Page 37 of Merciless Prince
Her eyes went saucer-wide. “Killian Knight? Are you kidding me?”
“No. I’m dead serious.”
“But he doesn’t even know you.”
“Actually, he sort of does. We met at his grandfather’s party, remember?”
She raised a brow. “Yeah, for like, five seconds.”
“He lives above me, too. At Bellingham, I mean. His family also owns the network that airs SNS, and they can blacklist actors from the industry. That’s what Kelsey thinks is happening to me. She thinks he set up the whole SNS thing just to make me look bad and provide a cover story for me getting blacklisted. It makes sense because he was there that night. I saw him in the audience, laughing at me.”
Cori lifted a palm. “Sorry, I’m not trying to make it seem as if I don’t believe you. I just don’t get it. Why would Killian Knight hate you so much that he’d stalk you, ruin your career, and try to drive you crazy?”
I hesitated. “Well… I had no idea at first. But now I think it’s because of that party at Clyde House, and all the stuff we saw.”
She shook her head, expression mired in confusion. Then she tilted her chin slightly to one side. “Wait, you mean that stuff we saw in the grotto?”
“Yes. Remember how I dropped my bracelet there? It had my initials engraved on it. Killian could’ve picked it up and compared it to the party guestlist to find me. Because of that, I’m the only person he knows for sure was watching them that night. So it makes sense that I’m the only one he’s going after now.”
Cori frowned. “But why would he care if you or anyone else saw that stuff? It was just a film shoot.”
I was silent for a moment as I stared at the blood-red leaves fluttering in the breeze around us. “What if it wasn’t?” I finally said.
“Itwas. Someone was filming it, and there were actors there. We recognized one of them, remember? Francesca Rivera,” Cori replied. “Also, Killian and his family literally own two movie studios. So it’s like… Occam’s Razor, or whatever it’s called. The most obvious answer is the correct one.”
I furrowed my brows. “What if the actors just happened to be part of the event for some other reason?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean Killian and his gang could’ve paid them to be there for some reason that has nothing to do with movies.”
Cori’s forehead wrinkled. “Like what? Also, if it wasn’t a movie, then what do you think it was?” she asked. “You think Killian and his friends actually killed that guy on the altar?”
I nodded grimly. “Yeah, that’s exactly what I’m thinking.”
“If it was real, why would they film it? And why would they dress up in weird cloaks and hire a bunch of actors to watch them do it?”
I shook my head. “I have no idea. But it makes sense with the way Killian seems to be going after me now. That’s what the ‘keep your mouth shut’ message on the mirror was about. He found my bracelet that night, and he knows I saw everything. Now he’s trying to silence me by terrifying me into submission. He’s probably hoping I’ll drop out of Bellingham and flee the country.”
Cori went silent for a moment. “If Killian and his friends are actually a bunch of murderous psychopaths, why wouldn’t they just kill you to keep your mouth shut?” she finally said. “That seems a hell of a lot easier than stalking you.”
“I don’t know. Maybe they don’t want to kill me. They might think it’s enough to just scare me,” I replied.
“But how would they even know whether or not you’ve been quiet about it so far? For all they know, you could’ve told everyone in the state about what we saw that night.”
“I think they might’ve figured out a way to hack my phone,” I said. “They can probably read my messages and emails, and they can probably see my call log too. That would explain how the creepy email vanished along with the call log that night. They were able to delete it from their end.”
“Shay…”
I held up a hand and kept going. “Also, like I said, Killian lives right above me at Bellingham. He could’ve dropped some sort of listening device down a vent or something. So he and his friends are probably sure I haven’t called the police or said anything to anyone yet, but they’re worried that might change in the future. So now they’re making it clear what will happen if I don’t behave and keep my mouth shut—my life will be ruined.”
Cori bowed her spine and stared at her hands. “Shay,” she said softly. “You know how this sounds, right?”
“Batshit crazy?”
“Yeah. No offense.”
I swallowed thickly. “You have to believe me. I really think I’m onto something here.”
