Reckless Karma (Sinners & Saints #2)

by Chelsea Ballinger

  He’s furious. Maybe even upset, but it doesn’t matter anymore. This is my closure. It was well worth it and Juliet was right. He isn’t that tall.

  JULIET

  “Hey,” I say to Hugo once we get back to the house.

  “Hey.” He’s sitting on his bed staring off at the chalkboard wall. The word ‘done’ is written in big letters.

  I sit on the bed next to him and he grabs my hand.

  “How was your day?”

  “Hard… but well fulfilling.”

  “You got answers.”

  “Yes. How about your day?”

  “It was hard for Karlie. I was only an observer.”

  He looks at me. “How are you?”

  “Tired.”

  “Me too.”

  “Think we can rest soon?” I ask hoping for a good answer.

  “After I tell the world about my uncle… yeah.”

  “I was hoping you would say that.”

  His hand comes around my neck and he leans in for a kiss. I kiss him back and together we fall back into the comfort we seek in each other. The only comfort I’ll ever want to know. I hold on to him as his kisses cover me and a knock on the door ruins the comfort.

  “Hugo!” Cody sounds frantic so Hugo quickly stands up and tells him to enter.

  “There’s a cop downstairs,” he says and we follow him downstairs where two detectives are standing in the living room with Ms. Eleanor, Anika, and Karlie. Jaz, Poppy, Jordana, and Margaret Jacobs are standing in the hallway and they give us nervous looks once we walk in.

  “Hugo Mandrake?” the female detective asks.

  “Yes,” he says.

  “I’m Detective James and this is Detective Sandro. Could we speak to you privately for a moment?” her partner, a heavyset man with a beard, asks.

  “I think I’m fine with my family present,” he says calmly and he grabs my hand as we brace ourselves for whatever Scarlett has probably done this time because we all know it. It’s a natural feeling now when Scarlett is up to something. A feeling that crawls into your skin and raises the anxiety up to a level hundred.

  “Do you know a Chad Michelson?” Detective Sandro asks.

  “We all do,” Ms. Eleanor says.

  “Yes,” Hugo answers.

  “Were you with him two nights ago?” Detective James asks.

  “No. What is this about?”

  The detectives glance at each other before answering.

  “Chad Michelson was found dead in his apartment this afternoon.”

  Ms. Eleanor gasps and covers her mouth with her hands and Cody puts his arm around her shoulder.

  Hugo is unfazed by this and Detective Sandro takes notice.

  “You don’t seem shocked,” she says.

  “Chad and I weren’t friends, but he did have problems with drugs and we used to live together. He always overdid it.”

  “Yes, well the cocaine he used was unfortunately laced with pain killers. Enough to kill anyone who uses it.”

  “So you think someone did this to him intentionally?” I ask.

  “It’s a high possibility and Mr. Mandrake’s jacket was found at the crime scene.”

  “So because my jacket was found at the crime scene you think I killed Chad?” Hugo asks.

  “We also questioned a dealer we traced it back to. A local one within Mr. Michelson’s neighborhood,” Detective James has this arrogant tone once he looks at his mini notepad. “And he claims that a young white male that looked to be in his early twenties, brown hair, wearing ray ban aviator sunglasses approached him and asked to buy cocaine from him. Also a witness said that they saw you leaving Mr. Michelson’s home around that time.”

  “He was in London with me,” I say.

  “We’ll check that out, but there is still the point of the jacket.”

  “Look, I’m sorry you wasted your time, but I didn’t kill Chad. Chad Michelson was a pathetic person and a rapist and I despised him. I won’t weep for him… but I’ve always prided myself on not being an idiot. I wouldn’t ruin my life for him.”

  “What about Rebecca Townsend?” There’s a smug smirk on Detective James’s fat face.

  “Those charges were dropped,” I quickly say in frustration.

  “Well you people always find a way to clean up house without any notice.”

