Page 60 of The Sweetest Revenge

My chair scraped against the floor as I stood. I finally had my answer. I knew what Kacie had seen that night that made her run, but now there were even more unanswered questions. "First," I pushed back out of my chair. "I'm going to deal with Zaiden, and then I'm going to find out what really went down that night."

CHAPTER29

ZAIDEN

Pushing off the weight bench to a sitting position, I swiped my white towel across my sweaty forehead. I met my gaze in the mirror, realizing I no longer recognized myself. Who'd I'd become since Kacie's death was someone completely different.

I thought back to Ariella on her knees. It felt good to see her submissive to me. To ruin her. To humiliate her. It felt like retribution for my sister's death, but something about her last few words haunted me. She'd asked me if I'd asked Sam what she actually saw. I hadn't, and I couldn't explain why. It wasn't like me to take someone at their word, but I did, and I wasn't sure why. Did I need someone to blame so much that it didn't matter who it was or what actually happened? Or was it something else?

When our parents’ affair became public after Kacie's death, my mother moved out, and her mother moved in; it made it so much easier to hate her.

The door to the gym flung open, banging against the wall as Ariella appeared in the doorway.

Fuck.

I hadn't seen her since everything had gone down at the football party, and I wasn't in the right headspace to deal with her yet.

"I need to talk to you." Ariella planted herself in the doorway, her shoulders squared like a boxer entering the ring.

Pushing off the weight bench, I tossed the white towel over my shoulder. "Not now, Ariella," I said dryly as I circled the bench, already reaching for my gym bag. "I'm busy."

"Too fucking bad." Her palms slammed between my shoulder blades, the force of her shove making me stumble slightly.

Every muscle in my back coiled tight. I spun to face her, using my height to loom over her small frame, a move that usually had people stepping back and looking away. But Ariella's chin tilted up, her eyes hard, and something in my chest twisted at how small she looked and how fucking fearless she stayed.

"What is it, princess?" I stepped into her personal space, a cocky smirk pulling at the corners of my lips. "You miss my cock in your mouth?"

Her lip curled into a snarl. "You will never do that to me again."

I huffed out a humorless laugh. "Let's not pretend you didn't love it, princess." I took a step forward, bumping my chest into hers. "Let's not pretend it didn't make your panties wet." Her cheeks flushed. "On your knees, under my complete control, claiming you in front of everyone. It turned you on, didn't it, baby?"

"You're a psychopath." Ariella's hands trembled against my chest as she shoved me, the shake in her voice betraying everything her fierce expression tried to hide.

My heart hammered against my ribs as I leaned down, close enough to catch the faint scent of her shampoo, close enough that my breath stirred the loose strands of hair around her face. I waited for her to back away, to show even a flicker of the fear I wanted to see. Instead, she held her ground, and I felt the steady rhythm of her breathing brush against my skin—too controlled, too calm, like she knew exactly what game we were playing.

"Next time," I let the heat of my breath fan across her skin, "I'll bend you over and fuck you from behind."

She shoved her hand into my chest, and I let her push me away, snickering, knowing how I got under her skin. "You will never touch me again."

I rolled my eyes and turned away from her, slowly strolling towards the treadmill. "I think you've forgotten who holds all the power here."

"It's me," she said so confidently that it stopped me in my tracks, and I turned to look at her. "Do you want to know why?" I raised my brows but didn't answer. "Because of this."

My gaze followed as she held up her phone, zoning in on the picture. My brows pulled together in confusion. It was a selfie of some girl we'd gone to high school with. My eyes shifted back to hers, amusement dancing in them. "I don't even know who that is."

"Her name is Sarah, and we went to high school with her." My brows raised. "And she captured the real reason your sister left the party early that night." My gaze flashed back to the picture. "If you look in the background behind Sarah, you'll see Kacie, and if you keep looking, you'll see what she saw that night that made her leave."

I leaned in to get a better look as I scanned the picture, trying to take in exactly what I was looking at. Kacie's strawberry blonde hair should have stood out the first time I looked, but it didn't. I followed Kacie's line of sight, and my breath caught. She saw me kiss Ariella that night.

My head started to spin, and my pulse raced as it sank in. Kacie thought I'd betrayed her. She was angry with me, not Ariella.

"I guess you're realizing that it wasn't my fault." She pushed a finger into my chest. "It was yours." I shook my head as I struggled to accept that my sister was dead because of me, and on top of it, I'd punished Ariella for it. "This was the reason I wanted you to tell her. She thought we were sneaking around behind her back."

"We weren't." I dragged a hand down my face, tasting the bitter truth of what I'd really wanted back then. Ariella had been the only one with enough sense to stop it, but I'd wanted her so fucking bad I was willing to risk it.

"But that's not what it looks like in that picture." She thrust the phone in my face, her knuckles white around the case. "If you had just told her?—"

"I couldn't, Ariella—" The words ripped from my throat as I cut her off, pacing like a caged animal. "I couldn't tell her."

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