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Hurdling up the stairs like a bull in a china shop after Carson, I suddenly halt when I hear her let out a blood-curdling scream, just as she crests the top of the open staircase.
That's when I notice Mason rounding the corner. He must have taken her by surprise. She takes a frightened step back, forgetting the staircase behind her, and falls back down the steps.
I step out of the way of her body and watch as it hits each step with a crack on its descent. These steps are made of hard pine, not a scrap of padding insight.
When I look up at Mason, his eyes go wide with the realization of what just happened. "August, what the fuck?" He throws his hands into his hair, and I shake my head.
"I didn't ask you to follow me in. I said I'd be out in ten minutes."
His face goes pale with shock.
"Come on, we need to get out of here." He remains frozen as I start to head down the stairs. I clap my hands in his direction, trying to snap him out of his mortified trance. "Let's go. We have to go."
Once I reach the bottom of the stairs, I can see that Carson's body has landed at an unnatural angle. Her neck is clearly broken. I wouldn’t consider myself a heartless person, but I can’t say I’m proud of myself at the moment. Maybe it’s because she gave me countless reasons to hate her over the past week. Reasoning aside, I can’t find it within me to care that she’s dead, and I know that’s incredibly fucked up. I also know we need to get the hell out of here before someone finds us.
When Mason finally decides to join me at the bottom of the staircase he looks at her body, and curses, clearly distraught by everything that just happened.
Then we both walk out.
Afterwelefttheestate, Mason drove straight to his place. We didn't speak a word. When we entered the condo, he went straight into his office and slammed the door shut. Since I haven't seen a shower in over a week, I go down the hall and help myself to it. My desire to get clean outweighed my need to eat.
Standing underneath the scalding hot spray of the shower helped release a lot of the tension that had built up in my body over the last six days. Recalling the events of this past week and how I thought Mason left, how I thought Gianna chose him and how the two people in my life that I considered friends unfathomably betrayed me, I can't help but feel beaten.
I was never under the misconception that Ethan and I were anything more than fake friends, but I didn't realize the depth of his treachery. The man hates me something fierce, which makes today's events that much easier to swallow. Ethan didn't care for Carson. In fact, I would bet good money on it that he was using her all these years just to spite me. There was never going to be a happily ever after for us. I always knew she was messing around on the side—I just never knew with whom. Maybe if I’d cared enough, I would have noticed it was him. I had my reasons for keeping her around, it kept my parents happy, and the sex wasn't bad. Who gets rid of a girl that brings other girls to the party, but I never knew how truly vile she was. In hindsight, I would have parted ways sooner, had I known how deeply hateful she was.
When I followed Carson up the steps, I couldn't tell you what I had planned. Killing her would not have been premeditated. I've never given much thought to killing anyone. All I knew was there was no way she would walk out of the house and get her hands on Gianna. Mason showing up out of nowhere and scaring the shit out of her was a freak accident that I couldn't have planned better if I tried.
In the end, she got what was coming to her. You can't screw people over figuratively and literally repeatedly and not expect that shit not to catch up with you.
Clearly, Mason has been watching the house all week, and I need to find out what he knows. Begrudgingly, I exit the shower and find his room to look for something to wear. Helping myself to a pair of joggers and a soccer hoodie, I make my way out of his bedroom to the office. I'm about to open the door when I notice a pizza box lying on the counter.
Fuck I'm starving.
Heading over to the kitchen, I help myself to the remaining pizza. I'm just about to make my way to the refrigerator for a drink when Mason walks out of the office.
When Mason looks up at me, it's as if he's surprised to see me sitting at his counter eating his pizza. Maybe he is. I think everything feels too surreal for him right now. It’s like he's just going through the motions on autopilot. I continue eating, waiting to see if he'll speak first.
Making his way towards the refrigerator, he opens it and grabs a beer before pulling out another and sliding it down to me. We both stay silent as we crack open the tops and take a few long swigs.
He breaks the silence, "We have a lot to talk about."
Turning, he grabs another beer out of the fridge and walks back to the office calling out, "Let's go."
Picking up another slice of pizza and grabbing my beer, I follow him.
When I get into the office, I take a seat in the only other chair in the room that isn't his desk chair.
"I scrubbed the security footage at Carson's house and looped in old footage to make it look like nothing was out of the norm. There isn't a camera with a direct shot of the stairs, so her fall should look exactly like an accident." His eyes hold mine for a beat before he goes on.
"I know from what little interaction Ethan has had with Carson that he is actively looking for Gigi with plans of staging an accident once he finds her. There is a man named Ed apparently watching her parents, and I don't think Ethan had any part in tampering with my breaks."
I nod in acknowledgment of everything he said. I’d thought it was a stretch that Ethan was involved in his accident from the start. The probability of someone being after his dad was more likely. But now, I wouldn't put it past him.
"We know that Gianna is somehow a threat to a future windfall. Have you got any closer to figuring out how Gianna is a part of that?"
Steepling his fingers and leaning back in his chair, he shakes his head.
"No, that's why I broke into the estate to speak to you. The recurring theme of this entire charade seems to be keeping you and Gigi apart. Apparently, if you don't know about her past, then you can't unravel their plans. I'm hoping that if I tell you her story, maybe you can make sense of how they play into it."
