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The crowd’s attention laser focuses on me. My smile feels like it’s only a moment away from crumbling. I give a little wave as my eyes seek out my guys and finally find them. Zaiden and Hudson are close to the stage and their confusion is palpable as they look between me and their phones. I let my eyes wander away from them and panic rises as I see Ashton and Elias by the door. Ash looks at me with a million questions in his eyes. This wasn’t the answer I promised him. I don’t even know whatthisis, but then I remember exactly who I entered into a game with.
That foreboding sense finally crashes down around me as I realize why I’m standing up here. I close my eyes, not wanting to see the stricken expressions on their faces as Carson announces, “We weren’t planning on announcing this yet, but just couldn’t hold in our excitement any longer. Brielle Montgomery has agreed to start a new chapter with me as a Crawford.” My hand is lifted against my will as he places a cold kiss on the back of it. I feel the cool metal of a ring slip onto my finger and his nails dig into the skin where he holds me.
I force my eyes open and am almost blinded by the monstrous diamond atrocity that weighs down my hand. It’s the biggest princess cut diamond I have ever seen, circled by marquis cut diamonds and emeralds to look like leaves, and I struggle not to make a disgusted face as I stare down at it. Even without the gaudiness of the ring, nothing has ever made me more sick to be on my body.
I may have joked about being collared and leashed by Carson, but this awful ring is a physical manifestation of the chain around my neck. Heavy enough to make me drown.
Hushed murmurs begin to spread through the crowd. Carson lifts his glass in the air and everyone follows suit, even as the whispers grow louder. “To a new year full of new opportunities, new family, and the most beautiful girl at my side to enjoy it all with.”
Cheers and applause mix in with the whispers but none of it is loud enough to drown out the rush of despair and regret in my ears. I mechanically lift the glass to my lips and swallow the bubbly champagne down, but even the crisp sweetness of it can’t override the copper tang as blood fills my mouth.
I never should have let go of Ash’s hand.
Epilogue
I’m almost usedto the constant nausea that churns my stomach as I click through each video and picture saved in Carson’s hard drive. I’ve never felt so sick to get a glimpse into someone’s mind before. But fuck.
I knew there were men as fucked in the head as Carson is, but I have to admit, it unnerves me to face how normal he appears. To see how deep his delusion ran for someone I love and care about. Having to witness how it’s slowly breaking her apart to live under the weight of his obsession. Each picture I clicked through only made it worse. Made me more scared for her. I don’t know that breaking this deal will be enough to truly get her away from him.
We could get him arrested for stalking with all the evidence we’ve found, but even the thought of some of these files being shared with others, passed from detective to lawyer, to judge, to jury, sickens me. I know why Brielle doesn’t want to be forced to endure that. It would be a national scandal.
I sip more of the mixed drink leftover from tonight’s party as I open my laptop once more. This time looking for any other file names that pop out at me. I’ve spent so long in the folder named Brielle, but I don’t think there will be any new answers to be found there. Carson is pathological, but I’ve realized he’s also methodical in the way he organizes things.
His Brielle folder is all for his own pleasure. His escape into a fantasy he’s created that centers around the two of them. All it will prove is what we already know. He’s a sick, twisted fuck.
My eyes skim over his other file names. Businesses, class names, schedules, members of his frat. All files that I could have gained the information easily myself. I’ll come back to them, but I’m hoping for a Christmas miracle here. Something I can actually use to get her away from him.
My eyes catch on a whimsical name, whereas the rest are very straightforward. I sit up straighter in my chair and drag my mouse over the file.
Golden Ticket
I click it open to find only one video stored in here. Nothing else. I swallow thickly, taking another sip of my drink as I hesitate to watch the video. I have to. Anything that drives a man like Carson to be creative in his file names is something that can be used against him. In some way.
I double click and hold my breath as a video starts playing. Except it’s nothing at all like I was expecting.
The camera shakes as it captures a dark, nearly empty street. Two figures rush into the view of the camera, pulling two other men with them as they drag them back by their throats. Almost simultaneously their heads lift as they look toward where they pulled the men from. I gasp aloud.
It’s Elias and Hudson.
They’re holding the two men by their necks as they thrash and try to break the grips on them, struggling to breathe. They seem indifferent to the men whose lives they hold in their hands, shaking almost violently as they continue to look back from where they came.
The only sound that comes from the video is the heavy panting of whoever is filming. None of what the others are saying to each other can be heard.
I hold my breath as the guy Hudson is holding throws his head back, almost hitting him in the face. The moment of surprise is enough for Hudson to loosen his grip and the man takes the chance to flee his captor, moving out of view of the camera once more.
I watch as Ashton appears in the frame next, walking straight up to the man still struggling against Elias. A light glints off the blade in his hand as he slices it across the man’s throat. My chest burns until I finally release the breath I had been holding in an audible gasp. Chills run down my spine. Unsure what to think or even feel as I watch the body crumble to the floor. Lifeless.
Both Elias and Ashton turn back to where they came from and start to rush back that way, just as Zaiden and the other man come partially in view. Zaiden rains punches against this guy’s back and head, beating him bloody.
Fuck.
The camera panes across and my eyes lock on Brielle. The man catches her by the hair, pulling her with him as Zaiden beats the shit out of him, too lost in his own rage to notice when Bri tucks her head and turns into the man’s body, taking him by surprise as she drives a knife into his chest.
His grip loosens in her hair as his body begins to sag forward. Zaiden never stops dealing blows as he rips his lifeless body away from Brielle.
Bri’s body starts visibly shaking as she brings her bloody hands up to her face. Zaiden steps into her, lifting her by the chin to look in her eyes. He says something to her. Something that makes her nod but we can’t hear.
He slowly strips her, throwing the blood stained clothes into a trash bag that Hudson comes back into the frame with. Hudson pulls a large sweatshirt over her body before lifting her up and carrying her out of view from the camera. The rest of the guys turn to Elias as he begins giving instructions.