  “I think you should leave.” Now Ms. Eleanor is pissed and steps up to Detective James. “Hugo is a good boy and Chad, although very dear to me, was troubled extremely. So unless you have a warrant, I suggest you leave now.”

  The detectives don’t protest and before walking out the door they look at Hugo. Targets and assumptions already incorrect yet confirmed for them in their eyes that Hugo is guilty.

  “We’ll be keeping in touch,” Detective James says before closing the door behind them.

  “What the fuck?” Jordana says in disbelief.

  “Is there anything Scarlett won’t do?” Cody says.

  “Yes,” Hugo says it and something registers in him. “Yes… there is something she won’t do.”

  “So just to be clear,” Jaz says, “this Scarlett girl killed this Chad and framed Hugo?”

  “That’s about right,” Anika says.

  “I knew Scarlett was crazy but this… this is insane,” Margaret Jacobs says.

  “Guys what are we gonna do?” Poppy asks.

  “I’m gonna finish this,” Hugo says. “Stay here.”

  HUGO

  I head into my room. I’m only wearing pants and a white sleeveless shirt, so I pick up my dark blue blazer and throw it on. I grab shoes and put them on, not caring about socks. I grab my phone and I hear the rain outside, which is very fitting for tonight. I’m about to leave out until I remember one more thing. I go into my walk-in closet and reach up on the top shelf. A dark brown box is pulled down from it. When I found this, I never opened it. I never wanted to see it. I never thought I’d need it, but to kill a beast you need a weapon.

  JULIET

  Hugo comes back down the stairs in a blazer and shoes.

  “Where you going?” I ask.

  He grabs my hands and gazes his eyes into mine.

  “I need you to trust me. Do you trust me?”

  “Yes.”

  “This ends tonight. I need to do this on my own. I don’t want any protests, no annoying speeches about sticking together. This is mine. It’s inevitable and I need you… you out of everyone to tell me that you trust me and to let me go do this on my own.”

  Ugh, I hate him. I open my mouth to say every possible reason why it is a bad idea, but instead I am fair and I do. I do trust him.

  “Alright… but if something bad happens tonight, something that will break my heart… I’ll hate you forever.”

  A quick laugh comes out of him and he smiles. “I know.”

  He grabs my face and kisses me before leaving out.

  “You know this is a bad idea, right?” Karlie says.

  “Maybe he’ll surprise us. At some point the villain has to die.”

  20

  PATRICK

  I get the call from the doorman that Hugo Mandrake is here and I give permission for him to come up. I roll up my sleeves and ball my fists standing in the living room after unlocking and opening the door. I think I want to kill him and I’m scared I will… and I hope I do.

  He walks in, that stoic, cold expression on his face. He is soaked from the rain outside, his hair sticking to his forehead. Tension is building inside of me and my heart feels as if it’s about to explode.

  “A bit dramatic, don’t you think?” he asks, arching his brow and I can’t wait to beat that smug face in. He takes a step down the stairs and comes near me. “I guess you’re going to make this hard.”

  “You’ve ruined everything. You destroyed my sister.”

  “Technically I saved her from jumping off a building.”

  “Yeah, she said that. Guilty over what you did to her?”

  “Do I even look like I’m capable o
f an immense amount of guilt? I feel guilty for two people. My brother. My girlfriend. I didn’t do anything to your sister. Scarlett’s been lying to you.”

  “You’re gonna pay.”

  “Stop the frat boy act. Scarlett is playing you. She plays everyone. She made me the way I am. She made my brother Gabriel and she drove him to his suicide.”

  “Do you ever own up for your shit?”

  “I’m starting to, yes. Let me guess… Scarlett told you that her father molested her when she was a kid.”

  My fists release and my eyes are frozen on his smirk.

  “She never told me, by the way, so see yourself quite special. Special as in most enjoyable bitch boy.”

