Page 32 of His Wicked Revenge

“If you do anything to harm anyone that I love, I’ll call the asylum and have you locked up tight.”

His eyes are fierce, and he means every word he speaks. He will have to catch me before I go back to that fucking place.

Before I can respond, Chloe and the waiter grace us with their presence. The food in front of me looks appetizing, but I’m no longer hungry. I can’t sit here and not touch the meal I told Chloe I was super excited about, so just as I pretend to be Camille, I pretend to be starving and eat my food.

I sit silently, taking small bites of my food while she and Myles talk. My mind is running with thoughts of Leo; they are so loud, rattling around my brain, making it so that I don’t hear Chloe when she says something to me.

She says my name, pulling me from my thoughts. I glance up, slowly chewing on a piece of the burger. “What?”

“I told Myles it would be fun to do a double date! The four of us could go out to dinner and get drinks. Well, you guys can drink, and then we can do something fun after!”

The four of us.

My eyes slide to Myles, who is shooting daggers only I can see. He wants me to say no, to back off his best friend.

The voice in my head says, Sorry, Myles. That’s not going to happen.

I keep my eyes on him, and a smile crawls from my mouth. I say, “That sounds like a great idea!”

CHAPTER 16

Veronica

After lunch, Chloe invited me over to her place, but I politely declined. I lied and told her that I had errands to run. I have nothing to do today other than be alone, which is all I ever do when I’m not spending time with her.

I could have gone back to my one-bedroom apartment, which I snagged at a cheap price.

Lucky for me, the place's owner was a man who would fold at the slightest bit of flirtation. He dropped my rent down by two hundred dollars.

It was weird getting a place of my own, seeing how I spent the past few years in hotels and motels as I traveled.

Don’t get me wrong; the rooms I stayed in were on the nicer side, except for that one time I stayed at a dingy motel where I saw a cockroach. But I wasn’t trapped in them. I was able to leave whenever I wanted, and that was all that mattered.

Each one had hot water all the time, and the beds were tolerable. It's way better than the one I had at Black Lake. I didn’t spend much money on furniture when I found this apartment. I got a decent couch for the living room, a chair, and a mirror for my bedroom. They were cheap, but I did splurge on a comfortable mattress.

Slater kept money flowing into my account. I'm not sure where he gets all this money, but I half-believe it’s for other illegal activities—not only helping criminals start a new life. He has been more than kind in helping me stay on my feet—he should be, after all I did for him.

When I was working at that bar in my early twenties, Slater had a run-in with one of his old criminal buddies. They started fighting over something I don’t care to remember about anymore and ended up taking their altercation in the alleyway behind the bar.

I thought nothing of it until I realized how long Slater had been gone. I had left my place behind the bar and ventured out to the alley to find him. Part of me was worried that the man killed Slater, but when I shoved the door open, it turned out to be the other way around.

The man was lying in a pool of blood, Slater standing over him with a knife in his hands. I glanced down at the dead guy and saw multiple stab wounds.

“Really, Slater? In the back of my bar?” I groan.

He jerks his head in my direction, eyes growing wide in fear that I witnessed this. “Veronica… I-I wasn’t thinking. I’ve never killed anyone before.”

“Yeah, I figured.” It isn’t hard to tell with the pure panic radiating throughout his voice.

“You can’t tell anyone.”

Being the woman I am, I fold my arms across my chest and stare at him with dark eyes. “I won’t tell anyone, but you will owe me big time for keeping this secret.”

“Anything,” he promises.

“Great.” I drop my arms at my side. “Okay, we need to clean this up.”

“What? No. I’m not asking you to clean up my mess with me.”