Page 139 of Demise

She closes her eyes, letting out a deep breath before looking at Wesley once more.

“I believe you, but I don’t forgive you. Not right now.”

With that, she turns and heads up the stairs, phone pressed to her ear before the sound of a bedroom door slams shut. Liam takes a step like he’s gonna follow after her and I shake my head once. He gives me a sad nod as all eyes fall on Wesley once more.

“Well, well, well. What are we going to do with you now?” Vincent asks, an excited lilt to his tone.

“Nothing,” Ronan snaps.

I glare at him, screwing up my face as I do.

“He’s a fucking traitor. We should gut him out back like a pig,” I say.

Ronan shakes his head. “He didn’t betray us. He wasn’t truthful, but he never compromised Skyla’s safety. He made a mistake, but haven’t we all?” he asks, his eyes heavy on me until I look away. Then they move to Vincent, who also can’t stand the reminder. Finally, he comes to Liam, who shrugs his shoulders.

“I haven’t made any mistakes with Skyla. I’m the perfect boyfriend.”

I roll my eyes at that, and Vincent shakes his head as Ronan sighs.

“Wesley is not the enemy, Christopher is. The sooner we can agree on that, the sooner we can fucking destroy him.”

Chapter Forty Three

Skyla

“C’mon, c’mon. Pick up, pick up,” I mutter to myself as I pace my room.

It goes to voicemail again, so I hang up and re-dial. The third ring echoes in my ear when she answers.

“Skyla?”

“Why did you leave Salem so quickly?” I practically word vomit.

“What?” she asks like she just woke up.

“You left, almost immediately after that dinner at Asher’s dad’s house. What aren’t you telling me?”

The line goes quiet for a moment. I check to make sure the call didn’t drop, or she didn’t hang up. Nope, she’s there. She’s just silent.

“You calling me in a panic tells me you already have a suspicion,” she says numbly.

My throat tightens with emotion as I attempt to hold back my tears.

“How long?”

She’s quiet again. “For me, that was the first time. Your mother, though…she had it much worse.”

A sob rips out of me at that, and I cry. I hear Steph begin to cry through the phone, too.

“I’m so sorry, Steph! Why didn’t you tell me? I could have stopped them. The guys could have.”

“It was too late, Sky,” she cries. “I didn’t want to leave you there, I just…couldn’t be there for a second longer. I—”

“You don’t have to explain,” I say, pulling myself together as I take a ragged breath.

“How did you know?” she asks, sniffing loudly.

Sadness and pain is replaced by anger as I speak.

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