Page 124 of Chaos at Westbrook High

Callie’s eyes cut to Derek. When he drugged and kidnapped her, he told her it was Katherine’s idea to bring Callie here, that she was supposed to be his payment for keeping his mouth shut about the affair.

Derek’s gaze drops to the floor.

“But you became a liability the minute you married Damon,” Katherine goes on. “You’re in his way now. You’ll die right along with them. So will Levi.”

Callie’s nostrils flare as she looks back down at the phone. “How is he planning on doing it?”

“I want one more thing.”

Callie growls. “What?”

“When is my grandchild due?”

“What?”

“The baby, Callie,” Katherine says as if she’s stupid. “When is it going to be born?”

Callie stiffens. “I…I’m not pregnant, Katherine.”

Katherine sounds genuinely confused when she asks, “Then how did you get Damon to marry you?”

She didn’t get Damon to marry her. Damon asked her. Fuck that. Damon demanded it. He barely gave the girl a choice, though Callie would have done it either way because she’s madly in love with him.

But of course Katherine can’t comprehend that. She doesn’t know what love is. I’m pretty sure she’s incapable of feeling it. She couldn’t even love Callie, the daughter she was biologically programmed to love more than anything.

“Maybe you and I aren’t so different after all,” Katherine muses, getting it all wrong. “It’s just as well you’re not pregnant. With the blood running through your veins, you’d make a terrible mother.”

I tense every muscle in by body. Damon inches closer to the phone. Callie has to physically hold him back and clamp a hand over his mouth to stop him from saying anything. There are tears slipping down Callie’s face, but her voice doesn’t waver when she asks again, “How is Maverick planning on killing us?”

“Valerie’s, that little coffee shop you all seem to love so much. He’s planning on burning it down with all of you in it.”

“When?”

“Six days from now.”

I can tell Callie’s considering asking what he needs Derek for, but in order to do that, she’d have to tell Katherine what Freya told us last night. We can’t risk Maverick knowing we have her. If he knows we’re onto him, he might decide to change his plan.

“If you’re lying,” Callie warns, “I’ll make your life in there a living hell.”

“If I’m lying, you won’t live long enough to make that happen. Goodbye, daughter.”

The call ends, and Damon digs his fingers into the back of the other chair, launching it at the wall. We all stay very still for a few beats. When Callie moves to walk out, Damon blocks her path and begs, “Don’t. Please.”

She glares up at him, silently warning him with her eyes not to say another fucking word. He doesn’t. When she walks around him, he follows her, stopping in his tracks when I say, “Damon.”

His furious gaze flicks to me. The sneer he hits me with warns me to back down, but I don’t. I shake my head. He looks like he wants to throttle me.

“She’s my wife, Kai.”

“Then you should know what she needs,” I say softly. “It’s not you, brother. Not right now.”

Chapter 40

HAILEY

The first time I met Callie, I thought she was the coolest girl I’d ever seen. She walked into the coffee shop wearing that old, huge black hoodie, her long, dark hair a tangled mess, a ton of black eyeliner around her bloodshot eyes, and ordered a mocha latte and a chocolate croissant. She waited silently for her drink to be made, then sat on the couch in the corner with her back to the wall and pulled a book out. I couldn’t stop looking at her. I had the weirdest urge to go over and ask what she was reading, but I didn’t because she gave off those I’ll stab you in the eye with a stirring stick if you come near me vibes. I left her alone.

The next day, she came back. And she kept coming back. For weeks, she came in every day, sometimes twice a day, ordered the exact same thing, and read her books. Sometimes she studied or did her homework. She got a few looks from the high school and college crowds, but I wasn’t sure why at the time. She didn’t seem to care that people were staring at her. I liked that about her.

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