I squeeze my eyes shut as the car picks up speed. I hope Nick kicks Camden’s ass. I’ll join in. We could force him to drink until he’s trashed and then drown him in the pool. Okay, maybe murder is a little too far. Maybe Camden falls down the stairs.
“What are you smiling about, little one?”
I open my eyes. “Just picturing you unconscious in the hospital with multiple broken bones and a collapsed lung.”
“That’s my girl. Just as wicked as me.”
I clench my jaw and watch trees zoom by until we’re pulling up to the house. The garage door lifts, and my heart kicks up. The SUV Nick took to the airport is back in its place.
I’m out of the car and inside before Camden. I slam the door shut and twist the lock, even though Camden probably has a key. The house is quiet, making my heart pick up speed with anticipation.
“Where the fuck is he?” Nick growls, shooting down the stairs as I’m about to walk up. “He’s fucking dead.” Nick rushes past me.
Shit.
I guess he saw the pictures.
Just as Nick opens the door to the garage, the sound of the front door has Nick whipping around and flying in the other direction. I spin around and chase after him. He’s fast as hell. When I make it past the kitchen, I see Nick has Camden by the throat and pressed against the closed front door. The little shelf on the wall that held candles has been knocked to the floor.
“You’ve been touching my fucking girl,” Nick growls, his shoes shuffling against the floor as Camden tries to break free.
“I didn’t do anything she didn’t give me permission for,” Camden says.
Nick swings. I don’t see where his fist lands, but it sounds like a hard blow, and Camden staggers to the side. Nick swings again, catching Camden’s chin and then Camden’s swinging back, landing a hit to the side of Nick’s face and then a jab to his ribs.
It’s a blur of fists as they go at each other until Camden hops back, putting distance between them.
“We all do what we have to,” Camden says, wiping blood from his busted lip. “The sooner you accept she’s mine, the sooner you can move on.”
“Fuck you, Camden,” I growl, ready to get a few swings in myself.
“Why the fuck are you here?” Nick barks.
“My father sent me when Graysen failed,” Camden says, stepping back farther. “There is nothing either of you can do to stop it.” Camden tilts his head to the side. “You managed to tie yourself down quickly, Nick. Was guilt the cause? Does she know?”
“Shut the fuck up,” Nick growls.
My eyes narrow, and Camden’s gaze flicks to me, amusement shining through. “What are you talking about?” What the fuck do they know that I don’t?
“Stay the fuck away from her. If you touch her—”
“It’s you who can’t touch her, Nick. Not in public anyway. She is going to be my wife, and there is nothing you can do about it. Watch your mouth or you might not like what comes out of mine.” Camden’s eyes dart between us as he backs up toward the stairs.
“You didn’t come here thinking I would back down, did you? This shit—”
“She didn’t tell you?” Camden tuts. “Any wrong moves and I hurt her sister. Aaron attends the same school, and I hear they’ve grown close.” A slow smile creeps over his face as he watches Nick’s reaction.
“Hurt her sister, Camden, and—”
I place my hand on Nick’s arm, stopping him. He knows I wouldn’t want to do anything to risk Tilly. His nostrils flare as he stares Camden down. Camden keeps a cocky expression as he turns around and saunters away thinking he’s won.
I move from Nick’s side to stand in front of him. His chest moves up and down rapidly and his jaw is tense as our eyes lock. I lay my hand on his shoulder, but he shrugs it off to grab my wrist and pull me against his chest, hugging me tightly to him. “What did Camden mean when he said you felt guilty?”
“Camden’s just talking shit. It’s what he does.” He hugs me tighter. “You can’t stay here anymore, Hayley. Not now,” he murmurs.
I shake my head against him. “He’s threatening my sister. I can’t even get a hold of her to let her know what’s going on. I’m not—”
“Fuck!” Letting me go, he steps back and scrubs his hand down his face.
Nick’s going to give up. I tell myself I won’t be upset when that happens, but I know I will. I let my stupid lusty girl emotions take the lead. I knew it was too soon, but at least I wasn’t naïve about the ending I knew would come.
