After leaving Track I went back upstairs to where Sian was sleeping. Instead of joining her, I went out on the balcony and sat for the next few hours, deep in thought; then I went and woke my dad.In the morning I was up and ready for school before she was. I laid out her medicine while she was in the shower and got her clothes ready after seeing about her breakfast.She came out of the shower a little while later still rubbing the towel over her hair. "Jace, why are you dressed like that? You have some sort of meeting or something?"She laughed before heading back into the bathroom to dry her hair. I smiled wanly behind her back before heading back downstairs.Dad was sitting at the kitchen island sipping his morning coffee. He looked up when I walked in and I saw the sadness in his eyes. "You sure about this son? I can take care of..."I held up my hand to stop him. "I told you last night, this is the way it has to be. Thank you for giving me the last few years I'm forever
"I don't want you to be worried about anything okay." She nodded her head but I knew she didn't understand shit. How could she? I'm about to become someone else in her eyes.Once I was sure all the kids were inside I took her hand in mine and headed for the auditorium. The teachers were trying to calm the kids down as we walked in.I headed for the podium with her hand held firmly in mine. "QUIET!" The noise level died down at my shouted order and all eyes turned my way."I'm going to make this short, pay close attention. I want you all to take a look at the man in the portrait on the wall."I waited until everyone had turned their attention to the portrait before looking back at me. I could feel Sian's hand tremble in mine and squeezed it gently to calm her."Some of you may not be aware of this, but this school belongs to the Sanders Group. My grandfather, the man in the portrait, built it for the children of the Hollywood set years ago.""It's funded, owned, and ran by t
To be expelled would carry a stigma that will follow them for the rest of their lives. It was only the first shot I planned to take at her."If the cops can't tie her to the attack or the explosion, I'll find a way to, because I know it was her doing." "As to Stanley, I already have people looking for him. He's nowhere to be found which means he might've left the city already. If I put the squeeze on his dad he'd have no choice but to come out of hiding though.""What do you mean put the squeeze on him? What are you going to do?""Shut him down." I walked away without giving them anymore.They're my friends but they don't carry the same burdens as I. I stayed up most of the night thinking about what I should do and this was the only thing that made sense.It's because of my lax behavior that things had gone this far, that people like Mandy and Stanley thought they could fuck with my girl and get away with it.It's because I'd made myself just one of the crowd that people
I just know that one-day we were fine and the next, it was as if I'd never existed for him. Seriously, that's how he did it. He didn't even have the decency to tell me we were over.I saw him one night for dinner, and the next day when I ran into him, running to his side all smiles and genuinely excited to see him, he'd looked right through me. I've never been treated so coldly in my life by anyone, not even when I was nothing more than the daughter of a prostitute. His behavior had cut deep. It's a wound that still has yet to heal.As hard as I wracked my brain then and now, I still can't figure it out. It wasn't possible that he could've found out about my little side action. That had nothing to do with us, those men that I was using had been in the picture long before he and I became a thing.They were just the backup I needed just in case. There's nothing wrong with that is there? After all, I'd suffered enough loss and disappointment in life to know you always need to hav
I'll never forgive her for this, for doing this to him. I'm not sure at this point what I'm more pissed about. What she said to my wife, or what she just did to my friend. It doesn't matter that I'd tried to warn him. That shit was moot.It mattered that she'd fucked with him ever since, like he didn't have the right to move the fuck on. I never asked what made him come to his senses, but I've had the whole night to think after getting back to my girl.As usual her old man was out of town and I stayed the night at her place. Soon I'll be able to take her home with me. It won't be long now before everyone notices the ring on her finger anyway. My only problem is having to leave her again once I got her settled.After I'd left Jace the night before I headed right to her place. There are times when I miss her so bad I can feel that shit in my gut. Last night was one of those times. Not only because of her little run-in with that snipe, but because of what I'd seen in my friend's eye
I hurried to class feeling happier than I had in a long time while walking these halls. For the past year or so life has been hell. Having to come here each day and see her, knowing what she'd done, and so much more. It was getting harder and harder to face coming here.I don't know what I would've done had Sian and her family not moved here. Or had she and Jace not become a couple. It was only my association with them that had saved me, and my sanity I'm sure.Now Jace had put the ultimate smack down on that horrible monster and I couldn't be happier. The only thing that would've been better is if she'd died...better not go there. It's been a while since I let myself remember that night. And even longer since I stopped worrying endlessly.I wanted to run and skip like the kid I once was but didn't want to give too much away. I already suspect that Sian and Jace know something about Mandy and my dad, and I've been avoiding them somewhat so as not to have that conversation. If I s
