Page 3 of Reckless
I blinked, my heart nearly stopping in my chest. Hold up. The Scotts? If Lorelei was a Scott, that meant Ollie’s sons were relatives of Vaughn—and the way he talked about his twins, it sounded like they were the least mentally stable people around.
Was Vaughn the same way? Was it only a matter of time until he snapped?
“Combine the Scotts’ connections with mine, and there was never any investigation. When Celeste was taken, I never thought my own kids would have something to do with it.” Ollie squeezed his eyes shut, shaking his head, as if trying to push the memories away. “They were always smarter than I gave them credit for, and they used my money to do it.”
His money? His money to…
“Of course, I didn’t figure that out until after they left with her. After Celeste’s biological father was found mutilated in an underground bunker in an abandoned warehouse a few towns over, after I came home and found my second wife with her eyes gouged out and her tongue cut off.” Ollie ran a hand over his face, and it was then I understood why he always looked so tired, why he seemed to be perpetually running on fumes.
He’d seen the devil himself. Only this time the devil wore two separate, identical faces. His sons.
“The Scotts came to my rescue again, and now I’m in their debt—a debt which they will never let me forget.” Ollie’s stare locked with mine, and he frowned. “I don’t want you or your mother to worry about anything. Not my fee, and not these murder charges. I will handle everything, Jaz, but in order for me to take care of it, I need to know everything.”
I swallowed. “Everything?” The word came out cringe-worthy. This man had just spilled his secrets to me, so it was my turn. My turn to tell him everything, and yet…even though his tale was one of death and horror, I still felt like mine was worse.
Mine involved death, too. Multiple deaths. Ryan and his friends. Now Brittany. My almost rape. Honestly, the list went on and on. But at this point, there was nothing else I could do but tell him.
“What I’m about to say,” I started, glancing over my shoulder at the closed door, “I don’t want my mom knowing.”
“What you say right now will stay between us, just as I hope you don’t tell anyone else what I just told you,” Ollie said. “Don’t worry about your mother. If need be, I will handle her.”
I heaved a breath, and then I told Oliver Fitzpatrick everything.
And I meant everything.
I told him about what happened with Archer, how I’d unknowingly stepped on Brittany’s toes by riding her claimed dick. I told him what happened to me at that party, thanks to that blonde bitch. I went on about the near-rape at school, how I’d gone to the dance with the new kid and Vaughn Scott—the latter which earned a scowl from him—and how we’d embarrassed her by pulling a prank.
I even told him about Jacob, because I didn’t dare leave anything out that might turn out to be important down the line.
It wasn’t too fun explaining why I’d hired Jacob in the first place, but Ollie looked as if he understood. I mean, talk about awkward, right?
“Jacob was one of the officers handling Celeste’s case,” Ollie told me, to which I could only nod.
“He told me. He…he also told me that your sons blackmailed him to get him off the force.”
At that, all Ollie could do was sigh.
You know, for someone who was sitting in a house where multiple murders had taken place, for someone who was currently being set up for the very same crime, I was handling all of this pretty damn well. I’d have to remember to pat myself on the back later.
If I got out of this. If things ever calmed down, that was.
“It sounds like everyone at the school knows you and Brittany Pots were clashing. Her boyfriend, her crown—you made it clear you weren’t backing down.” Ollie leaned back in his chair, the old, worn leather creaking under the sudden shift of weight. “Unfortunately for you, that makes it easier to pin the crime on you.”
Oh, thank God. Ollie thought I was being set up, too.
The relief was evident in my voice as I asked, “So you don’t think I did it?”
“No,” he spoke quickly. “Even if you weren’t here all weekend after the dance, I wouldn’t think you did it. I’ve seen real monsters, Jaz, and you’re not one of them.” Maybe he meant his sons, or even possibly the Scotts. Markus and Vaughn. “I think someone is using your feud with Brittany to set you up for her murder, someone who wanted Brittany out of the picture.”
By that logic, it couldn’t be any of the guys close to me. Dante and Vaughn would never want me to go down for murder, and Jacob? He always called himself a bad man, but he really wasn’t so terrible. He wasn’t a killer.
Who did that leave?
“From what you’ve told me, Brittany had her hand in a lot of things,” Ollie went on, putting the dots together in a way I never would’ve on my own, “including her boyfriend.”
Archer? I mean, I did say their dating was a sham, but to go so far as to accuse Archer of murdering her and framing me for it…it didn’t sit right with me. Or maybe that was simply because I didn’t want yet another sexy psycho around me.
No, no way. Archer wouldn’t do that, even if Brittany had pretty much forced him to date her. He wouldn’t…
