“You don’t like being the one in the line of fire, do you? You only like making others suffer at your hands.” Her eyes are wide as she looks between Cal and me. I reach down and grab her by her hair. She begins to claw at my hands as I drag her across the lobby. She kicks and cries the entire way. I catch a glimpse of the boys by the door, and the smug look on their faces tells me they both knew about the truth the entire time. I’ll be taking that up with Orin later.
“Get the fuck up,” I demand, releasing her hair and walking toward an umbrella holder in an entryway display near the desk. I grab a wooden cane and inspect it before I turn around to where she is pulling herselfup on her feet. As she stands up, she straightens her clothes and tries to smooth out her frizzy hair, which is no doubt thinner now after I’d gripped it so tightly. I expect to see tears in her eyes at the very least, but there is nothing but fury in her gaze.
Fucking psychopath.
No empathy.
No remorse.
Game on.
“Why do you think I’m so upset, Nessa?” I question, twirling the cane in my hand idly. “And before you try to lie your way out of this one, save the bullshit for someone else who might believe you.”
She turns her head like she’s about to speak to Callum again. “You will need someone to reattach your scalp if you ignore me when I am speaking to you,” I say coolly, and she tenses up, turning back toward me.
“Now, I want to hear it from your mouth. I want to know why. I want to know who helped you. And what you tell me will determine the outcome of this little get-together you insisted on.”
She looks around the room, trying to find a way out. But there isn’t one. She looks like a caged animal backed into a corner. I just stand there staring, waiting. I raise a brow, and she begins to babble off her version of events.
“You’re just Miss Perfect, right? You just stay huddled up in that goddamned library and read. You don’t know what the real world islike, and yet you still come out on top. You still get the guy. You still get the happy ending!”
I roll my eyes, and that seems to set her off even more. “If the drugs had worked faster, then you would have seen him inside me. He wanted me, I know he did. He was all too eager to come to the room with me that night. Jade was right, all I needed to do to have him falling at my feet was give him a little encouragement.”
“Jade? The girl that we went to school with?” I ask, pretending not to know. But I knew exactly who Jade was. The one who told me where they were. Was she the one who gave Nessa the drugs?
“You should have heard him, Maeve. ‘You look delicious,’ ‘I can’t wait to taste you,’ ‘to feel my cock inside you,’ HA,” she said, cutting her eyes toward him. “He was into it. But you just had to interrupt.”
Callum jumps to his feet, but I just laugh.
“You know, Nessa, I thought back to that night. I figured out you were the little mastermind behind it all,” I said as I swung the cane in circles. Callum relaxes a touch and walks to stand right behind her.
“You were quite determined that we wear similar outfits that night,” I look at her, and she straightens. “You see, I don’t think he said any of those things to you. I think he believed you were me. You had just dyed your hair similar to mine, and let’s be honest, Ness, strawberry blonde doesn’t do wonders for you.”
Her face twists as the insult hits her.
“What do you know? You look like some sad, depressed goth that does nothing but keep her nose in a book. I tried to get you out, and Itried to help you make friends, but no, you had to be some freak and run everyone off because you couldn’t get over a few hours of being kidnapped.”
That.
That hits the switch.
I pause. My ears are ringing, and tunnel vision is setting in. I turn to look at her. She looks smug until she sees the shift from amused to murderous. Everything around me blurs as I turn and swing the cane. Her eyes bulge, and she attempts to scream, but the cane makes contact as I swing it like a driver, making contact with her chin. I stand over her, watching blood sputter out of her mouth. I cock my head to the side, watching her try to speak, knowing her jaw is most likely broken.
“What? Nothing to say now?” I mock before I straddle her on the floor. The boys begin to close in, and I shoot my head up, stopping them in their tracks.
“If I need your assistance, I will let you know. Don’t you dare stop me, or I’ll be on you next.”
The guys take a step back, not saying another word.
“That’s one. One hit for the first year.” I grab her by the collar of her jacket before I slam my fist into her face, “That’s two. Three. Four.”
I continue until I reach eight, pausing before giving the final blow. She’s hardly conscious at this point, but I want her to hear me before I knock her lights out. I grab her by the back of her hair and make her look at me. Her eyes are nearly swollen shut.
“You are the bane of my existence, and I will continue to make your life a living hell from this day forward. I will make you feel every ounce of hurt I have felt for the last nine years. You will beg me to stop. You will wish you were dead. I hope this was all worth it, Nessa, because you will pay for all of it.”
I rear back and hit her right in the center of her face, and she’s out. I let her fall to the floor, staring at her. I don’t know how long I sit there, but I feel a hand on my lower back, and I look up, locking eyes with Callum.
Chapter 23
