The Hawthorne Legacy (The Inheritance Games, #2)

by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

Dear Hannah, the same backward as forward, Please don’t hate me—or if you do, hate me for the right reasons. Hate me for being angry and selfish and stupid. Hate me for getting high and deciding that burning the dock wasn’t enough—we had to burn the house to really hit my father where it hurt. Hate me for letting the others play the game with me—for treating it like a game. Hate me for being the one who survived. But don’t hate me for leaving. You can tell me over and over again that I never would have struck the match. You can believe that. On good days, maybe I will, too. But three people are still dead because of me. I can’t stay here. I can’t stay with you. I don’t deserve to. I won’t go home, either. I won’t let my father pretend this away. Sooner or later, he’ll figure this out. He always does. He’ll come for me, Hannah. He’ll try to make it all better. And if I let him find me, if I let him wag his silver tongue in my ear, I might start to believe him. I might be tempted to let him wash away my sins, the way that only billions can, so you and I can live happily ever after. But you deserve better than that. Your sister deserved better. And I deserve to fade away. I won’t kill myself. You extracted that promise, and I will keep it. I won’t turn myself in. But we can’t be together. I can’t do that to you. I know you—I know that loving me must hurt you. And I won’t hurt you again. Leave Rockaway Watch, Hannah. Without Kaylie, there’s nothing holding you here. Change you...