Page 129 of Beautiful Cruelty

"Lacey, Iwantto trust you." Megan's voice drops lower as more eyes start looking at us. "But you can't be serious if you think that I believe you when you say that nothing is going on. The police are treating Nathan's death as a homicide. And you're being named as a person of interest."

My stomach plummets. "What? Why?"

"Caroline put out a missing person's report two and a half weeks ago. When the body washed up last week, they called her in to identify it." Megan sighs. "And she did, despite the advanced state of decomposition."

Ice spreads through my veins. "How did she do that?"

"She recognized him by a cluster of moles on his inner thigh. And then brought in a toothbrush he left at her place for a DNA match."

My stomach lurches. I know exactly which moles she means. A little triangle formation high up on his leg that used to make me laugh because it looked like a tiny face.

But it's the mention of the toothbrush that hurts me the most, and my hands start to shake.

Megan notices the way my hands are shaking and slowly reach forward to take my fingers into hers, trying to calm me.

But it's no use.

Anger and shock courses through me, and even though I should focus on the fact that I'm being named a person of interest in Nathan's death, all I can think about is how long he'd been cheating on me with Caroline.

How many nights had he spent with her for him to have a fucking toothbrush at her place? That asshole. That fucking asshole!

I'm fucking glad he's dead.

The savage thought tears through me, and it shames me as soon as it materializes in my head.

"What else did the police tell you?" I force myself to speak as evenly as I can. "Why amIbeing treated as a person of interest?"

"Caroline told the police that you trespassed into Nathan's office right before he disappeared." Megan's fingers tighten around mine. "She said you were screaming at him and threatening him."

That lying bitch!

The room spins, and I'm having a hard time drawing another breath. "I didn't—I foundthemtogether, Meg!Shewas the one?—"

"I know, Lacey. But she got to the police first." Megan nods. "And let's be real, you were fucking pissed that night."

"I was just?—"

"Angry? Hurt? Contemplating setting his car on fire?" Megan's eyes drill into mine. "Those were your exact words, Lace. You told me yourself that night."

"I didn't mean it literally!"

"I know you didn't." Megan cuts me off. "But Caroline is painting this picture of you as an obsessed and unstable ex-fiancée. She told them that Nathan tried to end the engagement two weeks before he disappeared. But you refused to take no for an answer. And then you started harassing him."

The world around me spins at the audacity of Caroline's lies.

How dare she! How fucking dare she!

"Also." she leans closer. "The police told me that one of your neighbors heard the sound of someone screaming for help in Nathan's apartment right around the night of his disappearance."

The memory of Vadim's hand over my mouth, and the way I tried to scream for help in Nathan's apartment flash through my mind.

"You know something, don't you?" She asks softly, eyes fraught with worry.

Slowly, despite myself, I nod.

"Lacey, what's really going on?" Megan squeezes my hand. "Please. Just tell me."

I pull my hand away from Megan's, and fidget with my coffee cup, avoiding Megan's concerned gaze across the table. The truth about Nathan burns in my throat more than my own need to clear my name from Caroline's accusations.

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