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I lost the fight and had to watch the only girl I’ve ever loved marry that piece of shit.
For a while, I watched them. I was surprised to learn she’d been right, and he was great. Then, I stopped watching her, and that’s when their marriage took a turn for the worse, and he began beating her.
Not a day goes by that I don’t punish myself for letting her go and not keeping better tabs on her. I should’ve known her smiles were fake. I know her genuine smile. I know how deep her dimples are when she’s truly happy.
Instead of stepping in, I did nothing while she remained with that monster, living in yet another fucking nightmare.
I’m doing my best to make up for my sins of the past, and I’m trying to make up for all the things I did wrong with her, like leaving her when she truly needed me.
Now, all I can do is ensure that those Triad fuckers pay for what they did to her.
“Ace.” She sighs, her eyes connecting with mine for the first time in days. She’s been closed off and keeping to herself, and I’m afraid that her dark thoughts will completely consume her if I don’t get her out of her head and help her heal—starting with getting her to talk about what happened.
I need to know. I need to know everything, and I need her to tell me rather than me jumping to conclusions and making assumptions.
With tears streaming down her face, she says the one name that I least expected to ever hear again. “Colton. He’s alive.” Her eyes darken with fear, and her body begins to shake.
Sitting beside her, I pull her trembling body against me, wrapping my arms tightly around her. “It’s okay, my pretty thing. I’m here, I’ve got you, and I will always protect you.” I’m the reason that bastard was brought into her life in the first place.
I have so many fucking things to make up for, and I’m willing to spend the rest of my life making up for all my mistakes.
“Tell me what happened, Lee, please.” I gently stroke her long black hair, pushing her bangs from her face.
“He put a hit on me or something.” She shudders. “He wanted me and hired people to kidnap me. Eli, King, and Rowen.” Her bottom lip trembles saying their names. “They took me and planned to trade me, but plans changed, and everything went to shit. Colton turned them against me and convinced them I was working for one of their rivals.” She wipes her falling tears. “He threatened my friend, Cassie, and was going to kill her. I had to protect her, so I went to him just as King found me fleeing the club we were at.” She pauses to take in a slow and deep breath.
“Meanwhile, he was texting them and telling them lies about me betraying them. King shot me. He was so angry at the thought of me turning on him, but I didn’t. I swear I didn’t.” She sobs into my chest, wetting my light gray T-shirt, turning the material dark. “I went willingly because I was trying to protect my friend, but I think he killed her anyway.” She pulls away from me, her eyes wide.
“Please, Ace, please. Look into my friend and see if she’s alive or not. See if he actually killed her or if he was just trying to scare and control me.”
I rub her shivering arms, nodding. “I will. I’ll look into her,” I promise.
She sighs in relief. “God, I hope she’s okay. I hope he didn’t kill her. Cassie didn’t deserve that.” Her eyes well with tears once again. “I thought he was dead. I thought I had succeeded in killing him. I can’t do anything right. I can’t even fucking murder someone correctly.” Shaking her head, she leans against me again, her face buried in the crook of my neck.
“God, I hope she’s okay,” she mutters, tears wetting my skin.
I rub her back, not offering any words of encouragement.
Knowing what my cousin is capable of, Cassie is very likely dead, and I don’t want to give Lee false hope. There’s a high chance her friend is gone.
For her sake, I hope it’s not true.
twenty-six
ACE
Three months ago,Lee asked me to look into her friend Cassie; she believes Colton is responsible for killing her. She was crying and desperate to find out what had happened, so I agreed. I’d do anything for her—anything to put a smile on her face.
When she finally told me about what happened in the basement and told me that Colton was alive, I knew that her friend wouldn’t be found alive. Not after everything I’ve learned about the cousin I once thought was just weird, but realized was an actual fucking psychopath. Though, I don’t think I can judge. It’s possible that I am too.
If I’d known how fucked up he was, I never would’ve had her stay in a home with him. That’s my regret to live with, and I’ll forever be sorry for making such a horrible fucking decision.
I had hoped to find good news about Cassie, but it wasn’t easy to find any information at all about her.
There’d been no activity on her social media, and she hadn’t been to work. She just vanished one day without a trace.
Vanished into thin air.
I found nothing until three days ago. With the help of Eli, we discovered that a Jane Doe’s body had been taken to the morgue six towns over. The woman was missing all her teeth, hair, and fingers, so the small town she’d been dumped in had difficulty identifying her body.