Worry lines appear on his forehead as he stares at me, and a whispered, “I’m so sorry,” follows a moment later.
“It’s not your fault,” I choke out, upset that he’s calling it quits. I bite my lip, trying to hold back my emotions.
“Sometimes I feel like it is. I should have protected you better. You shouldn’t be in this situation.” He sighs. “I know it seems impossible, but we’ll find a way out.”
I perk up at his words. “Yeah?”
He looks surprised for a moment and then frowns. “What do you mean, yeah?” His eyes widen slightly before narrowing. “Did you think I was gonna leave you to deal with this shit alone?”
I shrug, averting my eyes from him. “I wouldn’t be surprised if you did. It’s not gonna be easy, Nick. Not until my sister’s back.”
He gently touches my cheek to bring my eyes back to his. “Words matter to me. When I say something, I mean it. I told you I was in this with you. Remember? Everywhen.” His finger gently strokes my cheek before falling away. “You believe me?”
Believing his words means trusting him and while it scares me, I do trust him. I trust Nick Cabot fully. Looking up at him, I nod my answer.
“We’ll do whatever it takes.”
I take a deep breath in and nod again. My heart is hammering, and I feel all confused and vulnerable over someone stating they have my back. But it’s a rarity, isn’t it? Having someone who means it, who will be there through thick and thin.
“Until I get a hold of Tilly, I thought about trying to find dirt on Nora. Do what she’s doing to me, ya know? Either way, it’d be good to have.”
“That’s probably a better plan than me murdering Camden.” He blows out a breath and wraps his arms around me again. “You okay? Why didn’t you tell me what was going on?” His forehead drops to mine.
I breathe him in and close my eyes. “I thought I could handle things… and I didn’t want to bother you with my shit.”
His hand rests on my hip, his thumb circling the skin under my shirt. “It’s okay to ask people for help. Like I said, I’m here. Aiden and Casey too.” He pulls away to kiss me softly. “I think we need to tell them what’s going on.”
“Camden said not to, and it wouldn’t help. Aidne can’t change anything.”
Nick sighs. “Where should we start first? Nora’s room?”
“Already did and found nothing. What about John’s room?”
“John might have something in his office, but I honestly don’t know what there is to find. What about your dad?” Nick says. “When Tilly’s back, they could go after him.”
“He’d want me to choose her,” I say, not knowing if that’s true. My dad seems to have given up on being a father, but he’s an adult, so he can handle himself. “I can’t marry Camden, Nick.”
“We’ll try and keep him safe too, but if that’s not possible…”
“Then it’s not possible. Come on,” I say, grabbing his hand and tugging. “Where’s John’s office?”
“In his room. I think he keeps the door locked.” He rubs his forehead. “There’s probably a key—”
“We don’t need a key.” I wink and pull him with me toward the stairs.
I grab a bobby pin from my room and then we head back down. John’s bedroom door is locked like Nick said, so I separate the ends of the bobby pin and insert the flat end into the lock.
“You’ve done this before?” Nick asks, a lazy smirk on his face.
I wink at him over my shoulder. “Maybe.” What I don’t say is that it was a skill I learned out of necessity. A bad foster mom would take my shit and lock it in her room when she was angry. I hated people taking my stuff.
I pull the pin out and twist the knob. The door swings open to a clean and organized bedroom. The color scheme in his room matches Aiden’s with the gray walls, and gray, black, and blue bedding. His room is meticulously clean, even the wastebasket by the mahogany dresser is pristine without an ounce of trash in it.
A door next to the closet leads to a roomy office with one small window. Nick moves to the oversized desk against the far wall, but I’m intrigued with the shelves of awards that John has earned.
Movie posters hang behind glass frames on a wall by a bulky filing cabinet. I stare at the poster for the movie Idyll Love. John was only a few years older than Aiden when he starred in that one.