  Bitch and boy triggers something in me along with the acknowledgement of Scarlett’s torturous past. Yes she did tell me. She told me because she knew I wouldn’t treat her different and her strength only made me love her more, and for him to disrespect it is the knife that cuts the boundary line. I charge at him and throw a punch to his face. He falls back and hits his head on the steps. I crouch down and grab him by the collar of his blazer. I throw in two more hard punches before he takes a cheap shot by kneeing me in the balls. The pain surges through my groin and I lose my breath as I fall on my side. He forces himself up and spits the blood from his mouth and wipes it from his nose.

  “I semi-deserve that. Not for raping your sister, but for not doing anything to stop her pain.”

  I press my hands on the floor and slowly get up. My hatred for him is what gives me the strength to stand tall and prepare to hit him again. I step one foot forward but come to a complete stop once I see the gun he is pointing at me. It looks like a vintage revolver and my heart stops at the sound of it cocking.

  “What the hell is wrong with you?” I ask in disbelief.

  “Desperation has finally come back to haunt me.”

  SCARLETT

  I walk in my apartment and the lights are off. Patrick told me he would be home, so I don’t know why he’s not in here. I step into the living room and turn on the light switch on the wall. Everything becomes clear and visible… including a soaked and furious Hugo who is sitting in the chair near the floor lamp. I think the green eye is bigger than the blue one.

  “You don’t look so good,” I say to him.

  “You look ravishing as always.”

  I smile. “So I suppose you received a not so sweet visit from someone today.”

  “Chad’s dead.”

  “I heard. It’s such a tragedy.”

  “I won’t shed any tears… in fact you killing him, well, you’ve done everyone a favor.”

  I continue smiling and walk over to the mini bar, fixing myself a glass of cognac.

  “From my understanding, Chad died of a drug overdose.”

  “The drugs were laced. My jacket was found right next to him. Now how do you suppose that happened?”

  “You should be careful about leaving things around.”

  “Or maybe we should take that spare key away from your scrawny hands.”

  “So what? You came here to get a confession.”

  “I was in London when Chad was killed… I was there for Juliet when she needed me because that is what you do when you love someone.”

  That remark sort of bothers me, but I still stay smiling.

  “You were always there for me,” I remind him.

  “Because you were a good fuck… and maybe I did care. It’s all blurred because of everything now. I have your box.”

  I knew that, but then I realize by the look in his eyes he means the original, and boy have I missed my box.

  “He left it with August.”

  I try not to laugh, but I can’t help it.

  “Son of a bitch… Gabriel always had a funny sense of humor.”

  “I’ve seen the videos. Every powerful man doing things that I don’t even want to imagine could happen.”

  “You see your mother?”

  “No… Gabriel erased it. But he saw it and then killed our uncle. Then he killed himself… but not before confronting you.”

  “You don’t think I killed him?”

  “I never thought you did. Gabriel always had the same look in his face… like our mother. I was the one that made him promise. I was the one that asked him to make the pact that no matter what we would all stick together and not share the same fate as him.” Tears actually fall from his angelic eyes. “I did it because I knew. I knew he was capable of it.” He stands up and reaches behind his back. A revolver is pointed right at me, the same one Gabriel pointed at me years ago.

  “Well this is Déjà vu.” I drink up before placing the glass back and walking closer to the gun. “So are you going to blow your brains out as well?”

  “No, see I’m more level headed than my brother now. I will just kill you.”

  I laugh a little at that.

  “It may seem funny, but what’s the point? I have nothing to live for.”

  “Wrong. You have your sweet heroine. Your brother, your house of misfits to live for. You wouldn’t give that all up on little old me.”

  “But isn’t that what you wanted?!” he screams. “Huh?!”

  “Hugo… yelling isn’t very suitable for you.”

  “Yeah, well tonight is the final act.” The gun makes that annoying cocking sound. “And I want you to tell me the truth. I want to know what happened that night Gabriel killed himself. You’re gonna tell me or your brains will be the ones splattered all over this floor.”

  “Okay… I’ve been dying to tell you a bedtime story anyway.”

  GABRIEL

  “You did this. You made me like this!” I wave the gun around at her. Sometimes I’m not pointing it. Just pacing back and forth like the mad man I am.

