Page 70 of Ruthless God

I use my fingers to close my nostrils, because it smells like cat piss and shit in here. The place is fucking dirty and moldy food lies on the table. I make my way to the living room, finding someone sitting on the recliner facing the opposite direction. I remove my gun from the back of my pants and aim it at him. Jameson does the same. When we walk in front of the chair, I find June’s mouth hanging open, a gigantic hole through his forehead. Maggots and flies feast on his rotting brain. He’s been sitting here for a while.

Slowly, I lift his shirt, and I see a snake tattoo with an X over it, just like in the picture Lyrical told me about. So he’s the one who was abusing my sister. He probably was hanging around Lyrical so he could kill her as well, which makes sense as to whythey were at a football party before they came to mine the night of the accident.

Rage fills me, so I shoot fresh bullets into his chest. I don’t care if he’s already dead, and now I feel like my revenge was robbed from me.

“Someone got to him before we did,” Jameson murmurs.

This sucks because I can’t torture him and figure out why he wanted Lyrical dead. Why did he have a hit on her? Lyrical believes he thought she knew too much about Bailey’s death. I glance around the room, and I spot a cat hissing at me. Shaking my head, I walk farther down the hallway, and I don’t know what I’m looking for, but I’m hoping to find some answers to my sister’s death.

“Snow, come back here. You want to see this,” Jameson shouts.

I follow his voice and I walk into a room with different computer screens and a file cabinet. Jameson shoots the cabinet open, and I grab a file and see pictures of different women and their information. This motherfucker was a stalker. I search through the files to see if my sister’s information is there, and I find it. I spot a few photos of her chained to the bed, ones where she’s giving a blow job while getting fucked in the ass, and I want to vomit.

When I flip the file open, it has a record of her abortion clinic, and how many men she has been with.

“He was Bailey’s boyfriend,” I tell Jameson.

He’s completely speechless, not knowing what to say, so he picks up a chair, tossing it against the wall. I suspected Jameson was in love with my sister. When she was alive, he often looked at her with love in his eyes. He wasn’t brave enough to voice his feelings because she was already promised to someone else, and if he had ever gotten close to her, I would have killed him.

Jameson breaks in to the computer and finds pictures of Lyrical, but there’s no evidence of a car accident. I check over and over again, searching through the files.

Maybe she was high on Molly and believed she saw someone. It’s okay if she was, but I need for her to admit it to herself. Sometimes, when people are traumatized, they don’t remember doing things and tend to block out certain memories or form false memories to cope.

When I tuck Bailey’s folder under my arm, we head outside, and I sit on the hood of the vehicle as Jameson grabs a gas can from the trunk of the SUV.

“I’m going to torch the place so it won’t leave any evidence we were here.” He disappears inside, and several seconds later, he rushes back outside. It’s a good thing June lives out in the middle of nowhere away from North Haven. My phone buzzes in my breast pocket and a message pops up from Lyrical.

Blue: We’re waiting for you. The photo shoot is about to start.

I almost forgot we have a photo shoot withVoguemagazine for our engagement.

Me: On my way.

I see red as I ball up my fist, digging my nails into my palm. I want my revenge, but whoever killed him must be seeking their own justice. Now, I feel defeated for not making June pay myself.

Thirty minutes later, Jameson drops me off at my parents’ mansion and I make my way to the backyard, seeing the camera crew setting up the equipment.

Lyrical looks gorgeous in her beautiful black dress and I watch as Nora speaks to Clemon. I spot my mother and father hugging each other. My father sees me and stomps my way.

“Where ha—”

“We need to talk. Now,” I snap.

The entire time I tried to tell him that Bailey had a boyfriend, but he didn’t listen. Sometimes my father lives in a bubble and refuses to acknowledge what others are going through.

“I don’t have time for your foolishness. Let’s take these damn pictures and ge—”

“Get the fuck out,” I yell at the camera crew. “We have to do this another day.”

“What has gotten into y—”

“I found Bailey’s boyfriend. He was killed,” I scream at my father’s face. I never raise my voice at him.

Everyone remains silent, and Lyrical comes up to me. I hug her tight.

“Let’s take this conversation inside,” Father demands.

We follow him to the living room, and I sit on the couch. Lyrical tries to sit next to me, but I place her on my lap instead. She looks sheepishly at her father.

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