Page 37 of Ruthless God

“Bailey showed me a sketch of your dream home that you gave her.”

She nods, continuing to dig into her meal.

“I noticed my razor blades are gone. Did you forget to pack them?”

I noticed every little thing about Lyrical, and I paid attention to the faint scars that are on her arms and inner thighs that she uses makeup to cover up.

“You’re going to stop cutting yourself, so I threw them out. When did you start cutting yourself again?”

She pokes at her sweet potato and the maid pours her a glass of wine. “After Bailey’s death. You have no right to throw them away.”

“You’re not allowed to do it again. If you do it, then I’ll do it.” I take a swig of my beer.

She finally looks at me, her eyes flickering with surprise. “If I jump off a bridge, would you jump off one to?”

I might be pissed off at her, but I don’t want her to harm herself in any way.

“If it means keeping you safe and protecting you.”

“Why would you help me?”

“Because it’s my job as your future husband to take care of you.”

She grunts as she polishes her meal, then uses a napkin to wipe her mouth.

“Why do you have Bailey’s sketch journals?”

I went through her book bag right before I came in the dining room, and I saw on the GPS app she was at my parents’ house earlier.

“She had a boyfriend. I don’t know if she told you.”

No, she didn’t tell me because she knows how Dad and I would respond. She wasn’t allowed to have boyfriends because she was engaged to Tim. If she was caught dating another man, she would ruin our family image. Last year, she and Tim had their engagement ball.

“I never met him, but I think he was the one who drugged us.”

“You weren’t at the par—”

“We went to another party before we went to yours. It was a football party at a frat house.”

“Why the fuck were you two at a football party?”

“Bailey wanted to get out of the house. She was depressed about something.”

What was she depressed about?

I glance into her eyes, and I don’t think she’s lying. She really believes she was drugged.

“You think he drugged you two, but why would he drug you?”

“So he can make it look like the car accident was my fault. I want to show you something.” I get up from the stool and follow her, watching her ass sway in her pants. It makes me want to fuck it all over again. My dick hardens at the thought.

Once we walk into the bedroom, she goes to the walk-in closet and grabs a book from her book bag. She flips through it and shows me sketches of a man with his face blurred out. I realize it’s drawings of Bailey’s day-to-day events in her life. The pictures get more disturbing as she flips the pages. I stare at the sketch of a man slapping her, tying her up in some sort of basement.

Rage flows through me like a volcano.

“Bailey has schizophrenia. She hallucinated and saw things that weren’t there.”

She crinkles her nose and sets the book on the nightstand. “Yes, I know. But I can tell when she was hallucinating, plus shewas taking her medication religiously. She would blow off friend dates with me to hang out with him.”

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