Total pages in book: 43
Estimated words: 39689 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 198(@200wpm)___ 159(@250wpm)___ 132(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 39689 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 198(@200wpm)___ 159(@250wpm)___ 132(@300wpm)
He slammed the bedroom door shut behind us, making me flinch. “What fucking game are you playing at, Hayley?” he angrily demanded.
I handed him the picture of Lacie and Diego. He looked down at it, and his shoulders tensed slightly in shock. He looked up at me. “Lacie and Diego?” he asked me, though he already knew the answer.
“Yeah,” I quietly confirmed. “She was cheating on Drake with Diego, and Drake has no idea.” I opened the journal, showing him Diego’s letter. “He was trying to protect her, Damien, but a man named Louis got to her. She forced herself to make him think she hated him to protect him.”
“Shit is about to blow in my fucking living room, Hayley,” Damien told me, his eyes meeting mine. “You realize that, right?” he asked.
I shrugged. “I think it’s time we got to the bottom of this—to the bottom of what really happened to Lacie, Damien. I need to know—not only for my protection but also for closure. I need to know what really happened to my best friend, Damien.”
Damien drew me into him and pressed a tender kiss to my forehead. “Alright,” he murmured, giving in.
I drew in a deep breath, and after lacing my fingers through Damien’s, I walked into the living room. I took a seat on the loveseat, and Damien sat next to me. “Diego, go ahead and inform Tyrone and Drake of who you are,” Damien commanded.
Diego let his eyes meet Drake’s coldly. “I was Lacie’s fiancé,” Diego stated calmly.
Drake fucking lost his shit.
13
“You were her what?!” Drake roared as he jumped off of the couch he was sitting on. I flinched back against Damien’s side. Damien gently gripped my knee, silently reassuring me that he was there. Diego stood up as well, his jaw clenched as he faced Drake. “There is no way in fucking hell you were her fiancé because she was with me for the past few fucking years!”
“She was cheating on you with me,” Diego stated calmly. He turned to look at me. “I’m sure her best friend has the proof.”
Drake turned his angry eyes to me. “You fucking hid this from me?” Drake snarled at me, taking a threatening step in my direction.
Damien shot off the couch, moving to stand protectively in front of me at the same time that Tyrone jerked to a standing position, gripping Drake’s shoulder to hold him back.
“She didn’t hide shit from you,” Damien snapped at Drake. “She just found out a couple of hours ago.”
“How did you find out?” Drake snarled at me over Damien’s shoulder.
“Get the book and the picture, darlin’,” Damien softly instructed me.
I stood up from the couch and went into our room, grabbing Lacie’s diary and the picture of her and Diego together. Drake stormed over to me as soon as I exited the bedroom, the rage in his eyes so alarming that I stumbled back against the wall. Suddenly, he was snatched back from me, and Damien’s fist collided with his face. “Stay the fuck back from her,” Damien barked at him.
Drake swung his fist out to hit Damien, but Damien ducked. When he ducked, somehow, I got hit across the face with Drake’s fist. I cried out in pain, dropping the book and the picture that I had been holding as I reached up to clutch at my cheek, my vision beginning to blur as tears flooded my eyes from the pain.
I heard a gunshot ring out, and I screamed as Drake dropped to the floor, his lifeless eyes staring blankly up at the ceiling. “Put your fucking guns down!” Damien roared as he protectively stood in front of me, Miles quickly moving to stand beside him. “This place is fucking surrounded by my men, and if someone decides to pull their trigger that’s not me or Miles, none of you will walk the fuck out alive.”
“You just fucking killed my cousin!” Tyrone roared.
“And he just punched the fuck out of Hayley because he was too blinded by his fucking rage!” Damien shouted back at him. “Had it been Scarlett, he wouldn’t have lived past the moment he made her afraid!” Damien reminded him.
“That would be my call; he’s my mother fucking family!” Tyrone barked, not backing down from Damien.
“Put your fucking gun down,” Damien snarled. “Now, Tyrone. Or I swear, Rod or Shaun will be next, you got me?”
My heart was pounding hard and fast in my chest. Everything had escalated so quickly, and now, Drake had paid the price all because I wanted answers.
Suddenly, I didn’t think the answers were worth it anymore.
Tyrone clenched his jaw, his eyes blazing with fury, but he knew better than to go against Damien when he was adamant about protecting me. With a curse, Tyrone tossed his gun on the floor, nodding at his brothers and cousin to drop their weapons as well.