Page 147 of On The Edge
Clearly demonstrating he’s not getting away from this untouched.
“What are you talking about?” Louis tries—and fails—to look at us with an innocent expression, but I see it. The flicker of fear.
“You’re fired. Effective immediately.” Reis snaps, moving his mask up so Louis can see his face. I follow suit, so does Adam.
“You don’t mean that. The show is meant to be starting, can’t leave the fans waiting. Come on, come on, we should go,” Louis argues quickly, standing like he’s going to escort us out of the room as if we’re teenagers being dismissed from the principal's office.
“Oh, we mean it. We should’ve parted ways the moment you started talking shit aboutour decisions. We should’ve kicked your ass to the curb the minute you talked poorly to her.” Adam spits at him angrily. “We should’ve beat your ass the moment you looked at her wrong. We won’t make that mistake again.”
“No, you won’t. Sheleft you, don’t you remember that?” Louis stupidly snaps back and I step closer, grabbing the collar of his shirt and yanking him to me.
“We found out what you said to her, the fucking lies you tainted her mind with.” My words come out clearer than Ithought they would, but icy and dark. I hope everyone can hear the restraint in my tone, like he’s one breath away from me knocking him out.
Louis' eyes widen slightly and that’s all the confirmation I need.
My fist connects with his jaw once, twice, three times, before I throw him to the floor and kick him in the middle.
“Wait!” His hand files out as if that one little gesture will stop me. “I did it for you guys! For the band! She was nothing but a distraction at best, and career ruining at worst. Please, understand.” There’s blood dripping from his nose. That should make me feel better, but it doesn’t. It’s not even close to what he deserves.
“That…” Reis takes a deep breath and his jaw clenches. “That was not your call to make. We told you what was happening not for business advice, but because she is our future. And you? You endangered that future,” Reis says darkly, stepping forward as we stand over the scared looking piece-of-shit.
“He’ll pay for it,” I say with a nod.
Reis steps on Louis' outstretched hand, pressing down harder than I thought he was capable of, but then again, I’ve never seen him brokenlike thisbefore. At least we know that Melody didn’t leave us willingly. She was hurt, manipulated, abandoned.
And Louis… he’s the cause for all of this pain.
“You will, do you understand me?” He presses harder, and Louis cries in pain trying to pull his hand from under Reis' boot. “Every single thing you love, every single thing you own, we’re coming for it all. You’ll never work in this industry again.”
Reis stomps on Louis' hand and he screams.
“Shut your mouth.” Adam leans down, landing a punch in Louis' mouth and making his head snap back. His head falls to the floor and Adam hits him again.
“Don’t knock him out, we need him to leave,” Reis orders, standing upright. I look down my nose at Louis. There was a time I respected the man. There was a time we took everything he said as gospel because he helped us so much. But we don’t need him anymore. We can’t trust him anymore. Not after a betrayal like this.
Adam’s fist stays raised like he’s trying to hold himself back from letting his fist fly.
“Get the hell out of here. If you so much as mention these injuries are from us, we’ll sue. If you so much as breathe Melody’s name again, we’ll make sure you’re buried. I want you todisappear.” Adam leans forward, his words dangerous and his tone deadly.
“And if I don’t?” Louis wheezes, his good hand coming up to wipe some of the blood from his nose.
“Then we’ll make sure youcan’t get upnext time,” I answer truthfully.
“How’d you find out?” Louis lays back on the ground.
“Doesn’t matter,” Markus shrugs. “But setting your background as the doctored text message/reminder you made was the final nail in your coffin.”
“I’ll need a flight home,” Louis says, his voice completely monotone and dead.
And that? That’s satisfying. He knows how we feel now.
Like everything we cared about, everything we loved, was ripped from us and now there’s only the ache.
I laugh darkly, slowly bending down so I’m face-to-face with him and shake my head.
“You think we’d pay for you to get out of our sight, when you forced her to find her way back to Haven alone?” My words are like a live wire, crackling with anger and electricity. “You think we’d help you in any way, after you took the one person we loveand made her think she was replaceable? You think we’d offer you any iota of convenience when you offered her none?”
Adam’s hands clench into fists again and I can practically feel the vibration in his chest. His need for justice. I know, because I feel it too.
