Page 177 of Theirs to Ruin

"I'm coming with you,” Ty said, following me.

I whirled on him, anger and frustration bubbling up. "Fuck you, Ty. For all I know, you caused this." I had no evidence, but I’d seen the dried tears on Camille’s face when I’d found her already sleeping. My gut screamed that something had gone down between them.

Sure enough, guilt flashed across his face, a look he quickly tried to mask, but it was enough to confirm my suspicions. "You fucker, what did you do?" I growled, closing the distance between us.

Ty's gaze darted away, unable to meet mine. "I gave her back the locket she left in Italy," he confessed.

My hands clenched into fists. "I bet that’s not all you did."

Ty scowled, finally meeting my gaze with defiance. "You’re right, but fighting me isn’t going to help. We have to get to her, and you're not leaving without me."

I stared him down, torn between the urgency to get to Camille and the need to beat Ty for whatever he’d done to hurt her.

Fuck it.

Camille needed me.

We jumped in my SUV and were soon speeding to campus. I’d bought this car the day I picked Camille up from the hospital. I pictured her fearful eyes, the way she'd looked at me, as though I was the enemy. I wished I’d done things differently. That I’d trusted my instinctive belief that she was innocent even in the face of cold logic and my family’s grief and suspicion.

I glanced at Ty. My voice cold, I said, "If you're the reason for any of this shit, you're going to regret it."

“Just get us to her.”

We were only five minutes away, but fear had me by the throat. Was she in danger? Was that why she’d been having a panic attack?

I grabbed my phone and dialed Dante’s phone number one handed. Thank the fuck he’d given it to me that night at the morgue. If he was on campus, he might be able to reach her first.

“Kage?”

"Camille's at her old dorm,” I said. “She's having a panic attack. Can you get to her?"

There was a short silence on the other end. "I’m already headed that way.”

I gripped the steering wheel tighter. "Did she call you, too?”

But Dante had already hung up. I threw the phone aside.

My knuckles whitened from gripping the steering wheel so hard, and my foot pressed on the gas. Every second felt like an eternity as I raced toward the one person who had completely turned my world upside down.

I slammed my hands on the steering wheel. “I can’t fucking lose her. I won’t.”

I glared at Ty, who looked at me silently, but I saw it in his eyes.

If anyone knew what losing Camille felt like, it was him. And even though he’d probably never admit it, we both knew the truth—that the loss of her, even if it had been of his own doing, had destroyed him.

Chapter 75

Camille

After leaving the dorm, I sucked in the cold air and paced, muttering “you’re okay, Kage is coming” over and over again. Thankfully, even though my heart still pounded like a drum, I felt the panic attack subsiding. My breaths came easier, but I was still devastated, still torturing myself about that note in Ava’s stash.

“Come on, Kage, where are you?” I searched for any sign of him. A group of students walked past and looked at me funny, and I could only imagine how wild-eyed I looked. Rattled, I went around to the side of the dorm building, away from prying eyes, but in a spot where I could keep a look out for Kage.

A couple of minutes passed just before I felt a shift in the air behind me.

I whirled around. My eyes met the cold gaze of a broad and muscled man wearing a ski mask.

He lunged and grabbed my arm. I immediately struck out at his vulnerable points: his eyes, throat, and groin. He let out a grunt of pain and staggered back, giving me an opening to slip out of his grip.

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