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So mad. So crazy. So, so insane.
He’s rambling, something about how we could’ve been great parents. I don’t hear a word he says. The only sound that bounces inside my skull is Nate, Nate, Nate.
He’s hurt. I can’t turn around to look because of the gun that’s digging into my temple, but the blood. . .Nate’s blood is making its way to my feet. I see it running over to where I sit on the floor like a wounded animal begging to be saved, the copper scent so strong it fills my mouth, even though it’s nowhere near my tongue. Trying not to gag, I pop my neck back and forth and inhale deeply.
Please don’t die on me. Please don’t go.
It would hurt so much more than the beatings I endured from my ex-boyfriend.
“I need to take him to the hospital, Camden. You’re not your dad. You can’t get rid of two bodies without leaving evidence. Just tell me what you want, and I’ll do it.”
He wrenches me by the hair so that my ear meets his lips, the skin of my forehead stretches from the impact of his grip.
“You can’t give me what I want, because you already gave it to the poor sod who is dying on the floor behind us. That’d be your heart, by the way.”
My goddamn tears betray me again. I’m shaking violently. He’s dying. My peace, my everything, may already be gone.
“Camden, anything. Name it. I’ll give it to you. I came here for my brother, not for you,” I lie. “I’m over what happened between us. I just want my family back.”
And Nate is my family.
I’m trying to sound firm, but not desperate.
“I don’t want your life, Prescott. I want what I set out for. Even after everything you’ve done to me. . .to my family. All I want is you. That cold thing that beats inside your chest,” he hisses, grabbing onto my left boob and pinching hard. I feel urine trickling between my thighs, which prompts my eyes to leak too. “That’s the thing I ache for.”
“Then have me. Let me take him to the hospital, release Preston, and I’ll come back. I promise.”
Nate has his fake passport and some money left. He could make it, and help Preston. Complete my quest in my absence. I trust him. That’s if he’s still alive. I might fall behind and become a slave again. But it’s a price I’m willing to pay after everything he’s done for me. It’s a price I want to pay, despite the consequences.
Camden places his lips on top of my head again, stroking it like I’m a fragile doll. It’s chilling. His way of treating me like nothing more than an object.
“You miss your brother.”
Careful not to react, I stare blankly at the wall. Camden wants to squeeze the shit out of my despair and agony. Breaking apart will only make him stall.
“How old is he now?” Camden muses, his fingers tickling the sensitive spot behind my ear. He used to do that when we fell asleep together. Now, he does it to taunt me.
“Shouldn’t you know? Your father said he’s with you,” I sniff my runny nose, unable to keep this inside me anymore.
There’s a dramatic pause of words and movements, before he resumes running his fingers through my hair. His tone is calm and blasé.
“Prescott, love, what are you on about? Preston is dead.” I feel a shot of pain straight to my heart. He tugs my hair a little, enough to make my skull burn, still brushing my blonde waves. “He practically begged us to kill him. After you had my father and Sebastian locked up for years”—he smiles, reminiscing about the time like it was a sweet memory—“I got mad, and naturally, wanted to get even. I know you don’t care for your dad very much, and that your mom is in a crazy asylum. That left me with. . .” He extends my neck, forcing me to stare at his broad smile. “Baby Brother Dearest.”
I want to cry, to scream, but am too paralyzed to do any of those things. Preston is no longer alive. My brother. My only real family. Nate, by the lack of sound or labored breaths, is dead too.
Everything I care for—gone.
“In hindsight, I could’ve handled it better. He came to me trying to find you. Bad timing.”
Shit, Preston, shit. I told him not to look for me after he gave me the money. He wanted to save me and got killed for it.
“When he realized what I’d done to you, it was too much. I gave him two options—end up as my slave or say goodbye. He didn’t even blink.” Camden rests his forehead on mine and our eyes level. “Preston pressed his forehead to the barrel like a trooper. He had balls, I’ll give him that.”
