“I want you to change that,” he explains, and I finally understand.
Will is sick of being an outsider. Of always looking in. This is Stella’s punishment for making him feel like he was never good enough. Will had money, but money and blackmail? What a potent cocktail for a lover scorned.
“You can’t be serious. This will ruin me,” she says, shaking her head.
Which is exactly why Will has asked her to do this. “I also want you to tell your husband what we did.”
“No, Will. Please, no. You can’t expect me to do that. He will never understand. He will never forgive me.”
Pleading with a psychopath only evokes insanity. “I had money, and I thought that would appease the beast within, but it didn’t, and that’s because I want something more.”
“And what’s that?” Stella asks, her lower lip quivering. The sight breaks me.
“Revenge,” Will replies simply. “I want you to feel what I did, Star. I want you to lose the one thing which always meant more than me. Your precious reputation.”
If she does what he wants, it will ruin her because the social circles will have a field day, tainting the Lane name. It shouldn’t matter, but to Stella, it does. The Lane name would forever be stained, thanks to a young Stella Lane falling for the wrong boy.
“I can’t,” Stella cries, and seeing her this way has me wanting to go to her, but I don’t. And that’s because I know there is more to come.
“You will because if you don’t, I will forever be a constant presence in your life. I will haunt you. All of you,” he adds, glaring at me. “And I will put in an anonymous call to the local police about the body at the bottom of the lake.”
“And when they drain it and find no body, what then?” I challenge, because his story has a major plot hole.
But he reminds me whose show it is. “Who said there wasn’t a body?”
My stomach roils, and I cover my mouth, fearful I’m about to be sick. “They’ll do DNA testing. They’ll discover it’s not you.”
“The only thing that lays in the bottom of that lake is some sad, old bones. Good luck if they find a trace of DNA after ten long years. You did me a favor. Being dead allowed me to escape the debts I owed, and with all my money, I was able to build my own empire.”
This is too far-fetched to believe, but I don’t doubt him for a moment. I say a prayer for whoever’s bones lay in the watery grave. “When Cayden finds you…” I snarl, measuring my breaths. “He’s going to kill you…for real this time.”
“I wouldn’t be so sure about that.”
My blood turns cold.
“What did you do?”
“I commend Cayden for his creativity. Too bad Benny is one of the bad guys…like me.”
“No.” I stagger backward, my heart in my throat.
“What’s going on?” Stella asks, but I can’t speak because I knew, deep down I knew it would always end this way.
Will couldn’t appear happier as he says, “Oh, you didn’t know? Cayden was attempting to rat me out to a dear old friend. He’s indebted to me after I got his sorry ass released from prison early. It’s amazing the good your money can do, Stella, because a lot of people would turn a blind eye when bribed with a substantial sum of cash.”
I shake my head slowly, not believing this is happening right now. Will was in control. We were stupid to think there was ever another way. “Where is he?”
There is no need for me to elaborate who.
Will peers down at his leather cuff watch. “I think right about now, Benny is teaching my son what happens to snitches…they get stitches,” he adds with a humored chuckle.
This man feels nothing for no one, and he can blame Stella all he wants, but Will Coachman was born bad. He only needed a reason to ruin the lives of so many to add value to his.
“No,” I sob, rummaging for my cell in my pocket. My hands are sticky with blood and fumbling with nerves, so the phone ends up plummeting to the floor.
When I dive for it, Will traps it under his motorcycle boot. I peer up at him with nothing but hatred. “You asshole. You won’t get away with this.”
He bends low, leveling me with his smugness. “I already have.”
“No!” I launch forward, ready to kill him with my bare hands. But it costs me. It costs us all.
Will twists and grabs my arms, dragging me into his chest. He threads his fingers through my hair and yanks hard. He cranes my neck back as I grunt in pain.
“Maybe we can come to a compromise then, Star.” When he rubs his groin against my back, there is no need for him to draw a diagram. “I’ll let you go. You can live your perfect life while I live mine with your daughter.” His wet tongue laps at my cheek slowly as he jerks my head back farther.
“Get your hands off her, you bastard!”
“The choice is yours. Will you sacrifice everything for the life of another? Can you really be that selfless?”
“Of course! She is my daughter. My own flesh and blood! I will do anything to save her. What do you want?”
This entire time, she’s proven that she would. I owe her a thousand apologies.
Will exhales, the waves of anger rolling off him. “That’s real admirable, but there isn’t really a choice. It’s time I taught you Lanes a lesson. You think you’re better than me?” he spits into my face, his spittle coating my cheeks. “Well, I’ll show you because this is just good, old-fashion revenge.”
And that’s far scarier than some elaborate plan.