Page 121 of Collateral Damage
Ethan is quiet for a long moment. “He found out about me and Arden and lost his temper… and apparently, his mind. Then he lost control of the boat.”
Every nerve in my body zings with either fire or ice, waging war within me. My thoughts spiral, trying to grasp onto this reality I no longer recognize as my own. So I’m supposed to live without a leg because Gregory lost his temper?
What. The. Fuck?
“I’m so sorry,” Ethan says. “This is my fault. I shouldn’t have hidden my relationship with Arden.”
I give my brother a long, withering look. As easy as it would be to blame him for this, I can’t.
“But you told our dad about her, and you had plans to tell everyone else. This isn’t your fault. How did Gregory find out, anyway?”
I can’t imagine Arden told him, but then again, that girl is a goodie. Heaven forbid she tell a lie.
His lips thin. “They were on the boat when Sybil let it slip. Gregory lost his shit, and when he saw us, I think he thought he was going to scare us, but he lost control of his boat and…”
And I already know the rest.
“Gregory is dead?” I ask.
“They haven’t been able to find his body, but there was so much blood in the water. It got dark. There are sharks in those waters, too. Drowned or not, they would’ve come for him.”
Yeah. Gregory is dead. I have no doubt about that. And I have nobody alive to blame, and as fucked up as it is, my psyche can’t handle it. Ineedto place blame as much as I need my fucking leg back.
“Sybil knew about you and Arden?”
Ethan nods. “Arden tried to tell her about us, and Sybil demanded we break up. We didn’t, obviously, so Arden had to lie to Sybil. The truth came out on the boat.”
It’s been years since that girl left our lives, but I still haven’t gotten over it. Now I know I never will, but not for the ways I used to think. Every time I take a step or even look at my leg, I’ll be reminded of how I lost it, of the girl who couldn’t keep her mouth shut, and I’ll be reminded of how much I hate her.
“Why can’t Sybil let us have anything good in our lives?” I spit.
“Sybil puts her family above all else,” Ethan says. “I’m not defending her, but I’m not surprised.”
Yeah. Well, fuck that, and fuck her.
The next six months are some of the hardest in my life, but I let my hatred for Sybil drive me through it. Like a fucked up beacon of hope, it’s leading me to a better place.
Turns out losing a leg below the knee is one of the easier limbs to lose, but it’s still hard as hell. I go through months of rehab and two different prosthetics before I can walk without horrible pain. There are so many times when I want to give up, but there’s one driving force, one thing I cling to like a lifeline.
A promise to myself.
A promise of revenge.
One day, Sybil Laurence will pay for the pain she’s caused me and my family. I don’t know how and I don’t know when, but it will happen.
Until then, I’ll be patient, take my time, do whatever I need to do. I’ll gain her trust, get in her good graces, and make her feel safe with me. She’ll think I don’t blame her for all the horrible shit she’s done. I’ll make her feel like the most important person in the world.
I swear… I swear on my dead mother, on my lost leg, on my brother’s broken engagement, on her asshole father’s decisions, and on everything that has ever happened between me and Sybil, I’m going to make Sybil Laurence wish she’d never met me.
I will break that girl just like she’s broken me.
Part Three
“Men at some time are masters of their fates.
The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars,
but in ourselves.”
