Page 230 of Poison Aches

“Beverly always knew…”

“She knew you were alive, yes, but she didn’t know where you were. Do you wanna know why that is?” Emmett's posture reminds me of what it means to be lured into hell. Each word, the sound of his deep voice that pierces my soul like sharp knives. Everything about him is a setup and I’m helpless. I will definitely fall.

“Why?”

“Because your poor brother that you rebelled against has been keeping you hidden,” he says. “And now, not only did that fuckhead take videos of you, he also kept details of your cybercrimes, and guess where he sent them and how they will weaponize your crimes against you?”

“Oh God.”

Samuel… he works for the country’s secret intelligent agencies. They will use my crimes to make it seem as if it was all my brother’s doing.

“You wouldn’t.”

“I don’t have to do any of that,” Emmett says simply. “But to break you, they are already doing it.”

I can hear the rain and thunder loud and clear, but as I stare into Emmett’s cold, sharp eyes… he’s no longer the boy that jumped over a cliff with me.

He’s the man that hates me.

“Pandora…” Emmett repeats, his voice dropping a few decimals deeper, closer, more dangerous and mocking. “Either you’re plain dumb or just unlucky, but you have a knack for predicting your own downfall, and meeting me, fucking with me, that was your end, and now, it’s time to dole out your punishment.”

“Punishment?” I croak.

I stare at the now unfamiliar man crouched in front of me.

He watches me back… our gazes holding.

As I watch, he smirks, but it’s not playful.

It’s not flirtatious.

It’s not calming or even humorous…

That smirk has a hint of dark, twisted malice in it. The kind I know damn well Emmett has kept under a tight leash all the years I’ve known him.

But this time, he’s letting me see a glimpse. On purpose.

Oh no.

I can’t help but pull back, my fingers clenching my shirt to the point of pain.

“Emmett, listen—” I stutter, but he doesn’t let me say another word.

“Did you think I wouldn’t be able to detect the treachery that lives in you, Ivy?”

The treachery that lives in me…

“Don’t worry, though,” he says softly. “You’re going to learn the consequences of your sins in the only way you and I understand each other. And that is intimately painful.”

With that, he stands and strides out of the bathroom.

Panicked, and worried for my brother, I flush the toilet and scramble to get up to wash my hands before going after him with my feet still covered in Jackson’s blood and wearing Emmett’s t-shirt, but I don’t care.

“Emmett!”

I follow him out of the bedroom and into a huge, dark hallway.

He’s now wearing a black silk bathrobe and already at the end of the hallway, so I run after him and enter another room, only to be met with darkness. Only a lone lamp by the huge desk is switched on.

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