Page 80 of Hate Me

A single step inside had me pulling up short.

Something was different.

There, beneath the window, was a vibrant-blue painted wooden desk with a rolling chair that sparkled with blue and silver, just like my hair color. There was a big golden bow stuck on the back of the chair. And, there, on top of the desk was a shiny new laptop, lotuses that matched my tattoo almost exactly decorating the sleek silver lid.

That wasn’t all. Off to the side of the laptop, three vibrant-blue boxes were lined up neatly.

There was a note stuck to the top of each one.

Reading left to right, they were marked: From Bastian. From Caleb. From Caspian.

What was going on?

I hesitated for a moment before curiosity obviously got the best of me—as they’d no doubt intended. Damn, they were good. Too good.

I opened the first one labeled From Bastian.

I started when I found two raspberry cupcakes inside, the exact kind that were my absolute favorite. Beside them was a Ziploc bag full of blue rolled fondant balls.

“Oh my God,” I breathed.

Talk about tugging at the heartstrings. Staggering, considering I’d tried so hard to lock that down since I’d been here. Maybe my therapy sessions were bringing it out in me, making it possible to come out. Or, maybe it was a case of the longer I was here in this place, it was getting to me. All the memories that being here sparked, knowing they were within reach, all under the same roof with me.

My hands were shaking a little as I opened the second box labeled From Caleb.

I frowned as I found a NVME drive along with a USB cable inside. Curiosity sparked to a whole other level and before I could second guess it, I opened the laptop lid, finding it already on and ready to go. I plugged the drive into the cable, then inserted it.

There were two files inside and my breath hitched at their names.

Guardians at the Gates—Recovered.

Guardians of Gold Forge—In Progress.

I opened up the first one and in moments I was looking at my created video game in all its glory. I sucked in a breath. After the fire, I’d thought it had been lost forever. Yet, somehow, Caleb had managed to save it.

I opened the second one and then I was looking at a partially-coded portion of my sequel. I looked it over for several minutes, taking in how he’d run with my artwork and storyboard, all the notes and everything I’d had on it that he’d managed to bring into being with some ace coding. Next-level stuff.

I couldn’t believe it.

Emotion was clogging my throat by the time I opened Caspian’s box.

What were they doing to me?

I got yet another shock as I found my phone inside.

I pulled it out and it was already turned on and charged. He’d even left the SIM card inside. I scrolled through it for several moments and found everything exactly the same. It was even able to dial out, the internet was on, everything. I noted the text app was open and I looked to see that he’d responded to many texts from Jeremy.

Skylar: This is Caspian King. Skylar is well and safe. She’ll communicate with you herself soon. On my word. King.

Wow. He’d been incredibly diplomatic about that. Considering what they now knew about my relationship with Jeremy, that must have taken some restraint. And effort.

All of this had taken effort.

I set the phone down for a moment and took out the final thing inside the box—a white, unmarked envelope.

I opened it and pulled out many clippings from gossip and entertainment articles, as well as social media posts. I made my way through them, the shock of it all reaching a crescendo as I took in the headlines and scanned the subsequent articles too.

Prince of the City Finally Meets a Worthy Princess.

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