“You ruined my fucking life! My dreams, my future, everything! It was already bad enough watching you bully Reed for years like he was nothing, but killing him too?!”
“What?” Sierra freezes completely.
“What the fuck did Reed ever do to you?” Tess throws the words straight into her face, her voice turning so venomous the entire room seems to tighten around it. “Besides trying to survive in the same town as you?! Besides existing while you and your pathetic little boyfriend treated him like fucking garbage?!”
The second her breathing starts to break apart, Cain is already crossing the room toward her. He wraps one arm around her waist and pulls her against his chest while she shakes with rage, kissing the side of her head softly until she finally starts calming down.
“Shh,” he whispers in her ear. “Relax, baby. It’s almost over.”
She slowly melts into him, her breathing finally starting to steady while one of her hands stays tangled tightly in his shirt. Then her eyes drift back toward Sierra again.
“And since nobody filled you in yet…” she says while pointing one finger toward me. “That’s your fucking husband right there.”
A grin instantly pulls at my mouth while Tess reaches calmly into her purse before pulling out a stack of folded papers and lifting them right in front of Sierra’s face.
“Marriage certificate and everything.”
Her eyes widen instantly, disbelief crashing across her face before they flick toward Tess again, like her brain is scrambling to catch up with the reality of what she just heard.
“This is impossible,” she whispers. “This is some sick fucking joke…”
“Not at all,” Tess says calmly. “Remember that cute little girl who asked you for an autograph when we were going to swimming lessons?”
The color slowly drains from Sierra’s face while a smirk slowly spreads across Tess’s lips the second she realizes she finally understands.
“Aren’t you so fucking narcissistic? Why would you ever think someone would actually want to be you?” The room goes dead silent except for Sierra’s uneven breathing. “All your life you were nothing more than a spoiled fucking brat,” Tess continues coldly. “The rudest girl in town, the biggest bully, the kind of bitch who could point at someone and suddenly everybody else would destroy them too just because daddy had the money to make people kiss your ass.”
Sierra starts crying harder.
“But not anymore,” Tess says softly. “Now you’re completely on your own.” A small smile slowly spreads across her face. “And after tonight, you’re going somewhere far away where nobody will ever fucking find you again.”
“No!” Sierra screams instantly, snot mixing with tears while terror completely destroys whatever composure she had left. “Why are you doing this to me?! Why, Tess?!”
“Because I loved Reed.” The words come out shaking with so much bitterness and grief that something ugly twists in my chest at the sound of it. “And if I can’t have him anymore,” she says, a faint crack slipping into the words this time, “then you don’t deserve peace either.”
I cut in before she spirals too deep into the emotional shit because one part of her little speech finally catches up with me.
“Wait a second,” I say, frowning at her. “Where the fuck are we sending her?”
Tess slowly turns her head toward me, completely calm compared to the breakdown she was having seconds ago. “Somebody recommended me a guy.” She says calmly.
“Oh, great. A guy,” I mutter sarcastically. “Why stop there? Fuck it, let’s invite the whole country. Maybe start an Instagram live too while we’re at it.”
Cain immediately steps forward and punches my shoulder hard enough to shove me a step sideways before fixing me with an irritated look.
“Calm the fuck down,” he mutters. “She knows what she’s doing.”
“We have a contract,” Tess points out flatly. “And he’s getting paid a lot.”
“What’s his name?” I ask, narrowing my eyes at her.
Tess looks toward Sierra when she answers, almost like she wants her to hear every single word properly.
“Kage Malrik.”
The name means absolutely nothing to me, but the slow smile spreading across Tess’s face makes my stomach tighten anyway.
“He’s not the kind of man you find by accident,” she says without hesitation. “People like him exist because monsters with money always need someone willing to do the dirty work nobody else touches.”