I admire people who know what they want and go after it hardcore. I guess I have a whole family of go-getters. I pull open the top drawer of the filing cabinet. Each tab is labeled. I skim past taxes, insurance, deeds, and then pull open the folder labeled academic. John went to Tisch School of the Arts in New York. It looks like financial aid, a partial scholarship, and student loans paid his way. I read a few letters of recommendation his college professors wrote, and a warm smile lights my face.
I guess if you’re writing a letter like this, only good things would be in it, but it seems like his teachers genuinely liked and cared about the charismatic, kind, and hardworking man they wrote about. There are a few photos of John with classmates tucked into the back of the folder. It seems he had a big group of friends.
I put the file back because I’m getting distracted. I’m supposed to be looking for incriminating evidence. I open another file and find birth certificates. I shuffle through them until I find mine.
Big fat tears pool in my eyes as I stare at the piece of paper that I never thought I would see.
“Find anything?” Nick asks absently from behind.
I drop the certificate back to the file and blink the tears away. “Not yet.” My voice comes out steadier than I feel. My fingers dance over the last few tabs, and then I pull all of the files to the front and peer into the back of the long drawer. My hands wrap around a stack of photos. The first few are of me and Aiden as toddlers, and Colt as a tiny baby.
“Find something?” Nick asks, stepping beside me.
“Just realizing how much I missed out on and how little I know about my biological family. I’m glad I had my mom and Tilly, but…” I trail off because I don’t know what I’m trying to say or maybe I don’t want to say that I wish I had grown up here because what would that mean about my adoptive family? “This would be a lot easier if you knew Nora’s dark secrets,” I say playfully to Nick while flipping through the photos.
“She’s been to a mental health rehab, but I think that was already rumored.”
“I can’t do anything with that anyway. I would end up the bad guy for ostracizing mental health. Which I’m not sure that’s why she hates me. Do you think she had something to do with me being taken? Maybe that’s why she doesn’t believe I’m Anna.”
Nick thinks for a moment. “She was struggling with postpartum after Colt, but everyone says even with that she was an amazing mother.”
“Kinda hard to—”
The lady is mad; she’s always mad. I try to run away from her, but someone grabs my hand and brings me back. “Stay with your mommy, little girl,” the man says. Blood-red nails dig into my hand as the lady thanks the stranger.
My breath catches in my throat. There’s a woman sitting next to John in the grainy photo. Her hair is brown and unruly. Her skin looks dull and her sunken brown eyes are lifeless. Her hands are resting on the table, and her nail polish is blood-red.
“Hey.” Nick’s hand lands on my shoulder, making me jump. “You okay?”
I turn the photo over but there’s no info on who this might be. “Do you know who this is?” I hold the photo up.
He takes it, studying the image for a minute. “No, why?”
“It’s stupid, but her nails. I remember… I think the person who took me had red nails.” I shake my head. “Or it could have been a foster mom.”
Nick pulls out his phone and snaps a picture. “I’ll send it to Aiden, see if he recognizes her.” He hands the photo back and I drop it into the drawer with the others.
“What are you two doing?”
Camden lazily leans against the doorframe like Nick and I don’t want to kick his ass. He is brave... or stupid. Maybe a little bit of both.
Nick shifts slightly, half of his body blocking me from Camden’s view.
Camden snaps his fingers in my direction. “Come here. Our picture today went viral. Our fans love the bracelet I picked out.”
My fingers wrap around the metal on my wrist. I forgot I was wearing it. Nick’s gaze follows my movement and his jaw flexes.
I move to take it off, but Camden says, “Leave it on. I want it in our picture.” Smirking, he tilts his head, eyes slowly sliding to Nick. “You can’t be in it.”
“We’re busy. That can wait till later,” I snap, opening another drawer.
“What did I say, Anna?”
“Fuck off, Camden,” Nick says, his voice a deep growl.
Camden crosses his arms, chin high. “Don’t try to be the hero, Nick. You couldn’t then and you can’t now.”
“What are you talking about, Camden?” I say, pushing in the drawer without looking through it. My eyes cut to Nick, but he’s focused on Camden.
Camden pulls out his phone. “It would be a shame if Tilly was banned from school property and had nowhere to go.”
