Chapter 36 - Juliet
JULIET
When I speak, my voice comes out low and lethal. “You ruined my life.”
“You ruined my love!” Roquel screams, jerking the gun at me as if she's ready to shoot me here and now. “Morpheus was so fucking infatuated, all he ever fucking talked about was how beautiful and smart you were.” She gags. “After that night that I let him have you—I thought, maybe, he’d see that you weren’t anything special.
That he’d finally realize you were just another slut prancing around, trying to get attention.
” She shakes her head, an expression of astonished confusion on her face.
“Instead… it was like he became even more obsessed. You bewitched him. I had to do something. I couldn’t lose him.”
“The embezzlement.” The words escape my throat, raw and empty.
She snorts and looks up once more, her confusion replaced by the twitching corner of her lips—a grin of satisfaction.
“Oh yes,” she says. “That was my idea. See, even if he couldn’t have you, Morpheus still wanted you.
” Her grin shifts into a snarl. “He wanted me to dress up in that ridiculous prep school uniform. I did. He wanted to call me by your name. I let him. I did everything for him. It hurt. I just wanted him to see me.”
My stomach twists, nausea roiling like storm waves.
“So, I convinced him that your parents were keeping you from him. If he just got rid of them, you’d be his.
He framed his best friend, ruined his reputation, got him arrested, and for a few short weeks, he was overwhelmingly happy.
You were in his house. You were his—of course, I wasn’t allowed to come over when you were there.
He wanted to play the white knight and take things slow—ease you into a relationship. ”
Vomit burns like lava in my throat, my stomach cramping with the need to spew it all out. I hold it back with nothing more than a force of will. “And the rest?” I prompt her, needing to hear it all. Needing to know the rest.
“Your mother was a thorn in his side, of course. She was suspicious of him—knew he was the only one with access to the business accounts aside from her,” Roquel replies. “I had to help him get rid of her too. Get her out of the way, so to speak.”
“You’re lying,” Lex snaps, jolting forward before he recalls his injury and a grunt leaves him and his weight presses more fully against me.
I struggle to hold him up on the stupid heels I’m still wearing, but somehow manage to keep him from going back to his knees.
“Denise Donovan isn’t dead,” he finishes breathlessly.
“I didn’t say we killed her,” Roquel huffs.
“We threatened her and she left town. That was well enough. Thankfully, that was when you moved out.” Roquel turns her attention back to me.
“I thought I’d finally gotten lucky. You were sufficiently humiliated, everyone in town thought your father had ruined them, and you were hated. Morpheus couldn’t let you go, though.”
“So, you befriended me at school, to what?” I demand. “Keep tabs on me?”
“I had to. He was mine, Juliet. Mine. But he couldn’t stop wanting you. He wouldn't just let you go.”
Lex growls beside me, but I’m past hearing him.
“He thought once you were alone, once everything was ripped away, you’d crawl to him.” The air feels thick, suffocating.
“You surprised him,” she admits. “Me too, if I’m honest. I thought things would be easier when he was away from you.
I tried getting rid of you with Otis. Then the fucking fire.
When it was clear you wouldn’t come back to him on your own, he asked me for help.
He wanted to kidnap you—no one in town would give a shit about the daughter of the man who ruined them.
” I don’t flinch, but my chest burns with renewed hurt and irritation.
“I set things up, called a few friends of my parents—they don’t just deliver regular goods, you know,” she tells me. “They work for all sorts of people, delivering interesting products that your boys might know about…”
“The caskets of cocaine?” Lex’s voice is sharp, thready, and I glance up, frowning when I see the sweat glistening on his temple and the pallor of his skin.
I look down further and realize there’s blood on the pale fabric of my dress.
Where his leg has pressed against mine, there’s blood leaking all the way to his feet.
Roquel’s witch-like cackle brings me back around.
“Yup.” She pops the word from her lips with a giddy little smile.
“It’s a small world—anyway, I set up the kidnapping and when she was with them, I called to change the deal.
They were supposed to kill you. All on Morpheus’ dime—served him right for being so obsessed. ”
Her smile falls. My body goes still.
She takes a step forward, eyes wild, mouth twisting into something between laughter and tears. “And still, you slipped through my fingers.” Her words break, and the gun wavers again. “Do you know what it’s like to be haunted by someone who just won’t fucking die?”
