Page 212 of Bona Fide

“Overdose at a party we were at. Thing was...she wanted to stop. Her twin sister Phoebe did, but Camila was a weak little shit who—” My hand comes across her face, a stinging feeling following afterwards in my palm.

“You sick fucking bitch.”

“Keep going,” Bishop urges her, meeting my gaze. Tears sting my eyes, but I let them come. I don’t have to prove anything to Demi nor do I care what she thinks of me. I’m just shattering into a million pieces for everything I’ve done to him.

And now all this.

“Are you sure you can handle it?” Demi challenges through narrowed eyes. “It gets even more fun.”

Marty’s hand finds my back, and I reply, “Bring it, fucker.”

“Lucas Lockwood…” She lets out a sharp gasp and cowers over. A broken whimper escapes her lips, and Demi is done holding back how much torment she’s in.

“Who is Lucas?” I ask.

“Wade’s younger brother,” Marty replies. “He was set up to screw a teenage girl that Demi planted on him with a fake ID. Videotaped the whole thing. Then she kept sending underaged girls to his house, his job, everywhere. Moral of his story was to keep his fucking ass quiet because he read Camila’s diary, knew Demi was forcing her to do shit she didn’t want to do.”

“But you can relate to such evidence, can’t you, Rea Rea?” I watch Demi start to convulse in her chair. Her body shutting down from the pain. “Shit like that...destroys you. It’d incinerate Wade’s career and everything he worked for. The scandal...that took down the Lockwood legacy.”

“If they got taken down, what would you benefit from it?”

She shrugs weakly. “Besides the adrenaline rush and the fact that Phoebe, Camila, and Lucas would never bring their big brother down—nothing. I knew I’d win. I have won. Then you came around...the woman who wanted to push him over the brink. To give him the ammo he didn’t have before to push me off the train to glory and bring you on. Tell me...what did you do to make him loathe you for over a year?”

“I had his heart,” I vouch.

“So did I.”

“And his soul. You lost that when you betrayed his trust more than likely with the calling wolf bullshit about the rape. I bet he never fully trusted you after that.”

“Still married me, didn’t he?”

“Probably thought you’d change.”

“Bad mistake.”

I perk a brow. “Sure about that? Look where you are.”

“I won’t die.” She tsks. “The Russians will be here any minute.” Marty and Bishop laugh again.

“You mean the two motherfuckers we killed thirty minutes ago? They were really stealthy.”

“And there’s four more on their way,” Marty adds, reaching for my hand. “Guess we’ll see if they’ll at least make it a challenge.”

He gives me a tug, alluding for me to follow him, and I do—zombie-like with my head spinning around at full speed.

“Remember where to keep the burn marks,” my brother tells Bishop. “Forensics will be all over that.”

A moment later, I’m through the house and by the kitchen island, holding on to the marble countertop for support.

“Stay here,” Marty orders, then comes back with two shot glasses and a bottle of tequila. He pours them to the brim, and I immediately shoot mine back.

Another refill and I do the same thing.

“Slow down, Tsarina. I know...that was hard, but you needed to hear it.”

“Did you know?” I trail my face to his. “Did you always know about Wade?” He presses his lips together, and his nostrils expand before he nods.

“Not when it all happened, I wasn’t assigned to Lockwood until Demi came back into the picture last year.” He downs his shot then slams the glass back on the counter. “Emmy was.”

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