a big house with a swimming pool. I don’t even need to have a car.”
    “And college?” Dad asked.
    “I’ll go to the state university.
    Dad hung his head. “Maybe you’re right. Maybe I should have told you. I just…It’s not like we set out to con anyone. It just…happened…gradually. First it was one girl. Then two. Then a few each weekend. The money was coming in, and after a while we just stopped thinking about it.”
    “What about Janet and Gabriel?” I asked. “They had to be in on it, too, right?”
    Dad shrugged. “Janet probably noticed that I wasn’t turning anyone away, so she got less discriminating about who she picked. She knew that before I could pay her, I had to cover the travel and hotel expenses, and that the more girls she chose, the more chance there was that she’d make money. I mean, we were working weekends, Shels. People expect to make some money.”
    He gave me a quizzical glance, as if my reaction was important. Then he added. “I made a mistake. I’m sorry, sweetheart. I truly am.”
    It may have been strange to feel relief at a moment like that, but I did. I put my hand on his and squeezed it. “Dad, everyone makes mistakes. I can forgive you for that. I’m just glad you told me the truth.”
    His eyes got glittery. “Thank you, sweetheart. You’re the best. I love you.”
    “I love you, too, Dad.”

Chapter 16
    WAS I DISAPOINTED? Yes. Did I feel Dad had let me down? Yes. There was no way around the fact that he’d been dishonest. But misleading those girls—even making promises he couldn’t keep—was a far cry from physically harming anyone. Now that I had the answer I’d needed, it would be best not to get marked absent from my afternoon classes. I’d just let myself out the back studio door when Gabriel drove into the parking lot. I braced myself. He’d gone on those weekend “fishing” trips with Dad and had seen the girls who’d come to the hotel for head shots. So he, too, had been in on the scam.
    He stopped his car and lowered the window. “Hey.”
    “Hi,” I said, deliberately monotone.
    He tilted his head at the green sedans. “The cops again?”
    I nodded. Gabriel gave me a long searching look, which made me feel uncomfortable.
    “I have to get back to school,” I said.
    “Wait. I really have to talk to you.” He got out and shoved his hands into his pockets. The breeze played with his hair. “Look, I just want to say I’m sorry.”
    “For…?” As much as I didn’t want it to, a little part of me inside started to melt.
    “What we did.” He