Chapter 4
Nicholas’s POV
We’d just pulled up to the house. I was about to enter the front door when Trevor stuck his foot ir the frame like he owned the place.
“Cameron, you’re filthy,” he said with a fake–smile tone that didn’t match the look in his eyes “You should clean up in the yard before coming inside.”
“The hose out back still works. I’ll send someone to give you a hand.”
Trevor’s tone was soft and friendly as he spoke, as if he was doing me a favor, but his eyes helc a sharp, cruel glint, like he was about to kick a stray.
It was the dead of winter.
Outside, water hit the ground and froze before it settled. If I rinsed off out there, I’d be lucky to make it through the night without catching a cold.
I turned toward Kylie, waiting for her to say anything, but she didn’t even look at me. Just kept walking like she hadn’t heard a word.
“Clean yourself up before you come inside,” she said over her shoulder.
Then the front door slammed shut behind her, loud enough to rattle the windows, locking me out like I was some animal they didn’t want tracking dirt across their floors.
I crouched by the old faucet, the metal so rusted it looked like it hadn’t been used in years. Before I could even turn the knob, three bodyguards circled me.
Same guys who slapped my brother across the face at his wedding.
They yanked the hose off the fire hydrant nearby, letting it coil like a snake between them.
“Don’t take it personal, Mr. Knight,” the leader said with a grin, his tongue flicking across his bottom lip like he was about to enjoy this too much.
A blast of freezing water hit me square in the collar, racing down my back like ice.
“Miss said to get into every crevice,” he added, twisting the nozzle. “She wants you squeaky
clean.”
Upstairs, I saw the edge of a curtain shift just enough to catch Trevor’s silhouette behind it. As soon as Kylie walked by, he tugged it shut and disappeared.
I blinked the freezing water from my eyes, my skin stinging like it had been lit on fire, and then gave a chilling smile.
Then, I shoved the high–pressure hose into their mouths, one after another.
When I walked into the freshly cleaned and bone–dry house, three brand new “fountain sculptures” were lying in the yard–faces bloated, bodies puffed up like overfed livestock.
Kylie wrinkled her nose and tossed me a towel.
She wrapped it around my wet hair with a gentleness that didn’t match the rest of her behavior.
“What took you so long?” Kylie asked, her voice light, as if nothing outside had happened. “I told you to just rinse your feet.”
9:20 pm GD
She slid a steaming bowl of chicken soup across the table.
“Had the kitchen make this just for you. Go change and come back down. Drink it while it’s hot.”
Trevor’s eyes practically glowed with jealousy as he snatched up the bowl, grinning like the perfect little host. He brought it over to me with both hands, trying too hard.
But the second I reached for it, the bowl tipped.
Boiling chicken soup spilled straight down the front of me.
“Ah!” Trevor yelped, stumbling back with all the drama of a bad soap actor. “Cameron! I was trying to be nice, and you intentionally knocked the bowl into me! You burned me! I get it, you hate me. Kylie, I’m done! I’m leaving! I won’t come back to make you uncomfortable ever again!”
Kylie rushed to his side like he’d been shot, grabbing his perfectly fine hand and clutching it like he was bleeding out.
She didn’t even glance at me, not at the soup soaking through my clothes or the angry red burns starting to rise on my skin.
She didn’t notice, and worse, she didn’t care.
Instead, she whipped around, her voice sharp. “Cameron, apologize to Trevor!”
At that moment, something struck me in the chest, cold and heavy.
So this was what my brother dealt with, too? Being genuine, being kind, and having it fed straight to the damn dogs.
Without a word, I turned and lunged toward the front entry.
One sharp beep, and the lock on the villa door clicked shut behind me. No one was leaving now.
Kylie spun around, her voice rising. “Cameron, what the hell are you doing?! Have you completely lost your damn mind?”
She pointed at Trevor like she was talking to a misbehaving kid.
“Apologize to Trevor! Right now!”
My face darkened, eyes bloodshot.
Slowly, I began walking toward them.
At that moment, Trevor, still clinging to Kylie’s arm, suddenly widened his eyes in terror.
He pointed a trembling finger at the television on the wall, too startled to speak.
“You… You’re…”
I raised a finger to my lips, whispering to them, “Shh. The real show is just beginning.”
Chapter 4
