Page 75 of Cruel Steps

Chaos erupted, and I stood frozen to the spot. I couldn’t get the image I’d seen through the windshield out of my head.

Wolfie.

CHAPTER

TWENTY-FIVE

EMERSON

Gasping, I awoke from a noise and clutched my pillow to my chest. It was pitch black in my room and eerily still. I laid motionless as I listened, searching for the sound that had awakened me. My eyes felt like sandpaper, and my cheeks were stained dry with tears. It had been a long time since I’d cried myself to sleep. But after dealing with Hope, I had nothing left, and I’d come home and crashed. I barely remembered texting with Colter.

My heart hurt at the reminder. How had everything gone to shit so quickly?

Sighing, I sat up when I heard nothing and reached for the lamp on my nightstand. My phone sat on top, but I’d turned it off after blocking him. I couldn’t deal with any more texts.

Regret for sending the article filled me, and my gut sank. When I’d told Cody my idea, he’d been on board and had helped me find studies to support our claims. He’d told me about BlackDiamond and how they could get the evidence from high school. I didn’t know how they’d obtained it or even how they got my story into the Hayward Chronicle, but it was probably best I didn’t. Plausible deniability and all that.

The confidence I felt while writing, and then submitting it after our faceoff, had long evaporated, and I hated that I’d let Hope steal something else from me.

One day at a time.

Checking the time, I frowned. It was past midnight. Someone should be home by now. I didn’t know if I was relieved or saddened that no one had come by to check on me. I guess it was the answer I needed.

It hadn’t been real. No one cares.

Climbing out of bed, I stood and turned toward the bathroom.

“Going somewhere?”

“What the hell!” I screamed, jumping and clutching my chest.

Holden sat on the floor, leaning against the wall. His knees were bent, his arms lying across the top of them, and his hair was all askew. He looked distraught. I ran to him, forgetting everything Hope had said. Dropping to my knees, I hovered over him and looked for an injury.

“Holden, what happened?” I whispered. He didn’t seem injured, but the look on his face made my breath catch.

“Why did you do it?”

I reared back. “What?”

“You promised, Emerson.”

Blood pounded in my ears, and the room spun. I swallowed, urging the words to come. “I had to, Holden. I couldn’t keep hiding.”

His aquamarine eyes hardened, and I reared back. They were full of loathing. Even when I thought he’d hated me, they’d never looked like this.

“It’s all your fault,” he accused.

Tears filled my eyes, and I scooted back more. “I, I, I don’t understand,” I whispered.

“Hope’s in the hospital.”

“What?” My mouth dropped open.

The cruelty I was more familiar seeing from his sister covered his handsome face. “You got what you wanted. Hope’s been dethroned and now she’ll be lucky to walk again. You win, Emerson.” Holden stood, staring down at me on the floor. “All I asked was for you to keep your promise, but you couldn’t even do that. We’re done. Don’t talk to me. Don’t look at me. Don’t even be in the same room as me. I can’t stand to look at you.”

He walked out, leaving me gasping on the floor as my heart slowly bled out.

I always believed Hope made the killing blow long ago, but I’d been wrong.

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