  “You made yourself like this.”

  “I killed someone because of you.”

  “You killed someone because of her. Your own mother… molested by her own brother. She was bound to be fucked up. He ruined your family. I gave you retribution.”

  “You gave me nothing.”

  “When I met you, you yourself were one step away from offing yourself.” The words spew out of her mouth like a waterfall. “All you did was cry and cry and whine about your sad fucking life! You wanted your mommy back. You wanted a purpose and I gave you purpose. I gave you fun. I fucked you. I made you mine. I fucking gave you life.”

  “You really do think you’re God, huh?”

  “Close enough. Stop crying. Stop whining, Gabriel. You are better than this. Just shoot me and destroy your entire life. It won’t matter. Your precious Karlie is still damaged goods… and it’s your fault.”

  I nod my head.

  “You’re right. I’m not gonna kill you. I’m gonna do what I should’ve done a long time ago.”

  There is no right of mind once I point the gun to my head. Scarlett actually looks a bit afraid. Scared to see me go maybe.

  “Don’t expect me to cry for you… I cry for no one.”

  “I don’t expect anything from anyone anymore. I just want it all to stop.” On second thought, forget about the head. I put the revolver in my mouth and as she watches stone faced and unbothered… I realize I’m at peace. Because I don’t get to see the outcome of all of this and I know that one day Scarlett will get her day of reckoning.

  Or maybe that’s the shit I make up to myself so I can pull the trigger. It’s amazing how easy it is do it.

  SCARLETT

  He’s quiet. His eyes wander as he takes in what I’ve told him. The gun is still pointed at me. He lowers it and looks at me.

  “What did you do after he pulled the trigger?”

  “I watched the hole in his head glisten… and then I walked over his body and went to the party I was attending,” I tell the truth. “I didn’t really enjoy the party. The image of Gabriel’s death kept fucking with my high, but not out of guilt, just out of disappointment.”

  He scoffs, smiling. Tears falling down his face.

  “Y
our father molested you.”

  Finally Hugo has cracked it. “There’s that word. I like to think that he gave me special treatment.”

  “It probably was horrible for you at the beginning… but then you figured all the nice gifts and stuff would make up for the pain and soon that pain became no more.”

  “Maybe that’s true. Maybe it’s not. I can’t really tell you when it stopped bothering me. All I know is that I loved the attention. I loved it.”

  “Until he started giving his attention to others.” I didn’t think he would put this together. “You killed him. I remember when you told me how he died. He was driving and it was snowing and he made sure your seatbelt was on. But he forgot his wasn’t. Or maybe you reached over and unbuckled it. Either way you probably grabbed the wheel and caused it.”

  “Let’s say it’s true... Maybe I was jealous of his mistress. I, a sad and depressed girl who was damaged, only saw myself as my father’s one true love. I didn’t want to share.”

  “You really are fucked up.”

  “To the extreme… but all this is still alleged.” I wink and shrug.

  “Well, at least Rebecca knows the truth now.”

  “Truth about what?”

  “That it was Chad and that you had him do it. She told me… and she will tell your precious fiancé and his annoying mother.”

  “I can handle Rebecca. She’s very sick. She has an ill imagination. She probably wasn’t even raped,” I say calmly and smoothly. I am arrogant and I have a right to be. “So what now? You’re gonna kill me? Or kill yourself because my fiancé will be home soon. Make a choice, Hugo.”

  “I have,” he says painfully. “I have made a choice. My choice is… fuck you. I have everything that you will never have. It doesn’t matter if you want it or not, Scarlett. I have everything that assures that I will not be alone and although you don’t need the good… you do need the companionship. You do need the admiration and the need for you. That’s why you created us… so you wouldn’t be alone. You hate being alone. That is what scares you the most… to be left all alone.”

  Excuse me... while I weep,” I grit out. How dare he tell me what my fear is? I don’t need anyone. I’ve never needed anyone. I’ve done them a favor. I gave their pitiful lives meaning.