A Debt Repaid

by Wild, Clarissa

  I have to see, have to know the truth, even if it kills me.

  When I do, my knees buckle, and my throat slams shut. I can’t breathe. I can’t think. All I can do is catch my body as I fall to the floor and heave.

  Two dead bodies. Blood seeping out from the burlap sacks.

  A wail escapes my mouth, a sound I’ve never heard before. Tears stream down my cheeks as my body collapses and my lungs constrict. My stomach turns itself over, and I puke on the floor.

  I feel crippled. Split in half and laid out in the dirt.

  My two best friends—Deion, the only guy who knew what happened to me and accepted me just the way I am, and Ashanti, the most innocent, lively girl in this city.

  Dead.

  And for no other reason than my father’s fear of dying.

  How dare he? Their lives were not less important than his.

  And how dare Easton betray me like this?

  My nostrils flare as I crawl up to my knees, my nails burying into my skin as I drag myself off the ground. There are no people in front of me.

  “You monster …” I growl, glaring at Easton.

  How could I ever say I felt something for this beast? The mere thought makes the bile rise up my throat again.

  “How could you?” I scream. “They were innocent!”

  “Nick, take her away,” Easton says, throwing the gun on the table. “And call the cleanup crew from the Company. Tell them we have two bodies they need to get rid of.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Nick tries to grab my arm, but I pull away. Marching straight toward Easton, I slap him right in the face.

  “How dare you?” I growl.

  He doesn’t flinch, and he doesn’t say a word. He merely stands there and accepts the blow as if it means nothing. As if their lives were worth the pain he’d have to endure.

  But this painful dagger in my heart will never stop piercing me, and I will make sure he feels every single stab along with me.

  I punch him in the chest again and again until my hands start to hurt. Nick wraps his arms around my waist and drags me with him out of the room.

  “No! Let go of me!” I growl, punching his arms, but he’s much stronger than I am.

  “I’m sorry, but I can’t do that, ma’am,” he says, pulling me into a different room at the end of the hallway.

  “You’re murderers! All of you!” I scream, hoping Easton and my father can hear. As Nick closes the door, I shove my foot in the space, and say, “You won’t get away with this. None of you will.”

  “I’m sorry, ma’am, but you will have to stay here,” he says.

  “How long?” I growl as he pushes back my foot.

  “I can’t say, but it will all be explained soon.”

  His last comment catches me so off guard that I lose control over the door, and he shuts it right in front of me. I fiddle the door handle, but of course, he locked the damn thing.

  I bang on the wood a couple of times but to no avail. Either no one can hear me, or I’m being ignored.

  Fuck.

  I pace through the room, grunting and growling, wishing I could change the past. If only I’d talked to them sooner. I could’ve called him, warned him, gotten to him … I don’t know, anything. Anything would’ve been enough to save them.

  But I couldn’t. I couldn’t save them, and now they’re dead.

  I sink to the floor on my knees and bury my face in my hands as tears roll down my cheeks.

  Poor Ashanti and Deion. They must’ve been so scared.

  They died a horrible, lonely death, and it was all because of me … because of Easton’s choice to aid my father in his terrible ideas.

  There’s no coming back from this, no changing what’s been done.

  My friends are dead … and I despise Easton, and all that it means to be his wife.

  * * *

  Easton

  It takes an hour for the cleaning crew to arrive. They take the bodies without many remarks, and I pay them in cash at the door, as always. It’s not often that I leave bodies in my wake, but when I do, I always call the right people who know how to make things disappear fast and efficiently. They even clean up the blood on the floor and any scraps left. It’s as if nothing ever happened here in this dining room because when they leave, it’s spotless and as perfect as it was before all of this went down. Before I had to do the one thing I wish I never had to do.

  I swallow down the lump in my throat.

  Charlotte must hate me now, but I will take her anger with all my might. I won’t fight her because I know she needs to process her emotions. I won’t take that time away from her … I’ve already taken enough.

  Davis adjusts in his seat with a dirty smile on his face. “Well, I have to say, I am impressed.”

  “Get out,” I growl.

  I can’t look at that piece of shit one minute longer.

  He scoots back his chair. “Is that a way to treat a friend?”

  Friend? My nostrils flare. “You are not a friend. Get out of my house. Now.”

  He clears his throat. “Fine … if you want it to be that way.”

  “You got what you wanted, now leave,” I reply, balling my hands into fists.

  I have to control myself, or it’ll all have been for nothing.

  “That’s true. Now that the guy’s dead, I take it my life will be secure?”

  I don’t respond. I don’t fucking care about him, and I never did.

  “But suit yourself,” he adds. He waddles out the door, and I wait to hear the front door open and close before my muscles relax again.

  Fuck that piece of shit. Fuck him and his stupid ideas and his need to ruin the only girl I ever cared about … Charlotte.

  I swallow away the lump in my throat. I have to go see her. But how do I explain what just happened? How do I tell her the truth? She’ll never believe me.

  Still, I go to the guest room Nick put her in with my head held high.

  WHACK!

  A book hits me straight in the face and falls to the floor.

