Page 78 of Wicked Spite
“Chill, pennywise,” he mutters, eyes glued to the screen. His fingers move in a blur over the phone, tapping and swiping with practiced precision. “You know, I’d never letmyself get caught chasing my wife across the state looking like a clown, so the name really is fitting for you right now.”
“Shut up, Ramsey,” I snarl, cutting him off before he can continue. “You’re not helping and all I want to do is gut you and hang you by your entrails so you slowly die while fixing. THE. FUCKING. TRACKER.” The words bite through clenched teeth, each syllable laced with venom.
“Just saying,” he shrugs nonchalantly, though there’s a glint of amusement in his eyes.
“I’m going to fucking kill her,” I shoot back, pressing harder on the accelerator.
“They do say that it is always the spouse,” Ramsey mumbles, focusing back on the phone.
“I can’t let her run. Not now, not ever,” I say, voice low and dangerous.
“Relax,” he replies, finally looking serious for once. “I’ve almost got it. Just keep your eyes on the road and try not to kill us.”
“Keep talking and I’ll make sure you’re the first casualty,” I say, but there’s no real heat in the words. It’s all directed inward. Every ounce of wicked wrath focused on one thing: finding Reagan.
“Yeah, yeah,” he smirks again, but this time it’s strained. He knows the stakes as well as I do. “Just drive. I’ll handle the tech.”
“Good,” I mutter, eyes fixed on the road ahead. “Because when I find her, she’s going to have to pay, and I won’t be going easy on her anymore.”
“Got it,” Ramsey announces, breaking the tense silence. His fingers dance across the phone screen, and a smirk curls at the corner of his mouth. “She’s at Wellington Academy?”
“Are you sure?” I ask, though it’s more of a growl. My griptightens on the steering wheel, knuckles white against the leather. “What the hell is she doing there?”
Ramsey shrugs, as if it’s the most obvious thing in the world. He turns the phone my way, the little blinking dot confirming Reagan’s location. “And left her phone to throw you off. Smart move, really.”
“Smart?” I bark out a harsh laugh. “Yeah, I guess it would have been if she didn’t have the goddamn tracker in her. She thinks she’s clever. Thinks she can just slip away? That’s her little sister’s school. “
“Looks like it,” he chuckles, but there’s an edge to it. We both know this isn’t a game. “Gotta admit, though, leaving the phone in the fucking hallway was dumb. She should have dumped it or given it to someone else.”
“I’m going to kill her,” I mutter under my breath, eyes narrowing.
“Yeah, well, at least we know where she is now,” Ramsey says, trying to diffuse the tension. “So, what’s the plan?”
“Plan?” I sneer, pressing harder on the gas pedal. The engine roars, matching the feelings inside me. “The plan is to drag her back home and remind her what happens when she breaks deals with me.”
“She made a deal with the devil’s protégé,” Ramsey quips, shaking his head. “She shouldn’t be surprised that he’s pissed when she tries to bail.”
“Exactly,” I snap, frustration boiling over. “First time I leave her alone and she pulls this shit. Unbelievable.”
“Thought you two had something special, like Romeo and Juliet without ya know, the weird underage undertones,” he teases, but there’s no humor in his eyes.
“Special?” I echo, voice dripping with sarcasm. “Special, my ass. She saw something she shouldn’t have, and Robertforbade me from killing her. I tried to be decent to her while keeping her quiet, but she just had to fuck that up. And now I’m fucking mad.”
“Maybe she thought you’d kill her eventually, and this was her chance to run,” Ramsey suggests, half-joking. But we both know there’s a sliver of truth in his words.
“She knows better than that,” I say, though part of me wonders if she really does. “If I really wanted her dead, I had countless ways I could have done it, and no one would have never traced it back to me.”
“Then why run?” he asks, genuinely curious.
“Because she’s stubborn,” I reply, jaw clenching. “And because she’s scared. Thinks she can protect herself by hiding. But she can’t. Not from me.”
“Well, guess we’ll find out soon enough,” Ramsey murmurs, turning his attention back to the phone.
“Yeah,” I agree, a dark promise in my voice. “We fucking will.”
“So, what was the plan after graduation, Penn? Let her go? Like how long were you actually planning on being married to her?” Ramsey asks all the questions I have been avoiding asking myself for a while now.
“Let her go?” I scoff, gripping the wheel tighter. “Not a chance in hell.”
