Chapter 13
Devon
I texted Caydence and let her know there was a gift for her on the front desk and that she should open it before she came into the office tonight. I’m excited for this. I don’t think she knows just how much so.
I sit back with my feet kicked up, crossed at the ankle as I wait for her. I think she’s going to be both shocked and excited about my gift for her tonight.
I hear the elevator, and I sit back waiting. I can hear her walk through the room and then stop. Then I hear the scream, and I count down until she makes it into my office.
“Three, two, one,” I say when the door flies open, and she comes storming in.
“What the fuck is this? Is this some kind of joke?” she yells as she looks at me. I smile at her and shake my head.
“This is not a joke.”
“Is that … it’s a finger, Devon!”
“Yes, it is.”
“Why the hell is there a finger in a box?” she asks. “It’s not real, right?” She holds the box in her hand until she sees the smile on my face fade. It’s then that she realizes the finger is, in fact, real. She drops it and steps away as if she’s been burned by it.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” she asks as she steps back. I drop my feet to the floor and stand, walking toward her. WhenI reach her, I reach around and close the door, locking it so she can’t escape when I tell her the rest.
“Caydence, I told you once no one would ever hurt you again, right?”
“Yeah.”
“And I meant what I said,” I tell her as I walk over and pull the cover off the asshole I had kneeling on the floor. Caydence gasps, covering her mouth so that she doesn’t scream as she backs into the door.
“What the hell is going on? Who is that?” she asks in a panic.
“Caydence, this is Jeff. This is the asshole who slammed his car into you,” I clarify as I point at him. Her watery eyes move from the man on the floor to me, and that’s where they hold.
“What is he doing here?”
“He’s here to make things right. Did you know he was drunk when he hit you?” I ask her as I walk around him. She shakes her head, but her eyes are still as wide as saucers.
“Devon.” I raise my hand. She doesn’t need to speak right now, only listen.
“He could have killed you that night. He could have killed anyone, but the most important one was you. I couldn’t allow that to happen again, right? So I brought him here,” I tell her.
“To do what?” she asks shakily.
“Kill him.”
“What?” she yells this time. She can yell all she wants to; there’s no one here to hear what’s going on, and there’s no one on theother floors either. Only Sal at the desk, and he’s here to clean up my messes.
“He could have killed you, Caydence.”
“But he didn’t. Just … just let him go. I think he learned his lesson,” she blurts quickly as the man looks at her with tears of his own in his eyes.
“Stop looking at her!” I roar. He immediately pulls his gaze from Caydence and looks at the floor.
“Devon, you’ll go to prison.” Now I laugh. I’m not going anywhere.
“You have so little faith in me,” I tell her.
“If you kill him, that’s murder.”