  “You fucking asshole!” she yells, tears on the brink of falling down her cheeks.

  She’s so beautiful when she’s mad.

  She throws another book, but this time, I block it with my forearm. She picks up a large candle, but before she can throw that too, I’ve marched toward her and grabbed her wrist.

  “Let go of me!” she screeches.

  “Calm down,” I say.

  “Fuck you!” She spits in my face. “You killed them! You fucking killed them!” She attempts to slap me with her other hand, so I grab that wrist too. “Let me go and face the fucking consequences of your actions.”

  “I want to explain,” I say.

  “There’s no reason, no explanation for any of this. I don’t care what you have to say. This is over. We’re done.” She spits her words like vomit as though it pains her to have to say them, but she’s right. I am the bad guy, and I won’t refute that.

  “I’m sorry,” I say. “I won’t ask you to forgive me.”

  “Like I ever could,” she growls, tears rolling down her cheeks. “You made me trust you, and then you threw it back in my face.”

  I take a deep breath. “You may hate me right now, but I am still going to ask you one last thing.”

  “Don’t. I’m through with you,” she says through gritted teeth.

  “Come with me. I need to show you something.” I turn around with my hand still wrapped firmly around her wrist. She digs her heels in while I push ahead. She rams her fist into my arm, but I refuse to release her from my grip.

  “I won’t ask for anything else. Just come with me now,” I say.

  “No!” she growls. “Where are you taking me?” She huffs and puffs as she tries to get rid of me, but we both know I’m the stronger one here. She’s never been feistier, though, and I don’t dare glance at her over my shoulder because those eyes alone could kill.

  “Easton, stop! Just let me fucking go, dammit,” she sw
ears as we approach the study.

  I take my key from my pocket and shove it into the lock. When the door opens, I pull her in and push her in front of me. Now’s the moment of truth. This is where she’ll learn who I really am.

  Chapter 25

  Charlotte

  My lips part, but no sound leaves my tongue. My voice is gone, along with my sense of reality. My feet are frozen to the ground as I stare at the two people in the study who I presumed were dead.

  Deion. Ashanti.

  How can they be here right in front of me?

  I saw them get shot with my own eyes. The blood was pouring out of them.

  It wasn’t a nightmare. I was wide-awake, and I still am.

  But here they are in the flesh standing right in front of me in different clothing as if they went to heaven and came back again.

  My legs are wobbly, and I can barely stand, but I still force myself to move. Are these two really Deion and Ashanti, or is my brain playing tricks on me?

  I approach them with hesitation, my fingers trembling as I reach for Deion’s outstretched hand.

  “It’s okay, Charlotte. I’m alive,” he says with that calm, familiar voice of his.

  He wraps me in his arms, and I succumb to his warmth. Ashanti grabs me too, and we stand there, embracing each other for what feels like hours. I inhale Deion’s scent over and over again, telling myself this is real. They still exist and aren’t burned or buried deep in the ground.

  When my heart has calmed, I lean away and look into his eyes. I shake my head as more tears form in my eyes. “I don’t understand,” I mutter. “I saw you … I was there … and the gun.”

  I throw one glance at Easton leaning against the doorway with his arms folded. He knew all along what it would do to me. How I would break into a million pieces.

  I place a hand on Ashanti’s shoulder and wipe away the tears off my face. “Are you okay, sweets?”

  She nods, and I look at both of them and give them another hug to make sure. “How?” I murmur, glancing back and forth between Deion and Easton.

  Deion sucks in a breath and attempts to start a sentence but quickly stops and sighs. “I think Easton would be better at explaining this than me.”

  Frowning, I turn around to face the one man I thought would be my undoing. The devil who sealed his own fate when he decided to sacrifice my friends to my father … who made me believe his lies.

  “You …” I can’t even form the words in my mouth except for one thing. “Why?”

  He pushes himself off the doorframe and stands there like a statue. “I had to. It was the only way your father would stop.” He makes a face. “But it was my fault.”

  “What was? You’re not making any sense,” I say, approaching him gently.

  “My hatred for him was so deep, I wanted him to be punished. You know that,” he says, his eyes darkening as he points them at the floor. “The debt would only be repaid if you would always be mine. Always.”

  “And … Deion and Ashanti were a threat,” I murmur.

  “Exactly,” he says. “When your father texted me his cryptic plans, I knew they were in trouble, so I had to act quickly.”

  “So that’s where you went,” I say. “But then …” Bile rises into my throat as the thought crosses my mind. “Those two with the burlap over their heads…”

  “Those were your father’s henchmen tasked with bringing Deion and Ashanti.” Easton licks his lips and eyes Deion for a second. He’s choosing his words carefully so as not to scare Ashanti. “We were lucky they were the same height so they could wear their clothes.”

  “But one of them looked like a kid,” I say, frowning. I don’t understand how I didn’t see it.

  “She’s tall for her age.” Deion pets Ashanti’s hair.

  I spin on my heels. “So you knew Easton was going to do this?”

  “His help, Nick, told me about Easton’s plan,” Deion says.

  I put my hands against my hips and narrow my eyes at Easton. “Yet Nick refused to tell me anything.”

