Chapter 37
Chapter thirty-seven
Irush past Lexi and tackle Josh to the ground. His eyes widen in shock as he raises his hand in surrender. But it’s too late for him to beg for forgiveness.
Not after what he’s done to us.
To Capri.
To Lexi.
To me.
He’s just another man who thinks they can use and abuse the women of this world and get away with it because he has a famous family name with too much money to count.
I won’t let him plead his way through the system and throw cash at whoever can get him acquitted.
No longer will I let him toy with us.
The point of my stiletto comes down hard in the middle of Josh’s palm as we fall to the ground in a loud crash of body parts and shouts just as an alarm blares through the air. It stops almost as soon as it sounds, leaving a whining, high-pitched noise in my ears.
“Teagan!” Lexi cries, pulling at my midsection.
I glare at her.
“Don’t you dare defend him! Not after what he just admitted!” I tug the heel out of his palm and bring it above my head so I can hit him again.
Lexi grabs my wrist, stopping me mid-swing. “Bitch, are you stupid!” She yanks the heel out of my grip and throws my body aside. “I want a stab at him too!”
“No!” Josh shrieks, pushing her off of him before scrambling to his feet. He’s holding his injured hand like it’s the most precious thing in the world to him. “You’re both insane!”
Lexi stands next to me with my heel clutched tightly in her fist. I pull my other one off and do the same. How I tackled this man with one heel on and didn’t break my ankle, I’ll never know.
Maybe fate is a scorned woman, too.
I smile at the thought.
Josh sneers at me. “And what’s so funny? You think because you did this,” he waves his hand, “that it makes you this tough badass woman now? You’re the same gullible whore who spread your legs for me the first night we met. You are so desperate to be loved, Teagan. It’s pathetic.”
Lexi steps forward. “Do not talk to her that way,” she commands.
Josh’s sardonic laugh echoes throughout the room. “You’re just as sad and pathetic as her.”
The double doors behind Josh swing open. My heart drops when I realize it’s Lochlan. That means the entire security team must be coming in behind him. But to my surprise, it’s Lee and Capri.
Lexi laughs and cries next to me when Lochlan flashes her a grin. “Hi, lassie. Miss me?” She sprints into his arms. I don’t think I’ve ever seen her so happy or relieved to see a man before.
For Lexi’s sake, I really hope that his being with Lee and Capri means he’s actually not one of the bad guys. I might have to stab him, too, if he is.
Capri’s gaze is locked on Josh. Her body is quivering with what I think is fear and barely restrained anger. Her hands grip the gun in her hand so hard that her knuckles are bone white. Her jaw clenches and unclenches in waves as she stares him down with eyes that threaten nothing but danger.
Somehow, she didn’t know.
Something in me breathes a sigh of relief. I don’t know how I could have lived with myself if Capri had been knowingly keeping that from me while I was sharing a bed with him.
We all fell for the mask that hid that monstrous side underneath.
Lee is looking at us all in confusion, but he’s primarily focused on his wife’s livid expression at Josh. He steps between them, whether it’s to protect Josh from Capri’s fury or to protect his wife from doing something that might destroy her, I’m not sure.
Josh refuses to break eye contact with Capri. “Hello, again.” His lips turn into a devilish grin.
Capri chokes out a gasp. “I should kill you for what you did to me,” she finally says, her voice shaking with every word.
Josh pulls a napkin from the table and presses it to his injured hand.
“You don’t have it in you to commit cold-blooded murder, Capri.
If you did, you wouldn’t have let me take you so easily all those years ago.
You didn’t even try to fight back.” He starts to pace the length of the dining table as we all watch him.
“And my, how I enjoyed myself with you.” He winks at her and puckers his lips, blowing a kiss her way.
My stomach turns as acid creeps up my throat. How can Josh be so callous about what he’s done to her? To us?
Lee looks back at Capri, his eyes full of shock and pain. “It was him?” Tears slip down her cheeks, and she silently nods.
With a confused look, Lexi asks, “What is he talking about?”
My own insecurity has me momentarily glad when I realize Capri didn’t confide in Lexi about this massive secret either. But it breaks my heart to know she’s carried this alone for all this time.
Josh chuckles darkly. “Oh, Capri, you wound me. You really didn’t tell your friends about our little rendezvous together?”
“You raped me!” Capri screams.
“Call it what you want. We both know you enjoyed our time together.” Josh grins. “Otherwise, you wouldn’t have kept our daughter a secret all these years.”
Lee lets out a strangled groan as he looks at his wife.
“Does it hurt to know that she wanted a child after all, just not yours?” Josh mocks, tilting his head in Lee’s direction.
