Page 35 of Accept Me (Fate’s Choice #4)

I scrolled further and found another blurry shot, clearly snapped in a rush: an open wallet, and behind the plastic sleeve on the left side was a photo of a young Star. Around fourteen years old, long blond hair draped over his shoulders, wide eyes staring into the camera, smiling widely.

The whole story began clicking into place inside my head.

This son of a bitch had pulled over a gorgeous alpha one night, maybe for drunk driving, maybe some other traffic violation, and somehow coerced him into sex. Maybe Cole offered it to get out of trouble, maybe Nash threatened him, maybe forced him outright.

But how the hell had he gotten that wallet photo of Star? Did he knock Cole out cold and go rifling through his things?

I checked the timestamp.

March 13th, eight years ago.

I glanced back at my burner, where the search results were still loading. One of the pages mentioned that the well-known model Cole Daniels had died in a car accident: and… it had been March 13th, the very same year.

I froze, my throat tight, forcing down a hard swallow as emotions surged through me so violently I could barely stay standing.

I looked at Nash. He was staring at me, utterly still, his eyes locked on mine, waiting to see what I would say.

Back when he was still a cop… was this what he did?

Shaking people down, forcing them into sex, and if they resisted, arranging their accidents?

Or maybe Cole wasn’t as easy to intimidate as others, after all, he was a famous model.

Maybe he had threatened to go public, to ruin Nash’s career.

And that was the moment Nash decided Cole Daniels had to die?

Somehow, the corrupt cop also peeked into his victim's wallet and found a picture of a beautiful young omega.

And that’s where his obsession began…

Something made me keep scrolling through his phone, and it didn’t surprise me at all when I found more pictures.

Filled condoms. Faces of different omegas, betas, and alphas staring straight into the camera from the driver’s seat of their cars.

There were so many of them that I kept scrolling and scrolling, stunned that this man had gotten away with rape after rape for so many years.

Slowly, I slipped the phone back into my pocket; I had seen enough. I leaned over the beast slightly.

"I’ve changed my mind about you, Nash. We’re going to stay here for a while."

I gave him a cold, predatory smile.

"You know, at first I thought I’d waste some time trying to squeeze out of you how you made contact with Dino, and how you were involved with that mechanical cat of his. But honestly, does it even matter? That idiot’s already dead. I killed him. Which means the only one left to kill… is you."

I nodded with a certain satisfaction.

"Unfortunately for you, my original plan to push you off a cliff changed the moment I saw what was on this phone. The bad news for you is… I’m Star’s True Mate.

Which means even if they find me and tie me to your death, everything on your phone will be proof enough that I could’ve snapped in a justified rage I couldn’t control myself.

So I’m really glad you were arrogant enough to keep all this evidence on your own cell.

I’ll make sure it gets delivered anonymously to the right people. But enough talking."

I picked up the tools I had brought with me, the ones meant to end him.

"No point wasting time on chit-chat."

Nash twisted his mouth in a sneer. Then he spat out, "You should regret not being the one to pluck his flower first. Star was the sweetest omega I ever raped. Totally worth the two-year hassle."

This time it was my turn to smile. I patted the pocket where my voice recorder was.

"Oh, perfect. Thanks for admitting that. I’ll make sure your little confession gets added to the phone before I send it off to Detective Arnold."

Then I stopped smiling.

I’ll admit, I hadn’t expected him to crack; he was a seasoned predator, after all.

But I was wrong.

It took me exactly ten minutes.

◆◆◆

The sun was already rising over the cliff as I walked down from it. It was 4:40 am, and the forest was waking up.

However, not everyone in it was waking up that day.

I reached my car half an hour later. Once I had driven at least forty minutes away from that place, I powered on Nash’s phone and pulled over to the side of the road.

First, I copied the pictures from his gallery folder, those showing people sitting behind the wheels of cars, into an app that blurred faces beyond recognition in a single batch process. Only then did I put his SIM card back in. I didn’t care that the tower could now triangulate my location.

I logged into his Facebook and started posting. One after another.

"January 12, I raped this person."

I attached the blurred photo, plus the unblurred one of a condom full of cum.

"February 19, I raped this person."

And so on.

I went through all of them, uploading each blurred face with the date.

When I got to the photo of Star’s father, I added a line:

"And this man I also killed, staging it as an accident."

