Thought I’d do you a favour.
I wince as I remember the writing on the envelope.
Ishouldn’thave answered the door.
Ishouldn’thave let curiosity get the best of me.
Ishouldn’thave opened it.
There are so many things I shouldn’t have done, but a part of me knows I was going to find out either way. I’d already made the call to the private investigator and was waiting for his response—only difference is, Carter beat me to the punch.
“What am I looking at?” Grayson waves the papers around in confusion.
“You’re looking at how I killed Vivienne’s parents.”
I look down at my own two hands, meeting their now red tinge from the blood of all the lives I’d taken. I went into aviation to make things safer, better,not worse.
It’s only when the papers are slammed down in the middle of the table that I’m pulled out of my daze.
“What the fuck do you mean, Nate?” Grayson looks around at his surroundings.
Lucky for us, the hospital cafeteria was busy at this time of day, voices overlapping from all directions. It’s the only reason I feel comfortable enough to give him the full story—something that draws his anger out further.
“Don’t you dare blame yourself, Nate. This is Carter’s doing, not yours. Plus, what was he trying to prove with this? That he’s an imbecile who can’t safety test planes?”
I lean back in my chair, anger rising within me at the thought. “It might have been his plane that killed Vivienne’s parents, but it was my idea. I’m the brains behind the operation.”
“Do you hear yourself right now?" My best friend snaps. "Carter stole the idea and failed to execute it properly. None of this was in your control.”
I shake my head in denial. This is where Grayson is wrong. This was allmyfault,mydoing—and now, I’m bearing the consequences.
Showing up to work every day with a positive mindset has been just as bad. Every time I look into the eyes of an employee, I see the reflection of a killer.I can only imagine how they’d look at their boss, knowing what I’d done.
“It doesn’t matter anymore, plus it’s way too late. Vivienne will never be able to look at me in the eyes knowing the man she loves—orloved, I should say”—a hysterical laugh bursts out of me—“is responsible for killing the two people who mattered to her the most.”
“She loves you?” Grayson recoils in shock.
I nod in shame.
It was merely a mumble, but I heard the words after I’d confessed them to her. I also heard the sobs that racked her body as I held her tight. It’s a sound that’s still etched in my memory, replaying in my head every night like a nightmare.
“You’re blaming the wrong person, Nate. It wasn’t you. It was Carter.”
“But it was my idea!”
My fist doesn’t get the chance to meet the table when I’m jolted forward by the collar. My eyes widen as I stare at frenziedblue ones. Grayson’s grip on me tightens, and if he goes any firmer, he might cut off my circulation.
“Listen to me closely,Nate. I did not go through the effort of playing matchmaker and squishing the two of you in the same goddamn pea pod for you to ruin it at the last minute. This is the woman of your dreams. You aren’t going to let her go because of your clouded judgment. Do you hear me?”
I nod against my will. There’s no other choice when I’m positive my life is at stake. He may have recited the Hippocratic Oath, but I’m sure he’d break it for some torture-induced motivation.
Grayson looks satisfied with my answer.
“Good. Now, I’d like you to find that bitch Carter and beat him up until his bones snap. You’ll then admit him into this very hospital where I’ll gladly write down in his chart that the harm was self-inflicted.” His hold on my collar tightens, unrelenting. “Then you’re going to find Vivienne, sit her down in a secluded café—my treat—and explain the story with a straight head. None of that ‘I killed your parents’ bull—”
“Everything alright here, boys?”
Grayson recoils at the sound, letting go of my collar as he falls back in his chair. He tries to act casual, picking invisible lint from his scrubs, but the usually tan man is now as white as a ghost.
