Page 178 of Kiss the Villain

Fear, I realize.

I’m scared I’ll never see Gareth again.

I’mterrifiedhe’ll be hurt because of me.

I’m shaking at the thought that his peaceful face this morning might have been the last time I saw him, or that the kiss I pressed to his forehead as he sighed in his sleep was the last time I touched him.My eyes fly over the texts Jethro sent. Screenshots of further texts Gareth received after the wedding video.

From Declan, no doubt.

They look happy, right? That’s because they were. Kayden and Cassandra Davenport. The envy-worthy couple.

That’s his real last name, by the way. Kayden Davenport. And he’s no college professor. Yeah, he studied law, but he never practiced. He’s actually one of the two heirs of Davenport Corp., the largest imports and exports corporation in the States.

Caysie and Kayden had a happy marriage until the senator they were dealing with wanted her. Senator Baltimore, have you heard of him? Anyway, he really tried his best to fuck her, and Caysie indulged his flirting, thinking she could keep a leash on him until the company signed the governmental contract. Then she dropped him after they had no use for him. He got mad, like all men with small dicks. Guess what happened next?

He invited her to a vacation house to discuss an upcoming project. He drugged and gang-raped her with his friends. They passed her around as if she was a fuck doll until she died. And then they dumped her in the river.

We wouldn’t have found her decomposed body if a maid hadn’t felt guilty and called Kayden two weeks later.

There was no evidence, so the justice system was useless. Kayden took it into his own hands to get her that justice.

Now, guess where you fit in this little tale, Gareth Carson?

For more information, let’s meet.

30

GARETH

The person who was texting me all that information about Kayden and his wife is a bulky bald man with a blond beard and bulging blue eyes.

An ugly dagger and roses tattoo slither from beneath the collar of his black shirt, up his neck and his bald head.

We’re in the location he gave me over the phone—near the beach, in front of a warehouse with a rusty roof and a door off its hinges.

The sea’s cold air seeps into my bones as I lean against Medusa, my blood slowly dripping onto the concrete. I wrapped my wounds in a bandage earlier, when I decided I’m not dying yet. Not until I hear the entire story.

But I still messed up Medusa’s interior with all my blood.

She seems to take the hit whenever I fuck myself up because of a certain fucking?—

No.

I need to stay calm.

I can’t go through this if I’m not calm.

“Name’s Declan O’Connor,” he says in an Irish accent, toying with a toothpick between his teeth.

“Don’t give a fuck about your name.” My monotone voice sounds far away, as if I’m separated from my physical form and can only hear my words from underground.

“You probably should. I’m Caysie’s brother. Different mammies, though.”

Figures. He’s ugly as fuck compared to her.

Cassandra Davenport. Kayden’s wife.

He had a wife.

---