I squeeze my eyes shut and take in a deep breath. I’ve never liked being told what to do, but this is on a whole different level. Camden won’t survive this. I will end up fucking murdering him. It’s taking all of my willpower to not rip this drawer out and bash in his head with it.
“Hurry up and take your fucking picture,” I say, waving toward the phone in his hand.
Camden chuckles. “You should know by now that I put effort into our staged events. Snapping a random photo isn’t what I had in mind. Meet me in the living room.”
He leaves, and I warily turn to Nick. “I’m sorry. I have to. I can’t risk—”
“I know,” Nick says on a frustrated sigh.
“So, I guess I’ll come find you when he’s done,” I say, mentally reminding myself that he said he was going to stand by me. I would lose my shit if the roles were reversed and a crazy bitch was tugging Nick’s strings.
“I’m coming with you,” Nick says, studying my face. “I’m not leaving you alone with him. I don’t trust Camden at all.”
Letting out a breath, I nod in agreement. My stomach is twisted in knots and I feel like I’m going to vomit as we make our way to the living room. Camden’s on the couch, casually relaxing back with his ankle resting on his knee. Graysen’s next to him, looking like he’d rather be anywhere else in the world.
That makes two of us.
I reluctantly glance at Nick, whose body is coiled tight as he glares at Camden with pure hatred. Make that three of us.
“I thought Graysen left?” Nick says.
“He did, but he came back,” I say. “Unfortunately.”
“Graysen’s going to take one more picture with us before he leaves for good,” Camden says, patting his lap. “Come here, wife.”
I can feel the chaotic energy radiating off Nick, who is now gripping my hips, keeping me in place. I want to sit on Camden’s lap like I want to shove nails into my eye sockets. And Nick watching makes this so much worse because I don’t want to hurt him.
I twist around. “You don’t have to watch, but I have to do it.”
“I know,” he growls, his intense stare still on Camden.
I bring my lips up to his, pressing lightly, and he brings his gaze to me.
“I hate that his
eyes are on you,” Nick says against my mouth.
I kiss his lips again and then pull away to look him in the eyes. “But my eyes are only on you. I only see you, Nick.”
He pulls my chin down to part my lips and then he slips his tongue inside, his hand going to the back of my head and fisting my hair. He kisses me passionately before pulling away. “Only I get to do that.”
I nod my head in agreement, knowing damn well Camden has total power over me right now. If he wants me to kiss him instead of Nick, there would be nothing I could do. I hope it doesn’t come to that.
“Come on, Anna,” Camden calls and Nick and I both stiffen.
I gently pull away from the safety of Nick’s arms and force my feet to carry me over to the couch. Camden pats his lap again, his eyes on Nick. When I don’t move, he doesn’t hesitate to put me where he wants me, my back flush with his body. I have no choice but to rest my head on his shoulder. I don’t look at Nick. I can’t. I already feel guilty as fuck.
“Hold still,” Camden whispers near my ear as he arranges my hair so that it’s sprawled over my shoulders. “I love long hair. I prefer redheads, though.” He holds the camera up and out, so Graysen is at the edge of the frame. “Everyone smile.” Camden presses his lips to my temple, keeping his eyes locked on the phone.
I keep a blank expression on my face as Camden snaps the picture. My eyes dart to Nick who looks like he wants to murder everyone in the room.
“You’re not smiling,” Camden says, gently skimming his fingers over my shoulder. “But... you look sexy as fuck when you’re angry. I’ll keep this picture for myself.” He holds the camera up again. “Smile, little one, or you won’t like the consequence.”
I force the tiniest smile on my face and close my eyes. I don’t want to see Nick’s face anymore. He looks fucking tortured.
“That’s better. Good girl.”
Nick plucks me from Camden’s lap and then pushes me behind him. “Why are you here, Camden? We all know you don’t follow Alexander’s rules.”
Camden smirks. “It was too tempting of an offer to pass up. You know how much I love to break beautiful things.”
Amorevolous: (Savage Princess book 2) Page 14