Page 96 of My Brother's Best Friend

“I didn’t think you were part of it,” Nicole whispered to her.

All Piper could do was whimper beside me.

While I wanted to wrap my hands around her neck for fucking Alec up big time, I couldn’t bring myself to do it after what she had just admitted to me. I could barely even think straight, and I didn’t want to do something to her that I would come to regret.

“Get out of here,” I said through gritted teeth. “I never want to see you again.”

“You should punish me for what I’ve done,” Piper said.

I forced myself to turn away from her. “No.”

“Please,” she pleaded, her voice filled with desperation.

“You didn’t rape me. I shouldn’t choose your punishment.”

“Maddie,” Piper said, crawling closer to me, “please, I deserve it.”

“Leave!” I shouted through the tears.

After Piper ran out of the house, I glared at the open door for some long, tense moments with my hands balled into fists.How can she do this to me?To him?!And how can she live with herself day and night? How can she look me in the eye? Pretend like nothing happened?

“Maddie,” Alec whispered behind me.

I snapped out of it and looked over at him, tears streaming down my cheeks. Once I quickly pushed them away, I dropped to my knees and wrapped my arms around Alec’s shoulders, pulling tightly.

“Don’t you ever run out on me again,” I cried into the crook of his neck. “Don’t leave me.”

“I’m sorry,” he whispered, lips trembling.

I pulled back slightly and took his face in my hands. “Don’t apologize.”

“I-it almost happened again,” he whispered. “I wouldn’t have forgiven myself.”

“It’s not your fault,” I reassured.

“B-but s-she’s your best friend,” he said. “How could I have lived with myself if she had done it again? Spencer was going to send you a video. He was going to use it against me to break you, and I couldn’t do anything about it.”

“Shh. Shh. Shh.”

And while I tried to soothe him, he broke down and sobbed uncontrollably. “I’m sorry.”

“Here,” Vera said, handing me a knife that she must’ve found in the kitchen. “I couldn’t untie Blaise’s binds, so I had to cut through them. You should take them off Alec before he loses circulation. Blaise’s were tight.”

I gripped the knife and crawled behind Alec to cut through the ropes, watching each thread break one by one. My heart was pounding so hard inside my chest that I could hear it in my ears. I didn’t know what a panic attack felt like, but this had to be close to it.

When his restraints were released, Alec wrapped his arms around me and pulled me onto his lap. “God, I don’t know what I would do without you, Maddie. I love you with everything that I have left.”

CHAPTER60

ALEC

“Can you cut these ropes?” Oliver asked Maddie.

She scowled at him. “Why? So you can run off again?”

“I’m not going to leave,” he said.

“Like you did?—”

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