Then I made a separate post:

"I killed my own husband too, after he found out what I had done."

I attached the photo of the body lying facedown, the one I assumed was Star’s dad, also blurred.

Afterward, I wrapped the phone tightly in foil, taped a note to it reading: For Detective Arnold. Evidence. And placed it in the center of a small roundabout. Not obvious from the road, but easy to find if the device was pinged from a cell tower.

Then I drove off calmly. I ditched the rubber gloves and burner phone only once I reached the nearest small town.

Back home, I showered, threw my clothes into the wash, and then returned to the car.

Soon, I switched on the GPS, and the original plates were back on, the trunk thoroughly sprayed with disinfectant to kill off Nash’s lingering stench.

When all that was done, I got behind the wheel and headed for the marina.

It was about 6:30 am when I arrived.

Everyone still seemed asleep… except not.

When I stepped onto the deck, I saw Bay sitting alone, leaning against the railing, vaping. His eyes were dark green, like a deep forest. He fixed them on me without a word, just watching.

"It’s done," I said flatly, sitting down beside him.

"You should take a souvenir. That’s what I do."

Silence stretched. I stared at him. He narrowed his eyes slightly, tilted his head.

"What? Wanna ask me about what I said?"

"Rather not. Some things are better left unsaid."

"Couldn’t agree more. But I’m glad you dealt with him. Thank you for pulling that weed out of society."

I stayed quiet, a strange mix of unease and grim satisfaction running through me.

"How did you even know all this…?"

"That’s my secret," he said, winking with fake lightness.

But I didn’t dare press further. Deep down, I was sure of one thing: whatever Bay knew, guessed, or suspected, he wouldn’t do anything that could harm me. I could feel that in my bones.

Needing desperately to lighten up the topic, I narrowed my eyes.

"I heard Gabriel isn’t the top fighter among the Nolans anymore.

Word is the ranking goes like this: you, with whatever kind of training you’ve got that lets you wipe out multiple alphas at once, then Gabriel with his Muay Thai and MMA, then me with my marine combat training, and finally Veyron with his jujitsu. "

Bay took another drag, then his mouth curved into a dark smile.

No response.

"Interesting, a famous singer who’s into martial arts? That’s unheard of."

"You never know when a psycho fan might come for you, right?" he said lightly, brushing it off. Clearly he didn’t want to talk about his training, and I didn’t push.

"But… thank you for protecting Star, Bay," I added simply.

"Always. If you ever need backup, call me."

I wanted to respond, but then I heard the sound of bare feet coming up the stairs. Our voices must have woken Star.

I stood up immediately. He emerged from below deck, the morning wind catching in his loose, pale hair. His face, still flushed from sleep, looked nothing like those horrifying courtroom photos.

He turned toward me, and I saw it.

Pure, unguarded joy at the sight of me, so strong his whole body almost jolted with it.

He leapt at me, and I leapt to meet him. He clung to me like a facehugger, his young, vibrant body pressing tight against mine. Our mouths crashed together in a wild, wet, hungry kiss.

I instantly regretted we weren’t alone, but Bay seemed to get it. I caught the flicker of pain across his face before he rose and muttered,

"I’ll leave you two. The deck is yours for now."

He disappeared below deck, and I sank onto the bench. Star straddled my lap, yanking off his boxers in one motion. Thirty seconds later, he was sliding down onto my cock without ever breaking the kiss. A few moments later, he was completely stuffed with it, breathing deeply.

But the pause didn't last long; he began to move almost immediately, his hips pulling down hard and thrusting up with a hungry rhythm. His ring of muscles held me so tight it was like a perfect massage, pushing me toward release at a terrifying pace.

I heard his breathless moans, his pounding heartbeat as he impaled himself with desperate passion, starved and eager.

Something inside me, the darkness I had sunk into hours ago, instantly cleared out, dissolving and leaving only certainty.

Certainty that I had done exactly what I had to do.

For Star. He deserved safety and… revenge.

"I love you…" I whispered, barely believing I could feel this way about anyone after just over two weeks. But I did. Real, present, alive inside me. Tangible, like blood now rushing intensely through my veins.

Star cried out, threw his head back, and came, spraying a pearly stream I caught in my palms and quickly licked clean, almost as if my confession tumbled him over the blissful edge. My own orgasm hit almost in sync with his, flooding me with strange relief.

Everything was okay now.