Page 56 of Theirs to Ruin

“Thank you, Renee,” he said, reading her nametag. “For all the work you nurses do. You work tirelessly behind the scenes, seldom getting any credit or recognition.”

The nurse blushed at Kage’s words and she fluttered her lashes, but Kage turned his attention back to me, a glint of warning in his eyes. “You ready to go, Rebel?”

I studied him, taking in the weight of grief in his expression and the dark shadows under his eyes. Maybe he really did just want to talk.

“Okay,” I whispered, nodding my head.

He extended a hand. I stared at it, seeing that his knuckles were cut and scabbed over. I wanted to ask what happened, but also didn’t want to know if he’d taken out his grief on someone else. Or had he…?

“Your hand. Did you find who hurt Ava?”

His expression tightened and he shook his head, but offered no other explanation. Sighing, I took his hand. His grip was firm and warm as he helped me into the plush interior of the Range Rover and carefully locked my seat belt in place, just like he’d done at The Roost. Once I was settled, Kage closed the door and quickly moved to the driver's seat. As he began driving, I noticed that the knuckles of his other hand were also beaten up. I took a deep breath, bracing myself for what was to come.

"You've changed your car,” I said, my gaze flitting across the sleek dashboard and the high-tech controls.

“You just got out of the hospital. I wanted you to be comfortable.”

I blinked at him. “So, what? You borrowed this?”

His grip on the wheel tightened. “I bought it.”

I stared at him in shock. He’d spent over a hundred-thousand dollars on a car to pick up the girl who might have killed his sister? This guy made no sense to me. Was he trying to lull me into a false sense of security before he killed me?

“Where are we going, Kage?” I asked when he didn’t turn left like he should have.

“Where you're supposed to be. To campus.” His gaze never strayed from the road ahead. “We're taking a scenic detour, and while we do, you're going to talk. You can start with why you were looking for Ava the night of the lake party.” He turned and gave me a look so cold it chilled me to my bones. “And do not even think about lying to me, Camille.”

Chapter 24

Kage

My grip on the steering wheel tightened, my knuckles going white. I felt the weight of Camille's gaze, the fear in her eyes heightening at my words. Fuck, I hadn’t meant for that to sound so threatening. I just wanted to know what happened to my sister that night and right now, Camille was the only one who could help with that.

Every rumor, every piece of info I had pieced together about the night of my sister’s death pointed toward Camille being Ava’s killer. The fight they’d had. The way Camille was asking around, searching for Ava at the lake. Mia's account that she’d told Camille she’d seen Ava heading upriver. But I couldn’t accept it.

It was too easy. Too neat. There was a piece of the puzzle missing. I supposed it was possible that Camille hadn’t intended to hurt Ava, but things had turned violent or there’d been some kind of accident. But that didn’t feel right either.

"I saw Ava in our room before she left for the party at the lake," Camille began, her voice shaky. "I'd braced myself for the worst, especially after what happened.”

I nodded, the memory fresh in my mind, as was the fight I’d had with Ava afterward.

"But when she saw me, she wasn't angry,” Camille frowned. “She was happy, like she knew some big secret or something," she continued.

I frowned. That wasn’t what I'd expected to hear.

“Before she left for the party, I told her I wished she’d trusted me enough to tell me what went wrong with us.” Camille's voice lowered, the weight of the memory pressing down on her. “I swear that for a moment, Ava looked sad. She told me she’d taught me a great lesson about never trusting anyone. Then after she was gone, I discovered that something of mine was missing. Something very important to me. I thought she'd taken it, and that's why I went looking for her."

“What was it?” I asked. There was no mention of that in the police report.

“A-a keepsake from my mother,” Camille mumbled. “I went to the lake party and asked if anyone had seen her.”

“Mia told you she went up the river path.”

“Right.” Camille nodded. “So I went after her. As I neared the river, I saw her in the water. I jumped in and tried pulling her out but she wasn’t conscious, and the cold, the weight...” Her voice broke. “I couldn't save her.” A soft sob escaped her. “I’m sorry, Kage. Everything went dark."

Even though I’d read most of this in her statement to the police, it was different hearing it from her. She was there. She saw my sister. Her words, her raw emotion, the image she was painting, it all felt like a sledgehammer to my gut. The fact that she hadn’t told the police Ava had taken something of hers could have been an oversight, but what if it was more than that? It gave her a motive to hurt Ava.

“Go on,” I said quietly, knowing there was more.

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