Page 63 of The Sweetest Revenge

"Trust me." His smile didn't reach his eyes. "Some questions are better left unasked."

I swallowed hard, remembering exactly who I was dealing with—not just Zaiden, but the entire Knight family and their empire of carefully buried secrets.

"Do you know how to tell if a brake line's been cut?"

"No, but I know someone who would. I'll call him and see if he can meet us there."

"Zaiden." My voice cracked on his name, and I hated myself for it. "This changes nothing between us. We find out who hurt Kacie, and then—" I forced steel into my spine, ice into my words. "I don't want to be your friend. We will work together this one time, but after that, I don't ever want to talk to you again."

His eyes softened in that dangerous way I remembered—the calm before the storm. "We can discuss that when this is over."

I shook my head. "There's nothing to discuss. You did exactly what you wanted to do. You wanted to humiliate me, to isolate me from not only my school but my friends and team, and you did. All for something I didn't do. I want nothing to do with you after this."

Holding my gaze for a long moment, he finally nodded. "Okay."

CHAPTER31

ZAIDEN

My boots sank deeper with each step, the ground soft from yesterday's rain. Stacks of crushed cars loomed on either side, their jagged edges catching the moonlight. Ariella's footsteps fell in perfect rhythm with mine, almost like she was afraid to let the distance between us grow.

A loose piece of metal creaked somewhere to our left. Ariella's breath caught. The sound of her stumbling closer was exactly what I'd been waiting for.

"How much further, Zaiden?" She quickened her pace, nearly stepping on my heels.

My lips curled into a grin. Ariella's fear was intoxicating. I'd always loved how scared she was of the dark, and that I was her safe spot. It wasn't Ariella's fear specifically that was intoxicating. It was how she held on to me when she was scared. It was how I made her feel safe. Even now, when I'd been the monster of her nightmares, she still trusted me to protect her.

"It's right up here." The brush of her fingers against mine sent a familiar jolt through my arm. She fell into step beside me, close enough that her shoulder bumped mine with each step. "My dad had them put it in the back so he wouldn't have to see it every time he came here."

Ariella's head swiveled left, then right. "It's really dark out here." Her voice had that slight tremor she always tried to hide.

My head lifted, taking in the glow of the full moon. "Don't worry, I'm the only big bad wolf out here." Glancing out of the corner of my eye to Ariella. Her fear of the dark was greater than her fear of me, and that piqued my curiosity. "Why are you scared of the dark anyway?"

"I'm not scared." Ariella lifted her chin, but her fingers twisted the hem of her shirt.

I cut her a look. "Seriously?" She said that like I'd never met her before, like I didn't know her better than, well, I'd bet on anyone.

"Even if it were true, why would I tell you anything?" She wrapped her arms around herself, creating a barrier between us. Her eyes were fixed on a point somewhere in the distance. "Like I would give you anything else you could use against me."

Fuck.

Blowing out a heavy breath, I stopped and twisted into her path, stopping her, and her spine stiffened. "I'm sorry for blaming you for Kacie's death."

"If you think that I'm going to forgive you?—"

"I don't."

"Then why are you apologizing?”

"Because—" I trailed off. I'd spent a year hating Ariella. I'd spent months planning how I was going to destroy her, only to find out it wasn't her fault. It was mine. If I'd listened to Ariella, to begin with, Kacie wouldn't have left the party that night upset. "Because I am sorry." My hands curled around her waist. "I blamed myself after Kacie died, and then when Sam pointed the finger at you, I didn't even need proof. I needed to blame you."

"Well," she shoved my hands off her, "that doesn't change the fact that you ruined my life."

"Did I, though?" The corner of my mouth lifted in that way I knew made her blood boil.

"What? Yes." Ariella's hands balled into fists at her sides. Her voice cracked between fury and something rawer. "You isolated me from my team, EJ won't even look at me, and you?—"

"I what, Ariella?" I hooked an arm around her waist, drawing her against me. Her pulse hammered where my fingers pressed against her skin, betraying everything her glare tried to deny. "I made your panties wet. I got rid of the dick that drugged you at the party."

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