Chapter 2 - WHY EVAN REALLY THREW HER OUT
By 9:30 that Sunday morning, everything Kayla had told me about her breakup had started falling apart.
She refused to call Evan.
So I did.
He answered on the fourth ring.
“Amanda?”
His voice sounded cautious.
“We need to talk about Kayla.”
Silence.
Then:
“She’s staying with you, isn’t she?”
The question made my skin prickle.
“How did you know?”
Another pause.
“Because that’s where she said she was going.”
Kayla had told me she called from her car with nowhere else to go.
Apparently, she had already made a plan.
I stepped into the backyard while Andrew stayed inside.
“What happened between you?”
Evan sighed.
“It wasn’t one thing.”
“She said you suddenly ended a six-year relationship.”
“I didn’t suddenly do anything.”
His voice hardened.
“I spent almost a year asking her to get help.”
“Help for what?”
Silence again.
Then Evan said:
“She tests people.”
The word landed differently now.
“What kind of tests?”
“Loyalty tests.”
My stomach tightened.
Evan explained that Kayla created fake social-media accounts and used them to message men she knew.
Coworkers’ husbands.
Friends’ boyfriends.
Even one of Evan’s married cousins.
“She’d flirt,” he said. “If they ignored her, she’d say they passed. If they responded, she’d screenshot it.”
“Why?”
“She said women deserved to know.”
“That sounds exactly like what she told me.”
“I know.”
Then Evan said the sentence that turned my confusion into anger.
“The problem was, eventually she stopped using fake accounts.”
I went silent.
“She started doing it herself?”
“Yes.”
“With married men?”
“Yes.”
“Did she sleep with anyone?”
“Not that I know.”
That answer mattered.
I didn’t want to invent things Kayla hadn’t done.
But what she had done was bad enough.
Evan continued.
“The last fight happened because she tried it on my brother Mason.”
I knew Mason.
Married.
Two children.
“She flirted with your brother?”
“She told him his wife didn’t appreciate him.”
My stomach twisted.
“Mason shut her down immediately.”
“Then why did you break up?”
“Because when I confronted Kayla, she said she had proved Mason was trustworthy.”
He laughed bitterly.
“She expected me to thank her.”
I closed my eyes.
That sounded exactly like my sister.
I heard the back door open.
Kayla stood there staring at me.
She knew who I was talking to.
Evan lowered his voice.
“Amanda, there’s something you need to understand.”
“What?”
“This didn’t start after our relationship got bad.”
Kayla’s face changed.
Evan continued.
“She was doing it before we even moved in together.”
“How long?”
“At least three years.”
Kayla walked toward me.
“Hang up.”
I ignored her.
Evan took a breath.
“Do you remember your mom’s Christmas party three years ago?”
I did.
Andrew and I had been married only six months.
“What about it?”
“That was the first time I caught Kayla keeping records.”
“What records?”
Kayla reached for my phone.
I stepped away.
Evan answered before she could stop him.
“A notebook.”
My sister went completely still.
“What notebook?”
“A notebook with men’s names in it.”
I stared at Kayla.
May you like
Evan’s next words came slowly.
“Andrew’s name was already on the list.”