  “Your father would’ve never believed it to be true unless he saw your real reaction,” Easton explains.

  “You made me suffer on purpose so my father would believe you?”

  “So he would leave them alone,” Easton says. “And for that, I apologize.” He goes to his knees and lowers his head. “As I said, I won’t ask you to forgive me.”

  “I thought they were gone because of you …” I can’t believe everything I’m hearing. It’s too much to take, and my eyes grow watery. “I thought I lost everything.”

  “I promised you I’d protect them,” Easton says, nodding. “I keep my word. Always.”

  I rub my lips together, but nothing I do can stop these tears from rolling down my cheeks.

  I was wrong, so, so wrong about him.

  He’s not a devil. He’s an angel with clipped wings.

  I run into his arms and hug him tight even though he’s still on the floor on his knees. I don’t care what anyone says. I know how my heart aches for him, and that’s all that matters. And I want him—body, mind, and soul.

  “Why are you hugging me?” he murmurs.

  “Because I want to and need to,” I answer.

  “But I’m—”

  I place a finger over his lips. “Now it’s your turn to be quiet.”

  He snorts and shakes his head before wrapping his hands around me too. And we sit there on the floor, melding into each other while time fades away.

  Deion clears his throat. “I think we’ll wait outside while you two … sort this thing out.”

  They walk past us while I’m stuck in Easton’s arms as though literal concrete keeps us glued together. I don’t mind. I want to take in his love like oxygen. To know that what he did was with good reason and a purpose beyond his own ego.

  He did it not only for me but for them too.

  “You saved them,” I whisper.

  “It was the only thing I could do,” he replies.

  I grab his face and make him look at me. “No, you made a choice. The right one. For once.”

  He smiles. “I did it for you.” He takes a strand of my hair and curls it around his finger. “Because I hate nothing more than seeing your tears, especially when they’re caused by me.”

  With his thumb, he picks up one of the tears rolling down my cheeks and swipes it away. “And I did it anyway.”

  I swallow away the lump in my throat and smash my lips on his.

  He isn’t a demon or a devil in disguise. He’s a saint who knew his actions would end my love for him, yet he did it to save them and keep me from drowning in misery.

  He gave me his soul and let me crush it with my bare hands. He knew I probably wouldn’t forgive him for his choice.

  But how can I not? Knowing they’re alive and that he did this for me because they mean so much to me? That’s true love. And this is my true love’s first kiss.

  “Thank you,” I whisper against his lips.

  “Why would you ever thank me for this?” he murmurs.

  “They live because of you. My father would’ve killed them if it meant saving his own ass,” I say. “You saved them even when you knew I’d hate you for it.”

  He closes his eyes as if the word hate physically hurts him. But I don’t hate him; even if I should, I couldn’t. Not when he went through all this just to protect my friends … to protect my heart from shattering.

  “It was a choice between one evil or the other,” Easton says.

  I look him in the eyes as a smile spreads on my face. “And you chose the right one.” Now more than ever do I know for sure. “I love you.”

  “What?” he mutters, his brows furrowing. “What did you just say?”

  “I love you too,” I repeat.

  “Do you mean that, or are you only saying that to make me feel better?” he asks.

  “No. Why would I say it if I didn’t mean it?” I raise a brow. “Have I ever lied to you?”

  He smir
ks. “Don’t manipulate me into believing you’re some kind of angel, princess, because you’re not.”

  “Oh, there’s that asshole again. I was wondering what he’d done to my husband,” I joke.

  Easton grabs me and pulls me down with him, and I squeal as he places my head over his lap, and growls, “C’mere.”

  And he kisses me on my mouth so hard and so good I forget everything that happened. I forget what I was doing and anything else that doesn’t matter right now.

  Because all I want is for him to be this man who I admire.

  This is a man I could love and hold dear.

  Until death do us part.

  Chapter 26

  Easton

  Her father didn’t pursue Charlotte’s escape any further, so it seems he was satisfied with Deion and Ashanti’s fake death. Charlotte’s reaction made him believe it so well that he retreated from the country altogether and took his staff with him. Which means Deion and Ashanti are free to live their lives without the fear of anyone following them. They seemed to catch on quickly, understanding the gravity of the situation, which I appreciated very much.

  But Charlotte still wasn’t happy with how it ended. She wanted her father to pay. It wasn’t even my idea; I would’ve let him live out his life. But I had to think of her too. If she needed closure, who was I to stop her?

  When Charlotte contacted her brother, he didn’t seem to know anything about what went down. But I still asked for him to come over so we could have a chat. It’s the final step in this devious plan … One that’s about to go down.

  “So why did you need to see me?” Elijah asks as he picks up his coffee.

  I tap my fingers together, and say, “It’s about your father. He’s committed a few criminal acts.”

  Elijah almost chokes on his coffee. He immediately glares at Charlotte as though she could’ve had something to do with it. “What criminal acts?”

  Charlotte leans back in her seat, casually placing her hands on the armrest. The power she exudes is magnificent to witness. “He tried to have not only me killed but two other innocent people too. There are witnesses.”

  “No, Father would never—”