I now know what it means to slowly die inside. I was suffering a slow painful death as I stood there. There was a scream building inside me that I fought to contain, because I knew that if given release, it may go on forever. My head was near to exploding. It felt like any second now my world was going to implode. I was holding onto my resolve by a thread. Fighting hard not to give up hope, but the only thing I could possibly take away from what he'd just done, is that it was really over between us.If that wasn't bad enough and hard enough to take, the stupid wanna be kids who attend this shitty school all seemed to be applauding his announcement and some were even congratulating her; right in front of me, even though she was long gone. How fucking humiliating.When I get rid of that bitch I'm going to make everyone, anyone who even talked to her, pay. Through my anger I held onto a little bit of hope. No matter how things may look now, there's still a chance. As long as I'm br
If she had an enemy like that in this town it would be good to know who that person is. Maybe they'll try again, or maybe we can pool our resources. Just goes to show, if whoever it is was willing to go to those lengths, then there's someone else who hates her almost as much as I do.None of that answered the question of what Jace was up to with that little speech he gave. For the first time in a long while I was unsure of something. And the one thing I wanted, no needed most, seemed to be slipping out of my grasp.Could it be that Jace was really done with me? That he wanted nothing more to do with me like he'd said? Have I been lying to myself all this time? Was it really over before we'd even really started?But he was supposed to be my ticket out. He was supposed to be the man I marry and live the life that was meant for me. I'm beautiful, smart and men bend over backwards to get me into their bed. So why is he so different?Why did he have to be the only one who seemed to
They looked around the room at each other until Logan nodded his head. I guess that was the go ahead because Mancini took point again."What we're about to share with you doesn't leave this room. We've come together along with some other friends that you didn't get to meet this time, to form a kind of group if you will.""Each of us serves a purpose in this group. It's also top secret, which you should understand." He looked at Track and I moved to stand in front of him. "It's okay Jace, he knows.""I'm not working for the government, no disrespect." I looked at the SEALs. The men in the room started to smile. I wasn't sure what the fuck they were, but it wasn't hard to tell that they were something. What with the compound that was more secure that the Pentagon."That's not who we are. What we propose, if we all agree is that you boys become part of our elite group. We'll fill you in on all the pertinent details a little later once you get on board. If not we can stop this lit
I just held her and let her get it out, knowing that she'd be right as rain in no time. "Come on baby, let's get you dried and dressed." I turned off the water and lifted her to take her out of the shower."Jace, do you ever regret marrying me?" I want to answer this shit for the one hundredth time. What is it with women? The guys were all complaining about the same thing, except for Alex who was always smiling these days, the fuck."Sian, just like I told you yesterday and the day before that, even if I live to be a hundred, I won't ever regret the best decision I ever made.""But we're so young." I rolled my eyes and dried her feet that she couldn't hardly see anymore. "Does that mean that you regret it because you're younger than I am?"That one always stumps her but she still asks the same damn question over and over. So I knew what was coming next. "But it's not the same for men.""That's not sexist or anything. I should start worrying as often as you ask me that. Maybe
Not scared like a punk, more like amazed at the shit these fucks can get up to. So when he so casually mentioned something that he should have no knowledge of, I got the sense there was much more left unsaid. I'm sure a man of his caliber wasn't just wasting his time on some kid that he didn't even know."I sense a catch.""No catch, I just think you're wasted on those fucknuts is all. Anytime you're ready give me a ring." He'd rang off after that but there was no mistaking the smile in his voice. I'm pretty sure he knew that I was going to look into him.And that was my reason for being hesitant about taking Jace with me. I'd got a glimpse of where those SEALs live and I have the feeling that shit would only give Jace ideas. He was already making noise about building a place like the one on the island where we all could live. The kid's a damn hippie at heart.***JACE***"Track wants us to go to Georgia to meet his sister. We're going this weekend if you're not too sick