Everyone holds their breath when Lee walks over to Capri, and we all exhale when he places a gentle kiss against her forehead.
In that same breath, he tugs the gun from Capri’s hands before turning and shooting Josh in the chest.
Josh gasps as his body hits the floor. He coughs out one last, rasping breath. “You’re all dead now.” Then his body goes slack, blood pooling around him in a tidal wave of scarlet on the ancient tan rug.
The room erupts in chaos. Lochlan is laughing. Capri has fallen to the ground and is sobbing as Lexi runs to her side to console her. Lee is standing over Josh’s body.
He’s dead. He’s really dead. It can’t be that easy. We need to find a way out of here before Pierce finds us. The only thing I want to do is grab my friends and run.
Lexi and Capri are both screaming and pointing at me, but I can’t make out anything over the loud, piercing ringing in my skull.
“We need to get off this island,” I shout to the group. Someone taps on my shoulder from behind. When I turn, I’m met with a person in a mask. They pull the pin in the metal object they’re holding and throw it past me.
The room fills with gas, and I hit the floor the same way Josh’s body did moments ago, before everything goes black.
When I regain consciousness again, I find myself tied to a chair. Lexi and Capri are across from me, tied to their own chairs. Their eyes bore into my soul, and I feel nothing but undiluted terror for their safety.
I don’t know where Lee or Lochlan are, but I’m momentarily glad they are far from this.
We shouldn’t have come here.
We fell for this twisted trap like mice lured in with the promise of cheese.
We weren’t supposed to end up like this.
But I guess that’s what happens when you reach for the stars when you were only meant to admire them from afar.
They burn you.
Scald you.
Seared you into nothing but a flame of regret.
Much like the flame alight in the roaring fireplace before us.
Our captor walks back into the room with a duffel bag slung over his muscled shoulder.
Pierce’s mouth turns into a wicked smile as he takes the three of us in with his dark, amused eyes.
The duffel bag drops to the ground with a loud thunk, and he winks at me as he kneels to open it.
The sound of the zipper reverberates through the expansive study, making my insides quiver in fear.
A fear like one I’ve never known before.
One by one, he takes three items and places them at our feet.
A dagger.
A butcher knife.
And a pair of metal handcuffs.
“Come on, Teagan,” Pierce says with a sneer. “Choose which one of your friends gets to live.” He sweeps his arm towards Lexi and Capri as if it’s some sort of game.
But this isn’t a game to any of us.
This is our life. And possibly, our death.
I look over at my two best friends in the entire world and, with my eyes, I tell them how sorry I am for dragging us into this. My mouth is gagged, and my body bound by tape to the plush velvet teal chair.
We wouldn’t be here if I hadn’t trusted Josh—if we all hadn’t trusted him.
Tears trail down their beautiful faces as they shake their heads at me. It’s like they know I’m not solely responsible for this. We all tried, and we all failed. But at least Josh is dead. He will never hurt another woman again. I take solace in that as I meet Capri’s and Lexi’s stares.
This is how we die—together until the very end.
We shouldn’t have come here.
Pierce slaps me hard across the face, then pulls the tape from my mouth. The sticky fibers tear at my skin, leaving a stinging afterburn that matches the burn on my cheek. “Tick, tock, Teagan. We don’t have all day for you to decide.”
“Go to hell,” I answer, looking into his eyes with as much defiance as I can muster.
He clicks his tongue and turns away from me, walking toward the stash of weapons he’s brought. He picks up each one, scrutinizing it.
“Bring in the others,” he commands.
Lochlan, Lee, and a young girl I’ve never seen before are escorted in by Henry. He’s sporting a confident smile as he kicks the men to their knees before he leaves through the door they entered.
Capri instantly starts screaming through her gag, fighting against the binds, like a woman possessed. The girl starts crying, and that’s when I realize who she is. She must be Capri’s daughter.
Lochlan and Lee are both gagged and bound like us, but Capri’s daughter is mercifully left free.
Pierce holds his arm out to her. “Come here, Skye.” She looks around the room nervously before reluctantly going to his side. “Now, Skye. I have to ask you a crucial question. I need you to answer honestly.”
She bites her lip and looks down at her pink Converse. “Okay,” she mumbles.
“Which one of these fine people would you like to see die today?” Pierce asks, his voice full of mirth as he makes eye contact with each of us. Capri cries harder, shaking her head furiously. Lee and Lochlan are both yelling through their gags.
Skye shakes her head. “I don’t want anyone to die.” The tremor in her voice breaks my heart, but seeing Capri fall apart before my eyes is just as painful.
I look at my friends, and I realize I’ll do anything for them, even if it kills me.