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“I’m going to see what’s in the box. Better rip the band-aid off now,” I say coldly, as if I’m detached from reality.
“You don’t know what’s in there. It could be anything. Let me look.” Greyson pleads with me, but I shake my head.
“No. It’s a message for me so I’ll see what it is.” I try to stand tall, looking like I’m not even fazed, but I can feel fear squeezing my heart. I approach the box and take a deep breath. Feeling the guys closing in behind me, I wipe my sweaty palms on my pants and reach for the lid.
I take a deep breath and pull it off. Time actually stops. Everything around me goes silent. The only thing I can hear is the pounding of my heart. My vision starts to go blurry just as I hear a scream. Then I realize it’s me who’s screaming. Rian wraps his arms around me before we both collapse to the ground.
“What the fuck is this?” Zep snarls to no one in general.
“It’s all my fault. I did this. It’s all my fault.” I begin to shake in Rian’s arms, as I keep repeating those words over and over again.
“Lya, look at me. This is not your fault. Fuck, this is so messed up, but it’s not your fault.” Zep tries to calm me, but I am starting to feel numb.
Inside that box is a bloody, severed hand. A small, tanned, dainty hand. A hand missing the rest of its body. And it’s not just any hand. No, that would have been too easy. On one of the fingers is a gorgeous gold ring with a ruby in the middle and two Ts forming the band.
I would recognize that ring anywhere.
“It’s Tara’s ring. The… The hand is hers. That’s her ring.” I choke out as tears are rolling down my face and my voice is hoarse from screaming. I feel Rian take in a deep shuddering breath beneath me, not wanting to believe it either.
The next moment, chaos breaks out. I don’t even have time to think about what’s going on. Thiago is in Greyson’s face as Zep tries to hold him back. The calm man with all the swagger in the world is now completely unhinged.
“Were you really out of town today, you motherfucker?! Did you do this? Are you behind all this? Seems funny that the moment you start showing up, all hell breaks loose.” Thiago rips his fist from Zep's hold and it connects with Greyson’s jaw. Greyson stumbles back, rubbing his jaw as his eyes narrow. I’m starting to wonder if Rian, Zep, and Thiago even trust Greyson at all.
“Thiago, stop!” I scream at him, but he ignores me as he goes in for another punch. I abruptly stand, pushing myself off of Rian. Standing in front of Thiago, I grab his face, pulling his head down to look at me. “Thiago, please. Please stop, this isn’t helping.”
His eyes are filled with fire. He wants to rip Greyson to shreds, but we don’t know that he’s behind this. A sharp pang hits my heart thinking about the idea that Greyson could be behind this. But why? Why would he do this? Just as the thought comes, guilt consumes me for even thinking Greyson could do this. No, he wouldn’t do that to me.
“Uh, guys, you’re going to want to see this.” Rian says, shaking his phone in our direction. Thiago and Greyson seem to let go of their tension as we all huddle around Rian.
I blink rapidly at what I’m seeing. On the video footage I see a figure dressed in all black, including a face mask, painting the message across my windshield. Based on what I can see, the person seems kind of lanky, slim build, but still fit and tall. They definitely don’t fit the same body style as Greyson, which makes me relax at the idea, but their frame makes me believe it’s a man.
He then neatly places the gift box on the hood of my car and turns around facing the camera, lifting his hand and giving a slow wave.
What. The. Fuck. I can’t see his face, but I know that fucker is smiling. Then he turns and leaves the frame. Rian fast forwards the video footage up to when Greyson arrives. You could see his face drop when he sees what’s written on my car. Then he grabbed his hair as if he was pulling it out as he raced to the front door. He seemed shocked and worried, not like someone who did this and is pretending to care.
“He didn’t erase the feed this time?” Zep says with surprise.
“Nope. Looks like he’s getting brave… Or just fucking with us,” Rian tells us.
“He’s trying to tease me. Letting me know that he’s not afraid of us, but that we should be afraid of him,” I say with a shaky voice.
“Rian, go into the office and see what you can find on the feed. Thiago, take some pictures and clean this up. Greyson, you need to think of anyone and everyone that would want Lya to stay away from you. Any psycho ex-girlfriends out there who would organize something like this? Lya, let’s go check on Tara.” Zep authoritatively tells everyone what to do and we all snap into action quickly.
“Can I have your phone? I left mine inside. I need to call her, see if she’s okay,” I plead with Zep. He hands me his phone and I dial Tara. The phone rings three times before it clicks. I think it’s going straight to voicemail, but then heaven rings through my ears.
“Hey Zep, what’s up? Is everything okay?” Tara says, like she doesn’t have a care in the world. I can’t even get words out. My best friend is okay. She’s alright. But if she’s okay, whose hand is that? Zep sees my struggle of not being able to speak as he takes the phone from me.
“Tara? Are you okay? Where are you?” Zep asks her. I can’t hear her reply, but Zep responds. “Okay. Lya and I are coming over. Stay there and lock your door. Do not answer for anyone but us, okay?” Zep ends the call, looking at me.
“She’s okay, gorgeous. Come on, let’s go get her.” I nod my head as I rush to him, wrapping my arms around him. His arms tightly hold me as he presses a kiss to my temple. I finally let go and he walks me toward the G-Wagon. Getting in, we go to check on my best friend.
Twenty-Five
Paranoia is my best friend now. I’m constantly looking over my shoulder, waiting for the next threat to come. I should feel safe with four men constantly around me, but that sneaky little fucker obviously knows how to evade them.
The night of the hand incident, we went to Tara’s and spent the night there. We told her about the message on the windshield and the hand with the ring. She told us that her gold ring had been missing for almost a week, but she just thought that she’d misplaced it at work or something. My heart couldn’t take leaving her and worrying about whether she was safe. Over the past couple of days, I’ve made her text me every hour and call me every night.
I should have taken the threats seriously from the beginning, but the severed hand was the last straw. I haven’t seen Greyson since that night. We’ll text and talk on the phone, but I will not risk Tara again. I was stupid to not take this person seriously when they sent me the pictures of Greyson and I from our yacht date, but I won’t make that mistake again. Once we find out who this is, I can be with Greyson again.
