I don’t know yet. Security is de-escalating the situation as we speak, and I haven’t talked to Asher about it yet.
Matthew: Hell yes. We’ll take this bitch down.
A lot of people were recording, so this is going to hit social media any second. Act fast. And thank you!
I putmy phone away and head straight for Asher.
“Are you okay? What was all that about?”
He wraps me in his arms, and I try ignoring the people still recording us. I don’t love it, but I can’t deny that it will help our cause. I have no idea what is going on with Katrina, but I know she just did my job for me. I’ve been searching for a way to bring her down, and she just handed it to me on a silver platter. Now, painting the rest of her family in a bad light will be easy, and when the Antonovs fall, there will be a narrative to back it up.
Asher leans down to whisper in my ear. “I warned Katrina that if her family threatened me or made a move against me, I’d retaliate.”
Katrina’s words hit me, and realization strikes.
“What did you do?”
“What I promised I would.”
He doesn’t elaborate, not now, not here, but I know in my gut he must have done something big. What else would prompt Katrina to make a public spectacle of herself like that? She must have seen enough chatter about Asher’s whereabouts tonight to know where he was and decided to ambush him. As if that would work. But it’s clear she wasn’t in a rational frame of mind.
A sliver of guilt worms through me at my plan. I hate the way the media lies about me and Asher, and yet that’s exactly what I’ve set in motion against Katrina. It’s hypocritical. It’s dirty; I can’t deny that. But then I think of Asher’s grandfather. Ithink of Asher as a boy almost killed in that crash. I think of a week ago when he had a gun pressed to his head. Katrina may not have been the one to do those things, but her family is the architect of it all, and she’s playing right alongside them. She’s the one who threatened Asher on behalf of her family. She has no problem with the hell the Antonovs and Volkovs have caused Asher. She feels no remorse that one of Asher’s employees was paralyzed in the “accident” ordered by her father.
I don’t know what Asher’s done, but I know what Katrina’s family has done. The thought of his life on the line makes me murderous, and any guilt I feel disappears just as quickly as it came. Katrina dug her own grave, and I’ll happily toss the first shovel of dirt onto her casket.
Asher takes me by surprise by cupping my cheeks and kissing me. Then he leads us back to our box where his parents take their seats beside us. Asher takes out his phone, clearly typing out a text, and then nods silently to his father.
Whatever is going on will not be revealed right now, but one thing is clear: the four of us will remain a united front until we’re out of the public eye. We’ll finish this night out as if nothing happened, and we’ll show the world that nothing ruffles the Langfords’ feathers.
Especially not crazy exes.
20
ELLA
“Do you want to tell me what that was all about?” I ask Asher as we step into our bedroom. He’s been quiet and stoic ever since his run-in with Katrina. A heaviness hangs over him that others might not be able to detect, but I can.
He sits on the bed with a long sigh and runs his hands down his face.
“I need to tell you something, but I’m worried about how you’ll react.”
I tense at his words. Whatever is on his mind is clearly tormenting him, but I hope he knows that no matter what, I’ll always be there for him.
I run my fingers through his hair and tip his head up to look at me.
“What is it?”
“I did something tonight. Before I came home. That’s why I was late.”
“What did you do?”
“I . . . took care of Katrina’s brother,Dimitri.”
I pause as his words settle over me. “When you say you took care of him, what do you mean?”
“I killed him.”
A shock races up my spine and dread curls in my stomach.
