Total pages in book: 74
Estimated words: 67432 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 337(@200wpm)___ 270(@250wpm)___ 225(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 67432 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 337(@200wpm)___ 270(@250wpm)___ 225(@300wpm)
“Colton… seriously?” Jen looked shocked, her eyes bouncing between us. She seemed hurt. “Fake?”
I nodded, unable to form words past the knot in my throat.
“You know what? To hell with all of this.” My father stood so fast from his chair that it tipped over, crashing onto the floor. Macy jumped in her seat with a shout, covering her mouth with her frail hands. “Jackson, grab the will. We’re reading it now and ending this fucking trip.”
“But, Dad, wait, “ I said, wanting to give Eric time to work. He had all the pieces; now he just needed to put them together.
“No. This ends now.” My father stormed off into the living room. Kendall sat back with her arms crossed, a cocky grin on her face as she watched the place burn from the firestorm of chaos she’d started.
I could only imagine this night getting a whole lot worse before it got even a tiny bit better.
28
ERIC RUIZ
I knew who killed Amelia. It was right there on my phone. A video that showed a masked assailant sneaking up behind Colton’s mom and wrapping a rope tight around her neck, dropping her to her knees and squeezing until the life left her body. The assailant was covered in black from head to toe, even wearing gloves to hide their hands. I made sure no one could see my phone as I watched it one more time just as the chaos started to erupt around me.
There were two distinctive details that immediately caught my eye. One was the golden chain the assailant wore, left clearly visible against his dark shirt. It was a necklace I was sure I’d seen before.
The other detail that struck me happened toward the very end of the short video, where the killer’s sleeve shifted for a brief moment, allowing me to see what appeared to be a feather tattoo on the person’s wrist.
I looked across from me, at Archie, my eyes dropping to the golden chain with the same initials that were attached to the chain in the video. Archie didn’t have any visible tattoos, but could that be because he was covering them with makeup? Or maybe the tattoo in the video was a fake to throw off investigators?
“Jackson, the will.” William was livid, standing behind the tall love seat, his fingers digging into the upholstered fabric as his eyes raked across the gathered group. We had all moved to the living room, where the walls felt like they were slowly inching toward us.
Jackson sat down on the couch, lifting a briefcase and setting it on the coffee table. He moved aside the glass vase holding some bright red roses and undid the lock to the briefcase. He clicked it open and lifted the case as if a snake was going to launch out of it and bite him. I looked to Archie, who was biting his nails, Wendy sitting down next to him as they both crammed into the other love seat.
Your own mother.
Archie’s face started to morph, teeth growing sharp, nose turning hooked, ears growing into horns. All features I thought he shared with Colton, now they all resembled some kind of demon, crawling up from the ground to take whatever he wanted, no matter the cost.
Colton’s hand found mine. An idea was forming in my head, but it would require some light acting from the two of us. I had to get a confession from Archie before the night was over, and I think I knew how to do that.
I took a step forward. “Before we read the will, I think we should talk about who stands to gain the most from it,” I said, my gaze floating across the room before landing on Archie. “Because that’s the person who I believe killed Amelia.”
There was a collective gasp from the room. There. I lit the fire; now I just had to make sure I didn’t get burned. “What the hell are you talking about?” William asked me, face turning firehouse red.
I glanced at Colton. This next part would be difficult but necessary. “You all know me as Colton’s boyfriend, but that’s not how I started this trip off as. I came here because Colton hired me to do a job, to investigate Amelia’s murder and get to the bottom of what happened.”
Kendall scoffed, rolling her eyes. “I fucking knew something was up.”
William looked to his son, eyes wide. “Colt, is that true?”
“It is,” Colton said. Jen sucked in a sharp inhale. “I felt like something was wrong with how Mom died, and so I asked Eric if he could help.”
“I came as Colton’s fake boyfriend so I could investigate without raising any suspicions. At first, I wasn’t entirely convinced someone here was involved, but then the pieces started falling into place, and my mind changed.”