Page 93 of Stolen Love

I follow her back to the attic. We crowd around the safe. I input Dizzy’s birthday into the keypad and take a deep breath as I reach for the handle.

It doesn’t budge when I try to turn it. “What the hell?”

“What about your birthday?” Dizzy asks. “What if it’s both? Yours first because you’re older.”

“It’s worth a try.” I start again. My birthday and then hers. This time the door springs open to reveal a pile of papers bound together. I take them out. They’re weighty and wrapped in a buttery leather cover.

Taking a deep breath, I open it to the first page.

A racket starts and Dizzy’s eyes light up as she pulls out her phone and looks at the screen. “It looks like Alec is almost here.”

I hug the papers to my chest as I stand. “How are we going to handle him when he gets here?”

Chapter Forty-One

Ivy

Footsteps trudge over the gravel and up onto the wraparound porch. It’s followed by the heavy rap of knuckles on the solid door. Alec came alone just like Dizzy told him to.

He still thinks she is Jackson. A man he met via a dark internet chat site where he shared how much he hated me. And how he tried to kill me. How he longed to finish the job.

Jackson offered to help Alec. He didn’t have a motive other than money for what he did to me. He sent Alec videos for weeks while my body fought to keep from succumbing to whatever he laced my tea with. Videos of me sleeping. Footage of Rogue and I being intimate.

I vomited when Dizzy told me how deeply Alec had infiltrated my life without raising any suspicion. I can’t think about it without feeling bile rise in the back of my throat.

I’m not entirely convinced that Dizzy isn’t right about taking his life. But I want justice more than I want revenge. I want his confession… loud and clear and on record. I want him to take responsibility. I want him to fear the dark and I want him to fear falling asleep. And I really want him to go to prison and become some monster’s pretty little bitch.

Dizzy smiles at me as she crosses to the door. She presses a finger to her lips and reaches for the handle.

I scream through the tape covering my mouth, but it’s muffled and nonsensical. I struggle against the tape that keeps me in my chair. It’s all performance at this point. My hands are free, and there is a knife taped to the underside of the table in front of me.

Dizzy opens the door. “Hey there. We’ve been waiting.”

“Perhaps I’ve come to the wrong place,” Alec says but then he catches sight of me and his eyes turn greedy. He enters the house, in his hand he totes a black sports bag. “I didn’t realize you would be… you.”

“A girl?” Dizzy puts her hand to her lips and giggles. “Or pretty.”

Alec gives her a cursory glance then his eyes narrow. “Haven’t I seen you before? Aren’t you her friend?”

“How else did you think I was going to get close enough to take those videos that you wanted?” Dizzy walks into the room with him.

“That makes sense.” His shoulders ease down from his ears and his mouth twists in a frosty smile that chills me to the bone. “I brought the money we agreed on.”

“Great,” Dizzy says.

He hands her the bag. “It’s all there. You can count it if you want.”

“That’s okay. I trust you,” Dizzy says.

He’s no longer paying her any mind. He’s focused on me as he struts over to where I wait. “You don’t look too good, little sister. These past few weeks must have been hard on you.”

I flail as much as I can. Scream as loud as I can. It’s only partially an act now. He makes my flesh crawl and when he reaches out and grips my chin I flinch. My eyes burn too. But I’m no longer weak. And my eyes don’t burn with tears. It’s anger that courses through me, hot and consuming.

He is no longer the monster I cannot win against. Together Dizzy and I will bring him to his knees. We will break him. And I will enjoy watching him realize that he has been beaten.

“Don’t worry, I’ll put you out of your misery soon.” He caresses my cheek.

I cringe away from his touch, bile rising in my throat once more.

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