Page 117 of His Wicked Revenge

While searching for the vibrator in her apartment, I came across her journals—plural because she had gotten a new one. At first, I debated on reading them, seeing as it was an invasion of privacy, but then I couldn’t give a shit given the circumstances.

I picked up the journal that I gave her in the asylum first. She had drawn on the cover with that silver Sharpie. There were small doodles of random things and monsters, but what caught my eye was the snake. It matched the one I have tattooed on my body.

I hesitated for a brief moment before opening it up. The first couple of pages were of her time before me. She wrote about Dr. Davis, the doctor I replaced, and how she told Veronica to write down her feelings and that maybe it would help with the anger. I had only skimmed over her words for those parts until I flipped the page to find the first entry written about me.

Sentences had stuck out to me.

In fact, maybe he can help me out with something I have been planning in my head.

Yes. He will do.

It will be easy to manipulate him into doing what I want. I just have to get him to fall in love with me.

Anger boiled my skin, making my body ignite in flames. I flipped to the next page, and that anger transformed into rage. Plan of Escape was the title of that page where she wrote, Manipulate Leo into falling in love with me and convince him to take me away from here where we can be together.

I continued to flip pages and skim over the words, and once I had enough, I slammed the journal shut. There was no need to peek at her new one. I didn’t have it in me to read the new plans she had for me.

I tossed the black leather book back into the drawer and stared at it momentarily. The rage filled my entire body; my heart twisted in my chest as I read her words.

She had planned to manipulate me from the beginning, and I was dumb enough to believe her. I remember her saying something along those lines after everything.

All I read was a reminder that nothing was real to her. I knew this after she left me for dead, and yet, there I was. Standing in her apartment while she is naked, waiting for me in mine.

The memories of that night in the woods leading up to her shoving a knife into my stomach play out in my head. It hurts to think about, which is why I have blocked it out since it happened. I kept the thoughts at bay after her apology, which I wanted to be true. I wanted to believe the sincerity in her eyes, but a part of me knew she meant none of it.

Now? After reading those entries, I let the incident of that night sit front and center in my mind. I allow the words on those pages to pierce my skin like a million needles. I embrace the pain, and it fuels the anger inside.

What was I thinking, forgiving her that easily when she didn’t mean it? She manipulated me again because that is all Veronica Rollins knows how to do. She doesn’t know how to love. How to be sorry. How to care.

The years she spent on her own, pretending to be Camille, have enhanced her acting skills. I can’t believe I fell for it again.

The voices in my head were right. This new and improved Veronica is the second act to the performance she gave me at Black Lake. And I was a spectator in the audience that watched and believed it was a true story.

As she slept silently next to me, I didn’t feel the hope I had for us to work out.

No, what I felt was that itch for the revenge I had half-buried away after she apologized.

I won’t let her do this again. I won’t let her rip my heart out for a second time.

Make her pay. The voice was loud in my head compared to the silence in the room.

I’m not the only one involved this time around. She has befriended my sister. A friendship that was built on lies and that isn’t real. How much longer does Veronica expect to carry out this friendship with my sister when she never wanted friends to begin with?

There is no way I can let her make the first move. I need to beat her to the inevitable pain. Until the time is right, I can act like she has been. I can pretend to have the same feelings of love for her that I used to have. When the time does come, she’ll get what she deserves.

“Leo, did you hear me?” Myles's voice pulls me out of my heated thoughts.

“I didn’t,” I say apologetically.

“I said there is a room upstairs where we will get ready,” he reminds me for the hundredth time. “The girls will be getting ready down here somewhere.”

I grab another bouquet and hang it outside of the pew. “Sounds good.”

Myles pauses, tilting his head. “You okay?”

“Yeah. Just tired.” The lie leaves me easily, but I avoid eye contact.

“Bullshit.” Myles huffs, calling me out. “What is it? It’s not Veronica, is it? Chloe said you two have been getting really close. Like living together.”