My voice comes out soft, steady, and soaked in venom. A challenge. “Maybe you should find out.”
Her eyes widen a fraction. She tips her head, suspicion obvious in her gaze. “I think that’s enough explanations,” she deadpans. “Get away from him.”
“Or what?”
She shrugs, unbothered by my attitude. “I shoot him again.”
“Juliet…” Lex says as I pull my hand off his chest. He reaches out for it, but I shake him off and gently pry his arm off my shoulders. “Juliet, no—”
“It’s okay,” I tell him. Even if he hadn’t been able to get in touch with the guys, they’ll come looking for us if no one shows up to the meeting place. They’ll know we’re in danger if they can’t get hold of us. I just need to stall a bit more.
“Baby, please—”
“I’d really listen to her, if you know what’s good for you, Alexio,” Roquel interrupts him. “Besides, it’s not like you actually give a shit about her.” She shakes her head. “Be real with me—you were just fucking her because you liked the challenge, didn’t you?”
She flicks a look to me, but I press my lips together and merely stare back. Her grin is triumphant, as if she’s hurt me. She can’t hurt me, though. Well, not my feelings anyway. That gun, however, can do a lot of damage.
“Is that what you think all guys are like?” Lex asks as he starts moving, shuffling his feet to the side, wincing as he limps and I walk a few feet in the opposite direction, towards the half-wall barrier surrounding the roof.
Roquel snorts. “Of course not,” she says. “Morpheus wasn’t like that.”
“It’s fine,” I say, forcing a false confidence into my tone. “She won’t shoot me.”
Roquel whips her attention to me and scowls. “I’ve got a gun, don’t I?” she argues.
“Yes, but that’s just to threaten us with,” I tell her, tilting my head to the side. “Isn’t it?” Her lips twitch, the corner tipping up for a split second before evening out. As if she wants to smile, but also doesn’t.
“Why do you think that?”
“Because I know you, Roquel.”
She blinks at my statement and then laughs.
An icy wind whips over the rooftop and the sound of music and cars honking in the distance plays into the night sky like a forgotten melody of someone else’s story.
My heart races against my breast as I stare back at Roquel’s dark eyes.
After several beats, she swipes an uneven lock of black hair from her face and smiles at me.
I don’t like that smile. It’s the same one that she’d given me the first day we met. The one that reminds me that I once confided in her. That we were friends. Now, she’s my potential murderer.
“I’ll give you that one, Jules,” she says, still chuckling. “That’s funny as hell. You’re saying you know me when I’m standing in front of you, planning to kill you?”
Lex is watching her, eyes wide and focused as she uses her gun hand to gesture about with her words. I silently plead for him to just remain where he is. He’s already been shot once and I won’t be able to fucking watch him get shot again.
“I do know you,” I insist, taking a step forward and capturing both hers and Lex’s attention. Lex looks at me as if I’ve lost my mind. Who knows, maybe I have.
“You’re not going to use that gun on me because then that would lead back to you,” I say.
“It’s not my gun,” she reminds me, smirking, “how could it lead to me?”
“Your fingerprints are on it.” I nod down to her bare hand holding the grip and her renewed amusement drops away. “You’ve gotten away with everything this far because you’re smart.” Smart enough, at least, to convince Morpheus to do all of her dirty work.
Roquel straightens, her shoulders coming down as her smile falls away.
“I do have one question, though…” I watch her and when she doesn’t say anything, I just go for it. “If you loved Morpheus so much, why did you kill him?”
The question comes out intending to shock her—and also as a guess. Her reaction tells me I’ve hit the mark.
Face reddening, Roquel stomps towards me as if she’s ready to pistol-whip me in the face. “That was your fault!” she shrieks.
“How was it my fault?” I flick a glance to Lex who’s looking between us and shifting on his one good leg. While Roquel’s entire focus is on me, his focus is on getting closer to her. To take her down? Yes, probably. To get the gun away? Most definitely. I just hope he can do it with his wound.
“If he’d just let you go, then everything would’ve been fine.
” Roquel grits out the words through clenched teeth.
Her knuckles turn white with how hard she’s gripping the gun.
It almost makes me second-guess my assumption that she won’t actually use it.
Even if using it isn’t her intention, it’s still there. A threat.