I didn't feel shit when I put pressure on his neck. Everything was happening so fast. Sian was screaming, finally giving into the fear and Track was trying to talk me down."I told you not to touch her you fuck. Did you forget?" I tightened my arm around his neck, adding just the right amount of pressure and barely restrained myself from doing more "I'm going to break your fucking neck.""Jace no, let him go, he's not worth it." I ignored Track and twisted my arm quick, snapping Stanley's neck. "Call the cops.""Fuck Jace! What the fuck did I say?""Call the cops.""No, let me think let me clean this up. Shane, Alex bar the door make sure no one gets by..." I hadn't even heard the others rush in behind me. But turned to see them now with horror in their eyes. "He's not dead Track his neck's just broken. Call the cops." I dropped Stanley on the floor just as the men who were supposed to be watching the school came through the door."What took you guys so long?""He didn
For now, it was fine. For the next nine months I knew she was going to keep me on my toes. We had an appointment with the best Obstetrician of course, who'd been vetted to within an inch of her life before I agreed.I was trying to make it so that she only had to worry about school and giving birth, other than that I was there to pick up the slack. I had the fridge in our suite stocked with all the things she's been asking for lately and hoping for smooth sailing.I was getting used to waking up with her in the morning to hold her hair while she threw up. Then her horny ass would need a fix on the bathroom floor after a quick nap.Other than that, there was no sign that her tiny ass was even pregnant. Of course she's decided that she can get away with shit now, because I can't fix her ass, but I have other ways of keeping her ass in line.That Monday as soon as we'd reached the school yard the whispers started. It wasn't long before we heard the whole story of Mandy being dropp
Mom came down with a tray of something in her hands instead of letting one of the servants do it."Hey mom, how come you're doing this yourself?""I don't know. We didn't go to the shelter this year because we've invited everyone, so I guess I'm feeling a little bit guilty.""Didn't you donate all the food this year? I'm sure they don't mind us missing one year mom, we'll go for Xmas, and make everyone that's here today come with us.""Sounds good son. By the way, I'm going to let you off the hook for telling your dad before you told me.""Shit, mom...""It's okay, he explained. By the way her parents know so you two don't have to keep putting it off any longer.""How?""Veronica is a mother son. We both figured something was going on that day in the hospital.""Well, that's all good and well but Sian has decided she's never telling her dad. She doesn't want him to know she's having sex."Mom thought that shit was hilarious but the rest of my crew, except for Track,
With Mandy behind bars, all I needed was to find Stanley to tie her into the attack on Sian. I need that to put her away for the rest of her life.I'd been leaving clues and making anonymous phone calls to the cops for a while. Once I'd contacted the men she'd been extorting and told them the truth about her age, some of them were more than happy to come forward. The only ones that tried to hold out were the married ones. Some of them I let slide, like Cassie's dad. But the others I put the squeeze on.That's why I'd needed her phone and the stuff that she left behind when she got kicked out of her house. My team had already confiscated it all. That, along with the computer stick Liz had mailed me, were locked away in my safe. Everything except the phone which had been mailed to the cops. I was still protecting Carter, but I had to do it for Cassie's sake.The ones that did have sex with her when she was underage, their names had been handed over to the cops. There were going
I drove down the driveway slowly with the lights off. There was one light on in the house and I wasn't surprised that it was in Sian's room. I got out of the truck and looked around at the dark night.It would be so easy... But I couldn't do anything here, not where my girl's family slept. Instead I walked around back. How did she get in anyway? And how do I get in without alerting her to the fact that I was here. I wasn't left wondering long.The alarm hadn't been set because of the workers going back and forth, which was an oversight. No one expects to be robbed in this neighborhood, but still. I knew it wasn't on since the night I'd come back here for her medicine, but hadn't thought much of it. Missed that one.I walked up the stairs, being as quiet as I could and stepped into Sian's bedroom door. Mandy was sitting on the bed, the new bed that replaced the one that had been burned in the explosion."What are you doing here?" It was obvious what she was doing. The door to Si
I'd been so excited I'd forgotten to score some drugs. I hadn't seen a male anywhere in that stupid place anyway, that might've been willing to help me, so it was most likely a bust. I sat in the car and formulated my next move in my head. How can I get close enough to do what I have to do? There was no way to get onto the Saunders' property without being noticed.Unless...No they've had the same domestic staff for a while, they probably know each one on sight. How can I get there? I don't have anything suitable, anything that would disguise me until I got close enough. Close enough to destroy her, that bitch.I drove around for a while still no closer to a solution. Thanksgiving was in two days. Another thought hit me. It was something I'd learned about Jace and his family even before we dated. When he still used to act like I didn't exist. When I used to read anything I could get my hands on about the ultra-wealthy family. Yes, that would be perfect. I'd forgotten all abou