Chapter 70
CHAPTER SEVENTY
NICOLE
For the first time in a long time, I sat in front of Hannah’s grave, content with myself and my life. Usually, I came here and cried my eyes out because she wasn’t here with me anymore. But after Akio and I had started to get payback, I thought … she would be proud of me.
Violence was never the answer … until it was.
The coolness of the gravestone pressed gently against my cheek. A gust of bitter late fall and early winter air seared my face. I closed my eyes, finally at ease. We still had a shit ton to do, but we were making progress.
I was making progress.
My gaze drifted up to Akio, who stood a few feet away with his hands stuffed into his pockets. He stayed quiet, but offered me a small smile that had saved me more than he would ever even know.
A few weeks ago, I’d thought that the only way out was to either be killed or kill myself. But now, I realized that I had been so wrong. The only way out, the only way to truly ever stop this from happening to me and to someone else … was to become the predator and kill our prey.
Suddenly, the tranquil graveyard was shattered by my phone buzzing. I fumbled to retrieve it from my bag, to shut the damn thing off so I could finish catching up with Hannah, but when I saw the name on my phone, I froze.
My father.
Dad: WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOU?
Dad: GET HOME NOW.
Dad: WHERE DID YOU PUT MY RECORDING?
Dad: NICOLE, ANSWER ME.
Dad: I WILL COME FIND YOU AND PUNISH YOU IF YOU STOLE THEM.
Dad: I’LL FUCKING KILL YOU LIKE I KILLED HANNAH.
Dad: ANSWER ME.
My hands trembled as I tried to formulate a thought. But the memories of the past few weeks raced through my mind. He had found out that I’d stolen the video to show Kai and Poison, then erased it from his computer. He knew that … that it was me.
And now, he would really be out to get me.
“Nicole, what’s wrong?” Akio said, walking closer with his brows drawn together.
I swallowed hard, my voice quivering as I explained, “It’s my father, and he’s mad.”
Instead of texting Dad back—because there was no fucking way that I would do that, not after all he had done to me—I created a group chat with Poison to warn them that my father knew. They were the ones who had that recording. Not me anymore.
Me: My dad knows that the recording is gone.
I wasn’t risking Jo?o or Kai not seeing my message. I needed them all to know.
Kai texted back almost immediately.
Kai: Get somewhere safe with Akio.
Kai: We’ll release it now.
Kai: Shit is about to go down.
Fear gripped me right down to the very bone.
I stood to my feet and grabbed Akio’s hand. “Poison says we need to get somewhere safe and stay there tonight. Something big is happening.”
I’d omitted the fact that they were releasing the video. I hadn’t told Akio about that yet. If he knew, then he would want to help Poison do whatever the hell they were going to do.
Right now, I needed Akio to be safe and with me because I feared that Dad would hunt me down, and when he found me, he would kill me.