Page 87 of Camera Stays On

“A film about a film.” Sawyer grinned. “It’s perfect. It’s been done before, sure, but not with real murder. Gavin would be proud to have been sacrificed for the good of the project.”

“Fuck the project,” Asher snapped. “We need to stop rolling.”

Sawyer turned to him and cocked his head, furrowing his brow as if genuinely confused.

“Why would I stop? The pacing is about to get a lot faster from here.” Sawyer’s eyes narrowed at his brother. “Camera stays on.”

“What about Lux?” Mick demanded. “Was she supposed to die?”

“Ah, yes. Well, that was unfortunate. She wasn’t supposed to die that early in the film. Actually, I didn’t have a kill order. I just assumed it would be Gavin, you know, with his mouth.” Sawyer snickered.

“Sawyer?” Juliet squeaked. “I’m scared.” She began to cry silently. He went over to her and bent down.

“Oh, sweetie, you should be,” he said, brushing her jawline with his knuckle.

His words chilled me to the bone. I had to get out of here. Slowly, my body began to move on its own, ignoring the panic running through my mind. I scooted my chair out, wood scraped against wood, echoing off the walls and calling attention to me. I rose and licked my lips, swallowing the hard lump in my throat.

The ache in my thigh deepened, but I pushed past it.

“I want to leave.” My heartbeat thundered in my ears as I spoke.

“Oh?” Sawyer stood, a slow smile creeping across his face. “Should we take our exit now, wife?”

“I’m not your wife, Sawyer. This isn’t real.” I shook my head, indecisive over whether to feel pity or disgust. “And it never will be.”

“Doesn’t matter, we said our vows.”

“Doesn’t matter, you didn’t sign the papers, I did.” Asher stood, putting an arm around me.

Sawyer’s eyebrows rose, and his smile twitched. “Is that so, dear brother? First, you fuck her on the set of my movie, and then you marry her, all right under my nose. Interesting.” Sawyer stepped in front of the door, blocking us. The hand with the gun in it twitched, causing me to flinch and reach for Ash. His fingers laced through mine, and my gaze widened with fear as I looked to Sawyer. My body shook as Sawyer stared at our hands, not speaking but remaining in front of the door. None of us moved, until Juliet grew brave and stood.

“Sawyer, I think this has gone on long enough. It was one thing when you shot her by accident, but what you just did to Gavin…it’s too much.”

He swung his head to the side, rolling his eyes. “Oh, so we’re playing innocent now? Like you weren’t the one who locked that chest, knowing full well Lux was inside? Fuck off, Juliet. In a found footage, only one person survives to tell the tale—and it sure as hell won’t be you.”

Something about his statement gave me pause. That wasn’t how found footages worked. Everyone died. That’s how people found the footage. Sawyer knew this. He was a film buff and had his degree.

Was he going to kill us all?

Juliet began to hyperventilate. Darius stood, taking a step toward her but then froze.

“You killed Lux?” Mick, the last one sitting, rose and glared at Juliet.

“I didn’t mean for her to die!” Juliet cried out, tears and snot running down her face. “She’d irritated me with a smart comment, and I wanted to scare her. When I came back to let her out, she was already dead.”

Darius stepped back to join Mick.

“We’re leaving.” Mick turned to face Ash and me. “We need to get Bea and figure out a way out. Fuck those two.”

“He just said he’s going to kill me too!” Juliet wailed. “Don’t leave me here.”

“Come on, Andi.” Asher tugged on my hand. “Everyone else, let’s go.”

“You leave now, and you’ll never know the surprise,” Sawyer mocked.

“I don’t care, Sawyer.”

“Oh, I think you do, Asher. If you leave, I’ll show the police the tape.”