by Stella Rhys
“No, I need to leave New York and never come back.”
My sentence barely finished before Jackson was in front of me, eyes wild. “You’re not leaving me, Lara. The world already knows that we’re getting married.”
“So what? This isn’t about your ego, Jackson, or your friends finding out that I left you. It’s about the fact that you’re as good as a fucking criminal and I’ll never for a second want to spend the rest of my life with you again,” I hissed. But when I stepped to pass him, he blocked me.
“I want you, Lara. I don’t want anyone else. I gave you that ring, I announced to the world that you were mine. We’re going to get married, and that’s that.”
I’d never laughed with fury before but this moment was as good as any for that first. “No. No, Jackson. We’re not getting married and we never will. So on top of being a despicable monster, I guess you’re fucking insane if you really think you can tell me what to do.”
With that, I pushed past him and down the stairs, traveling faster than I ever had in a pair of heels. Shoving my passport into my purse, I made a beeline for the door. But as I waited for the elevator, I could hear Jackson returning calmly from upstairs. My back turned, I heard his footsteps – one by one, slow and ominous as they returned to me in no rush at all.
“Here,” he said, a sneer in his voice.
I heard the whoosh of something flying through the air. Following that came the sound of something hard and something soft dropping onto the floor. I told myself not to turn around but with dread pitting in my stomach, I spun on my heel.
When I saw it, my knees gave out. My nails scratched hardwood as my stomach lurched forward, my heartbeat thumping harder and harder till my insides rattled.
It was my shirt spattered in Gabrielle’s dried blood. Beside it was a little jump drive.
“It has her voicemail in it,” Jackson said casually, hands in his pockets as he looked down at the shirt, the jump drive, and me. “I had it in a safe.”
The room spun as I looked up at him. “You kept all this? Why – why would you do this?”
“I could ask you the same,” he said. “You think I’m the one with secrets but since the night that you saw me watching my little video with Gabrielle, you’ve been rash. Unpredictable. You have any idea how much you scared me when you came back covered in her blood? You told me you’d never been in a fight in your life but now you’re the kind of girl who comes home wearing some other girl’s blood? The fact that she was missing the next day was just… unreal to me. I mean how was I supposed to know what you were going to do next? Attack Audra, maybe? Or any other woman you saw me talk to?”
I crawled to my feet and backed up two steps. “You know I didn’t kill Gabrielle.”
“I don’t want to know, Lara. I’ve spent this summer wrestling back any thought that makes me wonder if my fiancée is a murderer.”
“Liar, you know I didn’t do it, I know you do!”
“I don’t, Lara,” Jackson shrugged casually. “But what I do know is that I have this shirt and that voicemail. And if I want, I can get security footage from our building. They’ll just dial is back to the night Gabby went missing and they’ll see you coming in a bloody mess.” His eyes flicked to my passport. “The fact that you want to flee the country right now is just the cherry on top of all this. Unless you want to live running from authorities for the rest of your life, I’d suggest you stay right fucking here where you belong.” Ambling over, Jackson tilted his head and cupped my chin, his ice blue eyes studying mine with amusement. “So what do you think now, babe? Do you still want to leave?”
Burning tears streamed down my cheeks as I stared up at him. I hated myself. I hated myself for Gabby and for the fact that Jackson had rendered me speechless, useless. Essentially his hostage.
“I’ll take that as a no,” Jackson murmured, leaning in to kiss me. When I shrunk away, he pressed me against the door. “Come on. Don’t be upset, baby,” he said gently, running his thumb over my cheek to wipe a tear. “Everything will be fine again soon. I’ll put all those things back in the safe where they belong and no one will ever find them. Unless you want them to. Do you?”
I was shaking so hard my jaw rattled in my skull. “No,” I finally managed my choked reply.
“I didn’t think so,” Jackson took my hand, slipping my engagement ring back onto my finger. He plucked the passport from my hands. “Now let’s just forget about this and talk about what I did with Audra and what you did with Sawyer, so we can go back to being normal again.” Holding my jaw, he pressed a rough kiss on my lips. “’Cause we’re going to go back to normal, babe. We’re always going to be us, baby. Everyone’s favorite couple, Jackson and Lara.”
To Be Continued…
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