I muttered a curse under my breath. Ben McScroodge was the most heartless motherfucker to walk the face of this planet. His partner, too. The pair enjoyed watching others suffer as they lorded their money over the people of Henderson.
“He’s a murderer,”Bella said softly, staring through the windshield of my van to gaze upon the town.“Maybe not directly, but he’s responsible for their deaths.”She tore her gaze away to meet mine.“I don’t want to wind up like them, T. I hatethatthis is tearing us apart, but if I don’t take this job opportunity with my friend, I dread to think what will happen.”
The ball of emotion lodged in my throat expanded. Obviously, I didn’t want her to wind up dead, but I didn’t want to lose her. Sure, we could call and text, but her living six hours away in an entirely different state wasn’t the same as her living five minutes down the road.
I was being selfish, though. I wanted her to stay because she was my friend and I loved spending time with her. She needed to do what was best for her, no matter how much it hurt me.
I reached for her hand, lacing my fingers through hers.“When do you go?”
“Tomorrow.”
Pain speared my heart, but I refused to let it show. Instead, I gave her the best smile I could muster.“Wellthen, if it’s our last day together for a while, how about we celebrate in style?”
Tequila spilled over my fingers as Bella slammed her shot glass against mine. We downed the bitter drink, both of us wincing at the burn before sucking on a lemon. I’d long since given up counting how many shots we’d downed as afternoon turned into evening, but it was fair to say the two of us were hammered.
“I can’t believe this is our last night together,”Bella said, slurring her words.“I feel like we need to do something crazy to mark the occasion.”
My drunk, addled brain thoughtthatsounded like an awesome idea.“What do you have in mind, babe?”I asked over the chatter of the wine bar.
Her lips pulled into a malicious smirk as she fell against my broad frame.“I want to teach him a lesson.”
“Who? Donal?”
“Notthatfucking idiot,”Bella scowled, knocking back a mouthful of her wine.“McFuckFace. He’s fucked up too many people’s lives. Maybe it’s about time someone fucked up his.”
If sober me had heard Bella saythat, I would have disagreed and told herthatthere was nothing anyone could do to teachthatman a lesson. He was too arrogant and too stubbornto change his ways, and trying to teach him a lesson was a waste of everyone’s time and energy.
Drunk me agreed with Bella. Twenty minutes later—and a quick stop at the hardware store—the cab brought us to a stop outside a mansionthat, if I didn’t know better, I would have said was derelict.
Henderson was a small town; practically everyone knew where everyone lived, and often people complained about the state of McScroodge’s house. They questioned why it was so run-down when the man had millions in his bank account, but until now, I’d never seen the house with my own eyes. I had no reason to come to this side of town where the rich folk lived.
As I stared at the mansion, though, I couldn’t help but agree with the gossip; why the hell was the place in such a mess? It hadtonsof potential if McScroodge bothered to invest. It certainly needed a lot of work; the white stone walls were filthy, most of the window frames at the front of the house were cracked, and the dried-up fountain in the middle of the driveway had mold growing over it.
I dreaded to think what the inside looked like.
Paying the cab fare, the tequila flooding my systems began to ebb as reality set in.“You sure you want to do this?”I asked once the cab drove away, leaving Bella and me staring up at the property.
“Hell yes, I fucking do,”Bella laughed maliciously.“This motherfucker needs teaching a lesson, and I want to be the one to do it.”
She skipped up the drive, fishing out the can of red spray paint she’d bought from the store. My stomach churned, not from the tequila swirling in it, but as Bella leaned over to spray something in the driveway several feet away from the fountain.
With dread spreading through me, I followed to where she stood with a pleased grin on her face. My gaze dropped to the word she’d sprayed in bold, red paint:
MURDERER
Guilt crashed into me like a tsunami, and as I stared at the word, I instantly sobered up.
Fuck! What were we doing? What if he were home? His office would be closed by now; he could be inside, witnessing us committing criminal damage. The man was an asshole, butthatdidn’t mean we were above the law.
My stomach plummeted to my shoes when the tinkling of glass smashing reached my ears. My head whipped up in time to see Bella climbing through the window she’djustsmashed.
Panic raced through me. This was not meant to go as far as breaking and entering. What the hell did Bella think she was doing?
I quickly followed in her wake, reaching the window and peering in. My heart sank at seeing the line of bright red paintthatBella had sprayed along the walls, but she was nowhere to be seen in the roomthatI imagined would have been a dining room had it been decorated.
Her footsteps echoed from somewhere within the house, along with a shriek of glee. Leaning through the broken window, I was about to call her name when, in the distance, the faint sound of sirens rang out, growing closer the longer I stood frozen to the spot.
Shit!
