𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐀𝐜𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐄𝐯𝐢𝐥 ✔️

♡ Chapter 25 ♡

~ Azalea POV ~ 

With it being New Year's in just a few days, I've already started having my daily freak out of, is this year real? Am I real? Is anything real?

"All I'm saying, Reese," I bother him while he cooks us dinner, like always. "How do I know that you're here? How do I know that you're not all in my head and I'm, like, crazy or something?"

He flips the food in the sizzling pan. It smells so good that it makes my mouth water. 

"I'm in your head," he widens his eyes at me. "I'm in your walls, too."

"Shut up!" I laugh while tossing the scrunchie around my wrist at him. "I'm serious!"

He turns the stove off and walks over to me. He bends down and puts his lips against mine, and I melt at the familiar soft lips and minty taste. Whenever he starts kissing me, I never want it to end, and when it does, it feels like torture.

I frown as he pulls away from the kiss.

He grabs a piece of the food and orders me, "Open."

I open my mouth and he puts the piece of food into my mouth. His finger stays in my mouth for a moment as I shut it, and a 'popping' noise happens when he pulls his finger out. He tilts his head down at me and asks, "Like it?"

I swallow the food and instantly nod.

"Good," he smiles.

I love his smile. That's why I drew him smiling in the picture that I gave to him on Christmas.

He framed the drawing, and has it on the wall about the TV. He says it's gonna stay there until we can replace it with a picture of it being real. 

We sit beside each other on the couch as a movie plays in front of us. Bubbles takes a nap on his bed because he's tired from working so hard. 

I had been expecting to have a call from the police, asking to question me about the whole poisoning incident. But they never called. I assumed that my dad paid them off, because even if they were able to somehow able to prove it was me, it would still be bad press for him. 

'Breaking News on Channel 6' a pop-up at the bottom of the screen says. 

I lower my eyebrows while chewing and switch the channel. 

A news reporter sits there, holding papers. 

"The park downtown has caught on fire," the reporter says while looking into the camera. "A match was thrown onto gasoline that was poured onto the fountain. The entire park quickly went up in flames, and dozens of firefighters are on scene trying to put it out."

My jaw dropped seeing that it was my favorite park that I would go to and sit at the fountain. 

And I instantly knew who was behind this.

My dad wants to kill Reese, and he wants to hurt me. But since he doesn't know where we live, and he can't find us because Reese used a fake name when buying this apartment and tells everybody in the building that his name is Paul, he's trying to hurt me in other ways. 

By lighting one of my favorite places to go on fire.

The light from the TV hits my face as I stand and watch. I watch the flames, the orange, the black smoke in the sky. I guess this was his payback since I lit his house on fire.

But as I stare at the screen, I start thinking. 

And I've come to a conclusion. 

My dad needs to die.