Page 115 of Camera Stays On

But I’d kissed her.

Kind of.

I got home and went up to my room, where I stared at the ceiling from my bed for a while.

I had to do something.

If she wasn’t going to call off the wedding, I had to make Sawyer do it. But he was a stubborn son of a bitch. He wasn’t going to do it unless...

I had to hurt his pride.

Leaping off the bed, I went to my computer and turned it on. It would be time-consuming, but I could manipulate a video.

Guilt briefly edged its way into my belly, as I knew accusing her of this was cruel, but it was the only way to set her free. Sawyer wasn’t going to give her up unless he hated her, and Purdy had never done anything worth hating. She was too perfect.

She was going to run. Maybe she’d make it to L.A. or Nashville, like she’d talked about. If I didn’t have the balls to tell her how I felt, the least I could do was give her freedom.

Chapter 53

Asher

“I LIED TO Sawyer. Bea isn’t dead.”

Juliet stared at me from across the kitchen table. Having little options but to search out help, I’d gone back upstairs and found Juliet. She’d tried to stab me, but I quickly told her the situation, and she calmed down enough to hear me out.

“Is she bringing help?”

“If she makes it to town, yeah.”

I wasn’t entirely sure how much time had passed. There was no way of knowing if Bea had made it safely, or if she was still trekking through the woods—or if she was even still alive.

“We just need to make it a few more days.”

“There aren’t a few more days, Asher.” Juliet shook her head. “There’s no food, except for what Sawyer has. We need to get out.”

“Okay, well, help me. If you distract Sawyer just one more time, I’ll take Andi and leave. I won’t tell anyone about Lux.”

She studied me. I did my best to keep my expression honest. I wasn’t lying. If she helped me get Andi to safety, I’d go to my grave with her secret.

Finally, she nodded. “All right, but if Sawyer turns on me, then I’m turning on you. He can’t know I’m helping you.”

“Got it.”

We devised a plan quickly.

“What about the power box?” she asked.

“What?”

“What if we shut off the power? All the cameras would go down, along with everything else. That would force him to leave Andi.”

“That’s genius.”

I stood back up from the table and offered her my hand. Throughout our creation of this plan, it was decided that it was every man for themselves—again. Juliet only had one goal, and we had the direct opposite. There was no way working together would go well. One of us would betray the other.

“Stay away from me, and I’ll stay away from you,” she said, not taking my hand. I agreed and hurried back down to the basement. I’d have to be quick, and not bump into anything, but having been down here enough, I felt confident I could at least be quiet.

Once I found the power box, I counted down in my head and then switched it off. The entire house made a large groan, and the electricity powered down. I was engulfed in darkness in an instant, and I started moving.