Page 46 of Unmasked Rivalry
“No,” I say firmly, as if I have a choice.
Ralston stares into me for a good ten seconds, then smiles, pulls something from his jacket. It’s a small black USB drive. He tosses it onto the counter. “I thought you’d decide to make this difficult.”
I stare at it, confused. “What the hell is that?”
“I didn’t want to have to hurt you, Callie, but considering you’re refusing to listen, I am left with no choice.”
He pushes the USB across the counter with one thick finger, like it’s a bomb ready to go off. “I suggest you watch it before you see your boy again.” He’s still smiling, but it’s the kind you see on a dog right before it bites.
I stare at the thing. “Why?"
Ralston shrugs. “You’ll see, and when you’re done watching, we can finish this conversation.”
“What if I say no?” I snap. “Or go fuck yourself?”
He steps closer, crowding my space. “You think you know what you want, but you’re about to find out otherwise. I can promise you, Callie, once you see that, you’ll thank me for this little intervention.”
“Fuck you,” I mumble, but he’s already heading out, his goons wordless behind him.
The door slams. My kitchen smells like aftershave, and I fight the urge to clean again, just to get the smell of him out of here. I stare down at the drive, then pick it up. My hands are shaking. I don’t know if I want to see whatever is on here, and yet my curiosity tells me I’m going to watch it, even if I shouldn’t.
My laptop is stuffed somewhere in the car—so I step outside and tiptoe across the gravel. I pop the trunk and grab the laptop. My hands never stop shaking, not even when I get back insideand put in the USB. No folder names, just a single .mp3 file. “PLAY ME,” the title says. Real subtle.
I double-click.
Static. Then a voice—two men, both distorted, but I know one of those voices so well. Knox.
“We got him running the shipment,” the other man says, a voice I don’t recognize.
“Yeah,” Knox’s voice, cold, efficient, nothing like the way he talks to me. “He’s an idiot, but he’s perfect for this. I need him gone, out of the picture. Harper’s not the same since he’s been around. She’s up to something, and the two of them are going to get in trouble, or worse, killed. I don’t know what they’re doing, but that fucker is an addict and I don’t want him around.”
A pause.
“Long as it doesn’t land on me, we’re good, brother.”
“It won’t. I’ve got it all covered. Just make sure Ruger goes down clean. If he brings anyone else into it, I’ll do what I have to,” Knox murmurs, low.
The air goes out of my lungs.
I listen now, numb, as they keep talking—details of the route, set times, names I barely recognize. At one point, Knox laughs. It’s a hard sound, nothing like how he laughs with me.
The file ends.
I don’t move for a full five minutes. When I finally do, it’s to close the laptop and set my forehead against it, trying to breathe through what I just heard. Maybe I’m wrong, maybe it is a misunderstanding.
I know I’m not wrong.
It was clear as day what I heard.
My brother’s in prison because of Knox. He lied. He set Ruger up. He did it for Harper, but that is beside the point. He has spent the last month lying to me, fucking me, making me fallfor him when all along, he knew why my brother was gone and he did nothing to change it.
He didn’t tell me, he didn’t even try.
Not to mention Ruger and Harper were up to something together, another blow, another betrayal from the people I love the most. Everything in me is ice and glass. I want to throw up, or smash something, or just cry from the sheer broken pain in my chest.
He let me fall in love with him, and all along he has been lying.
I drill my nails into my palms and try to figure out if I want him dead, or if I want to crawl into his lap and scream in his face until he gives me his heart so I can crush it in my fist. Either way, this pain is unlike anything I have ever felt.
