Page 37 of Cruel Charming Psychos (Necessary Evils 2)

Emily doesn’t know that she’s walking into an intervention. I have no expectation that she’s going to handle it well, but it’s important that she knows she has the support of the family. That’s increasingly looking like it’s not going to happen. “Emily is on her way, so you better start making sense right now.”

Mother rises to join her bastard husband at his side. “If she’s going to come in here and tell lies about our son, then it’s best if she doesn’t show up at all.”

“She’s not coming here to tell you anything. She thinks this is a meeting that she has to attend because of her trust. She doesn’t even know that I know.”

“And how do you know?”

I pass a quick glance to Addison and come to regret it immediately. Mother and father’s eyes trail to her too and meet hers accusingly and with venom.

“You can’t be serious,” Mother scoffs, and then her eyes are laser-focused on Addison, burning with a fiery rage. “You have done enough this to family. It’s time that you leave or you might find yourself disappearing.”

“Is that a threat?” Addison steps forward, meeting Mother halfway. “Your daughter is on a downward spiral, and you are pissed at the messengers for telling you what you should have realized a long time ago.”

“Listen here you ungrateful bitch-”

“Do not speak to my fiancé with that tone,” I scowl, not realizing until it’s too late what I’ve done. I’ve just spilled the beans on our fake engagement and the cat can’t be put back into the bag. Thankfully, nobody seems to latch onto what I said.

“Or what?” Mother steps closer. Neither woman is afraid of the other, but they both should be very afraid. When ice meets ice, it doesn’t get colder. It combusts in a fiery explosion, destroying everything within proximity. Mother straightens herself and exhales coolly, and then… She slaps Addison right in the face.

Instincts take over and I lunge forward, throwing myself between the woman that I’m stupidly falling for and the woman that I used to love. “If you ever lay your hands on my fiancé again, you will never see me again.”

“Oh Nick,” she coos, “Please don’t make any promises that you don’t intend to keep.”

Father looks to me, eyes narrowed. “Fiance?”

“You heard what I said.” I swallow a nervous lump in my throat. This isn’t the way I intended for the news of our not-so-real engagement to be revealed. I place an arm against Addison’s chest and nudge her backwards, away from the lion’s den. There’s no telling what either of them will do. This was literally the worst-case scenario for telling them. “You cannot control your kids forever. You should know that better than anyone else because if you could control Carter, then maybe he wouldn’t be dead.”

“What’s going on?” Emily questions from behind.

We all turn to look at her, almost in slow motion.

ChapterSeventeen

ADDISON

I don’t think anyone knows what to say in moments like this. Not the people that know the truth and certainly not the people that don’t believe the truth. In fact, I would wager that one of the two assholes that call themselves parents will be the first to say anything at all, and when they do, they’ll say something stupid.

“What did I walk in on?” Emily questions, and by the look in her eyes, I have the feeling that she knows something is up. “Is nobody going to say anything?”

She’s dressed in a beautiful sundress. It’s not her style, at all. Unfortunately, over the years as a Callaway, she has learned to dress the part when need be. She knows that the only way to earn respect from her parents is to shed every bit of who she is to fit the mold of a perfect daughter. Unfortunately for her, she’s not here to have a talk about having her trust fund turned over to her like she believes. In retrospect, it was cruel leverage to get her here. It’s only going to make the sting of my betrayal all that much worse. To go from the high of believing that she’s finally free to being dragged back into the hell she has tried so hard to escape from. I understand why it’d be unforgivable. She will never talk to me again.

I try to find a way to warn her to temper her expectations without being the first to speak. It might seem selfish, but I think that if I’m not the one that brings it up first that somehow she will blame someone else for what’s about to happen.

The silence from the rest of us speaks volumes for anyone smart enough to listen. Emily just looks confused though, folding her hands behind her back as she sways nervously in her sundress. It takes father dearest shaking his head and exiting the room for her look of confusion to transform into something else. Something like concern or fear.

Mrs. Callaway lets out a heavy sigh and something passes over her as her demeanor changes in an instant. A look of concern hitches across her lying, bitchy lips as she approaches her daughter, wrapping one arm around her as she guides her to take a seat where her father had just left. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say that she possessed the bare minimum of motherly instincts, but Idoknow better. Everything is a façade of self-serving interest.

“We’re not here to talk about my inheritance, are we?” She looks to her mother, sinking in her own chair. “Not that I wouldn’t be here for any other reason. I just like having expectations met. You taught me that.”

“Sweetie,” Mother says as she brushes hair from Emily’s face. “That’s the least of our concerns right now.” She bats a devilish glare my way as if to paint me as the culprit of the gossip that’s about to spill from her lips. She knows exactly what she’s doing. She instinctively knows that this will ruin mine and Emily’srelationship and there’s no downside to that. She doesn’t have a care in the world about the damage this is going to do to her daughter. Emily is just another pawn in her sick game and the endgame involves running me out of town. “Addison here has just informed us of some very troubling news. I don’t believe it for a second, but if you tell me it's true, I’ll have no choice but to believe you.”

The hurt on Emily’s face tells me everything I need to know. She stares not into my soul, but right past me as if she’s staring into nothing. A purely blank expression that’s rife with confusion and rage. She knows exactly what her mother is talking about without needing elaboration. I can see it in her eyes, can see that she’s about to run. I recognize that look because it’s the same damn expression I see every time I look at myself in the mirror. I’m always thinking about running.

Run. Just fucking run, and that’s what she does.

She bolts from her seat, but instead of running out the front door like I expect her to, she runs out of the room and up the stairs. Her feet stomp against each wooden step until I hear a door slam shut.

“Shit,” Nick sighs, dragging his fist over his sweaty forehead. “This didn’t have to be this difficult.”

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