Page 141 of Stand: Part One

“What the fuck did you do?” I snarled.

Matt marched toward me in three steps and backhanded me across the face.

“What did I do?! Do you have any idea what you’ve done?!” he roared down at me.

I spit out the blood that burst into my mouth. “You mean saved her from a life of sexual servitude? Yeah, shame on me.”

He scoffed dramatically. “Oh please, spare me your hero complex. I don’t have time for that shit.”

“What have you done with her? Where is she?”

Matt scoffed. “I haven’t done anything with her because I don’t have her,” he snarled. “Yet.”

I glared at him, my wrists straining in my binds, but I took solace in the relief I felt knowing Kayla was still free of him. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

Matt placed his hands over his hips, sucking in a breath like he was having a hard time finding the words.

“Kayla has apparently teamed up with your old boyfriend to take Darren and his organization down.”

My brain froze, and my heart stopped. No way I just heard that.

“What did you just say?”

He dipped his chin, his gaze all business. “You heard me loud and fucking clear.”

I blinked, looking away to stare off into space as my reality shifted on its axis.

Was this real? Had this really happened?

No, it could be a trick. Don’t fall for it.

“Prove it,” I demanded.

Matt folded his arms across his chest, exhaling heavily. “Jason said you would know what Wily Wilder meant. Something about stealing a class pet from school or something?”

My breath caught in my chest, neurons firing in my brain like a pinball machine, bouncing against the walls, struggling to make a connection. Wily Wilder was a nickname I’d gotten in the second grade when my teacher caught me trying to sneak the class pet out of the classroom by hiding it in my backpack. But the little danger noodle slithered through a hole in the fabric and plopped out right onto my teacher’s desk as I headed for the door. The nickname stuck when I got caught for the third and final time.

“He also said that walking away from you in that bathroom in Rome was the hardest thing he’s ever had to do.”

My stomach dropped, the memory causing my eyes to water from an emotion I couldn’t afford to lose myself in right now. But I just couldn’t help it—hope and relief fluttering in my heart like a storm of freed butterflies.

She did it. Kayla found Jason. She actually made it out! She was safe!

“Holy shit,” I whispered to myself, my heart rate jumping through the roof. And then I grinned up at Matt like a goddamn fool. “That’s fucking awesome!”

My hype was only slightly compromised when Matt’s fist connected with my other cheek, the blow rocking my chair.

“Silence!” he bellowed. But even as the fierce pain radiated throughout my skull, I couldn’t stop the joyous laughter rolling up my throat.

“Did you just say silence? What are you, a Disney villain?” I chuckled through the sting.

“You took away the one thing that I actually gave a shit about in this world, so it probably wouldn’t be wise to celebrate in front of me, especially since those two are the only reasons you’re currently still breathing,” Matt warned, his voice rough like gravel.

And still, as my cheek began to swell, I laughed. “Yeah, forcing Kayla to sit on the floor and eat from your hand like a fucking animal just screams tender, loving care. Eat a dick, Matt. You never cared about her,” I retorted, unfazed. “You just wanted to own her.”

He looked at me like he wanted nothing more than to slaughter me, but I couldn’t stop smiling, practically dancing in my chair over the fact that Kayla had done it. Something we had planned had actually succeeded for once, and it made everything that Darren had done to me over it worth every torturous second.

Though, despite my hopes, Jason and Kayla teaming up with Matt was not something I had on my Operation Take Down bingo card. His involvement in all of this would surely make everything much more complicated. Could this asshole even be trusted? Was Kayla even safe with him around?