Page 120 of Heart Sick Hate

He’s either a great actor or genuinely shocked.

“I don’t handle Eternal Light’s finances.” His jaw clenches.

“Then who does?”

Ryan’s eyes dart around the room. Panic, frustration. A carousel of emotion. “Your brother.”

His stare lands back on mine and truth cements between us. My stomach turns and my fingers clench.

“Rhett?”

He nods. “So you’re saying he’s stealing from the church?”

“Fuck.” I nod, raking my fingers through my hair.

How have I been so blind? Rhett’s always been the golden child. The good boy. The holy son. He’s the one people rely on and look to for guidance. And all that has given him the greatest power of all.

Belief.

It’s stronger than money. Stronger than influence.

“Where is Echo?” The realization that she’s not answering her phone spins a web of tension inside me.

“In my office, why?” But then his eyes widen, and I feel him having the same thought I am. “She was going to end it with him.”

I nod, brushing past him, even if I feel him following.

I thought I knew my brother. And even if we didn’t get along, I still thought he was the safer option. But pieces are clicking into place from as far back as I can remember. Echo ending things with him might be the final thing to set him off. Everything is going to come to a head once she tells him she’s leaving him, and I have to find her before that happens.

Storming down the hallway that leads to Ryan’s office, the walls are tunneling in on themselves. The ceiling shrinks downward, and the sides of this box are caving around me. The tightening in my chest only worsens when I finally reach the door to Ryan’s office and it is cracked.

Gasped crying comes from the other side as I push it open.

“Echo?”

But it’s not her. It’s the dark-haired girl who talked to me at Rhett and Echo’s engagement party. She’s curled in a ball with her knees pulled to her chest. Dark bruising is forming on her neck and makeup smears like bleeding paint down her cheeks.

Her eyes freeze me in place. Emptiness. Not sad even if she’s crying. They’re a void and she’s lost. She’s a pawn likeeveryone is, in a game we didn’t know we were playing into.

Rhett’s been hiding behind a cross, using it to shield the truth.

“Are you okay?” Ryan’s expression pinches. “Crew, call—”

“Where is she?” I ask, cutting him off.

His eyes snap to me, then widen, as he realizes the state Angelina is in, and that Echo isn’t here.

Both of us look back at Angelina, who’s staring at me with pity. She let Rhett use her—break her. And she’s paying the price.

“Is she with him?”

Please say no.

Please say no.

“I—” She reaches up, rubbing her neck. “He said he loved me.”

She’s avoiding the question, and I have to dig my fingernails into my palm to ground me. To remind me she has answers, and if I push too hard, she’ll retreat like my brother likely trained her to.

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