Enemies & Lovers by Christine Zolendz

Author:Christine Zolendz [Zolendz, Christine]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Christine Zolendz
Published: 2020-11-21T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 15

Claire

I feel a wave of relief when I slip back into my own dry clothes, but my stomach is a tangle of bubbling nerves. I still need to find those accounts. I don’t have a choice.

The bedroom door is closed and this might be the only chance I have to search through everything in this room again, alone. Vaughn listened to me vent before, and that’s all well and fine, but I’m not sure he understands what’s really at stake for me. He doesn’t know what it’s like to have nothing—no money, no family, no one to count on. And I’m not one hundred percent positive he believes anything I’ve told him.

My fingers tremble as I flit through the dresser drawers that Silas and my mother shared. Clothes. Books. Jewelry. Bits and pieces of their life together.

“What are you doing?” Vaughn’s voice asks from behind me.

Startled, I reel away, dropping everything in my hands. I didn’t even hear him open the door. My palms start to tingle and sweat. I wipe them down the sides of my jeans and stare at him. I’m positive there must be a bright neon guilty sign flashing on my cheeks. I shouldn’t feel guilty. I’m just trying to save myself and I can’t see any other way out of this situation. Even if I call the administration, even if I explain, if those pictures get sent, no one will be able to unsee them.

“What. Are. You. Doing?” he repeats slower. Louder.

I throw my hands in the air, “Those messages are serious, Vaughn. Do you think this is all some sort of a joke? Whoever it is wants to destroy my life. And they can. I’m scared. Please help me find the accounts.” I open and close my mouth trying to say more, but words slip and slide along my tongue. “Please,” I beg.

“No,” he growls. “No blackmailing asshole is getting my father’s accounts. I don’t care if your pussy gets plastered all over Times Square. It isn’t happening.”

My pulse pounds loud in my ears, making them pop. “You son-of-a—”

“Go right to the police, Claire. I’ll even go with you if you want, but you’re not handing over money that’s not yours to someone just because they demand it.” His face turns a funny shade of red.

He needs to understand. He needs to know how frantic, how terrified I am. “If those pictures get out—”

“Why did you even take them in the first place?” he roars, taking a step closer to me.

My stomach drops. I can’t believe his audacity. Has he completely lost his damn mind? “Why do you think?” I can’t keep the sharp bite out of my voice.

Vaughn glares at me.

I glare right back.

“Maybe you like getting your picture taken,” he says icily, folding his arms across his chest. “By the quick peek I had of them, it sure looked like you were enjoying yourself. And it sure as hell looked like you did it a lot.” He laughs bitterly, manically. “You must really get around.

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