Page 32 of Crazy Rich Monsters (Necessary Evils 1)

The light of the party falls upon my body, casting a shadow onto the sand. Another shadow soon joins me. Unfortunately, it’s not some handsome prince returning a glass slipper I lost in my mad dash to escape. It’s a handsome devil with a death wish.

Nick reaches forward to grab my shoulder. For what reason? To comfort me? To force me to look into his eyes as he gloats? I brush his hand from my shoulder and head towards the sea. He rushes forward, spinning in a quick circle to block my path, and grabs me by both shoulders.

“Don’t touch me, Nick!” I break free from his grasp and march sideways along the shore. But he’s like a fucking dog with a bone and won’t let it go. He reaches once more. I twist on my feet, seething. “If you touch me again, I swear to God I will beat you to death.”

He’d probably enjoy that. Must love being abused on some level to stick around me. Must love being the victim as much as he loves being the abuser. From day to day, hour to hour, I can’t figure out which of the Calloways is the sickest of them all. It’s constantly changing with Nick, the mother, the father and the not-so-dearly departed Carter all momentarily taking the lead. As awful as Emily can be these days, she can’t hope to compete in the Wicked Olympics with the rest of her dastardly family. At her worst, she’s a rebellious teenager who really just needs someone to watch out for her.

That used to be my job, the self-appointed protector of the youngest Calloway child. Now Nick wants to pretend that he’s the protective brother that she needs. He’s anything but, a selfish man wrapped in selfish actions and motives derived from the nerves in the head of his dick.

“Do you really think I did that?” He cackles wildly. “Why in the fuck do you think I would want anyone seeing me fuck the girl that killed my own fucking brother?”

“I don’t know,” I scream, throwing my hands in the air. It’s my way of surrendering. If this is a game, I’m tapping out. “You didn’t seem to have a problem parading me around the fucking place as if I’m your newest, shiniest whore.”

He grinds his teeth together with one tooth splitting into the bottom of his lip. “I’m not the best person in the world–”

“You’re not even in the running,” I cut him off. “You’re a fucking monster.”

“I’m trying to make things right.”

“You burned my house down. You almost killed my mother.”

“You are impossible, you know that? You’re as wishy-washy as the ocean waves at high tide. Between the both of us, we both know that I did you a favor. You hate your mother when it’s convenient to the point that you wished for her to die. Now that you’re angry with me for something I didn’t do, you need something to grasp onto.” He’s talking with his hands now, his fingers dancing to the rhythm of his clattering jaw. “Pick a fucking lane, Addison.”

He’s an absolute madman. To stand before me and pretend that almost killing my mother was an act of kindness is so beyond disturbing that I begin to question the merits of his confession. He’s a monster, that’s certain, but adept monsters do their dirty work in the shadows. They don’t announce them in earshot of a hundred people, and they certainly don’t let the veil slip in front of their prey.

But I’m too exhausted to get to the bottom of anything except perhaps the ocean floor. The song and dance of attempting to leave in dramatic fashion only to be drawn back into the party is officially over.

“I’ll send you the check in the mail,” he says, bowing his head in a sign of defeat but if I know anything, I know that he’s not a quitter. “I need to go do damage control.”

He backs away slowly, slipping away into the shadows before turning and heading back into the party. This is the last time I’ll ever see him. I always knew I never should have come back to this place. The events of tonight only solidify that in my mind. It’s time I leave and this time, I’m never coming back.

My phone vibrates inside of my clutch. I consider not answering it or even checking to see who’s calling but curiosity always manages to kill the cat. I dig into the clutch but it’s too late and there’s a missed call from Paige. I hold the phone in my hand, nerves on fire, until a text message comes through.

And upon reading the message, I toss my phone into the sea as I let out a soft cry that almost sounds like a scream. My legs give out from under me, my body collapsing onto the sand.

Mother is awake.

It pains me to admit that perhaps Nick was right. Just as I finally committed myself to leaving the Hamptons, I’m pulled back in. Things would be better if she would have died because I’d finally be free. I exhale sharply as I look back up to the manor, locking eyes with the Calloway matriarch who stands on the dock watching me.

ChapterEighteen

NICK

Addison is onto me, onto the fact that I’m not exactly as evil as I need her to believe. That’s not to say I’m innocent. I’m the furthest thing from it. From the time I laid eyes on her, I knew that I wanted to have her, to destroy her.

The mission was simple. Fuck her until she sees the stars and then ruin her life without regard for the aftermath. She has taken so much from me and it’s fair if the scales of Karma should strike back at her. Still, there are limits to the levels of depravity anyone deserves and some people have taken things too far. I’m one of those people.

I’ve always been this way, at least for as long as I can remember. My memory is kind of hazy though. Anytime I try to remember anything further than a few years back, it causes strain as if my mind has tried to forget most things. Hell, sometimes I have a tendency to forget what I did yesterday.

I didn’t drag Addison to the family circus in order to embarrass her–and by extension, myself. And as much as I can carry the penchant of hating my parents sometimes, I didn’t bring her exclusively to rile their feathers. No, I dragged her to the Fire and Ice Ball to prove a point. Lately, things haven’t been adding up. It’s easier to see that something is amiss when I’m able to briefly step back from the mission of revenge. I’ve come to realize that I don’t know a thing about the day Carter died. I don’t know why she killed him. I don’t know how she got away with it. I don’t understand how she was allowed to get away with it by so many others. I don’t know why Emily seemingly covered for her, only to now appear to hate her as much as everyone else reasonably should.

The plan was three-fold. First, I would force her to lower her guard by attempting to help the situation regarding her mother. I swear it has nothing to do with a guilty conscious either. Fuck that. I have reasons for everything I do, and sympathy never factors into the equation. After she would lower her guard, I would make love to her. As usual, the animalistic side of me got the better of me and I fucked her like a dog. The last part of the plan was to have her there when my mother announced the charity for Carter. I thought that maybe I could study her face as Mother spoke, but any chance I had at getting to the bottom of things was destroyed by the sex tape that soon played after.

Not a chance in hell she’s ever trusted me before. Whoever filmed and played that tape has ensured that she’ll never trust me so long as we both live. I might as well kill her at this point because I won’t be getting shit out of her. Answers will have to come from elsewhere.

I smile to the attendant at the front of my father’s office. Her name is Carla and like most women named Carla, she’s a seductress. She’s too young to serve as the first point of contact between clients and my father but she has a pretty face and if she hasn’t already, she’ll be fucking her way to the top soon enough.

Poor Carla. She should run as far away from this place and this family as humanly possible, but she’s too young and too stupid to see the forest through the trees. She’s probably naïve enough to believe that my father gives a shit about her. Outside of her pretty face and tight pussy, she has nothing to offer a man of such stature.

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