Page 61 of Lightning Angel
“That’s not just it. Do you wanna hear what he nearly made me do yesterday? I went to the secluded bridge to take away my life; because it was either my surrender to him or ruining your reputation. I’m so sorry I almost believed it when he claimed he has your pictures, that he has a camera in your bathroom—”
“What?” Cassie gasped aloud and turned to her so-called boyfriend, betrayal and disbelief flashing in her eyes. Brandon avoided meeting her eyes and fixed his gaze on Alexa with an unreadable expression.
Alexa continued, “But it has all been a sham to get what he wanted, because he knew I would do anything for my sister in a heartbeat, especially when your reputation is at risk. He used my love for you as his advantage; he used a ruse of your pictures to threaten me.”
“Oh, and what makes you think it’s fake?” Brandon scoffed, his handsome face twisted with challenge and smugness.
“I made sure of it,” Tristan said, his voice ringing with power.
Brandon snorted, his eyes mocking. “Oh, did you,boy?”
“Don’t underestimate him, Brandon. You’ve lost.”
Brandon turned his mocking eyes to Alexa. He smirked. “Does your sister knowwhyI blackmailed you? I’m sure she deserves to know the reason.” He locked eyes with Cassie who hadn’t taken her eyes off him the entire time.
Alexa’s anger burned. Before she realized, she began speaking. “You’re a fraud, Brandon. A scammer, a blackguard, cheap, and good for nothing. My sister deserves someone man enough to honor her and love her; you’re not a man, you just look like one.”
Brandon’s eyes flared for a moment before he composed himself and smirked. “I thank you for the compliment, Alexa. Still, your sister deserves an explanation.” His eyes turned to Cassie again, his expression unwavering. “I never loved you. Everything I have ever said to you was fake. I had to fake it; I had to keep faking my love for you because it was the only way I could stay close to your sister. You’re a good person Cassie, but the girl I’ve always wanted was your sister, even though I knew she’d never see me the way I do her and that she had a possessive wretch of a boyfriend. With him out of the way and you leaving me as her temporary guardian, it was my time to see if she felt the same for me.
“But no,” he said with a laugh. “Ever the loyal sister that your precious little Alexa is, she only ever saw me as a brother. Her rejection enraged me even though I had been prepared for it, so I blackmailed her, using the only weapon that would surrender her—her love for you. I have always admired the bond you two shared, but I never thought how advantageous it would make. Well, nearlyadvantageous. I wanted her to fulfill my desires if it’s the only thing I could get from her. But she found the loophole and somehow figured out my scheme.”
He cast a pointed glance at Alexa.
The room was so thick with tension that one could cut it with a knife. When the silence began to feel almost deafening despite the muffled noises from the neighborhood, Cassie’s voice shattered it.
“Get out.”
Brandon chuckled, holding her gaze.
“If I ever see you again or around my sister, I’ll call the police.” She was barely holding herself together. Alexa could see her breaking into pieces inside. She wanted to hold her sister badly, but any such act would cause Cassie to lose her fragile guard in front of Brandon. Neither of them wanted that.
“You heard her.”
Alexa turned to Tristan and saw him pinning Brandon with a death glare. His jaw was clenched, and his features sharpened by the effect.
“Oh, will you make me otherwise?”
Brandon’s response grated on Alexa like sandpaper and she wanted to throw something at him with a powerful blow. She wondered how Tristan was doing this, maintaining his composure.
“Absolutely.” Tristan shrugged his shoulders casually, as though he was agreeing to play a game with him.
Brandon eyed him warily. “Who do you think you are, huh?”
“You wanna know?” Alexa asked him before Tristan could respond. “I’ll enlighten you. He’s the reasonI’mnot a dead body found under the secluded bridge andyou’restanding here instead of behind bars in shackles.”
Cassie pivoted to her with horrified eyes. “What?”
Her sister probably missed it when she mentioned it earlier. Alexa took a deep breath and recounted the incident.
“He,” she said, jerking her chin at Brandon. “Gave me a deadline to surrender; today was it. Since he made me believe he has those pictures, I couldn’t imagine what would happen to you if he released it, because I was not going to bend to his will. I couldn’t tell you or anyone, couldn’t call the authorities, couldn’t doanything. He threatened me not to. My only option was taking my life; if the last thing I did was sparing you from such misery, it was what I wanted to do. If I lived and didn’t surrender to him, your life would be ruined; but if I died, not only would you be spared, he would be behind bars too. I was too blind to realize that my death would only bring you lifetime misery, because the moment the thought of dying crossed my mind it was all I could think of. This happened after I returned from church yesterday. I left you and Daph and John letters in my diary and drove to the bridge in your car.
“I didn’t want to do it, I couldn’t do it, but I had to; at least that’s what my thoughts told me. I listened to it, convinced myself I was doing the right thing even as I talked with you on the way. I parked your car down the bridge and threw the key underneath so it wouldn’t fall into the wrong hands; I had mentioned I’d do so in my letter for you. Then, I went to the bridge and climbed over the rails.”
Alexa squeezed her eyes shut and released a stream of tears, undeterred by Brandon’s presence. “But Tristanpulled me back to life,” she whispered, turning to Tristan.
His eyes were unreadable as their gazes locked. She turned back to Brandon. “Do you have your answer now?”
Brandon’s eyes smoldered, bouncing between her and Tristan. “So it washimwho attacked me last night.”