Wicked Love | √

Twenty Two

AFTER pride night of the seven deadly sins party I decided not to go to greed night, and I'm not going to gluttony tonight either. I got out of all the nights with Elizabeth by promising to attend just one night. Lust night. The last night. The wildest night.

It's a steep price to pay, but I had agreed to go with her every night this week, and I'm now backing out. But the first night was overwhelming to say the least.

Pride night was more than I expected between my brother and Preston, and I'm not ready to go back just yet. I hate being weak, but I have a clear weakness and it goes by the name Preston Rothwell. And if I'm being honest I don't know if I can stop myself from falling into him anymore. I can hold my resolve from a distance, but as soon as he steps close I begin to crack.

Dancing with my friends I had all the strength, but the morning after I came to a full realization that the strength I drunkenly felt under the dark lights of the dance floor wasn't going to last. I know I am close to breaking under the faintest of touches, because the pull between us is greater than anything I've ever experienced. It's stronger than gravity and more potent than just simple attraction. So much of me wants to lean in and feel it all, drown in him, but I also know it would wreck me and I can't let him break me.

I've already been broken by my family.

Preston can't break my heart also.

I know I'd never survive it. He's too deep under my skin, he's in my veins, in my fucking blood. He's a part of me. A part I didn't know existed until now, but a part I know I should run far away from.

So instead of going to all the parties this week I'm keeping my distance and hiding out in the old stacks at the very back of the library where no one ever ventures to.

I'm distancing myself from Preston and my brother, but that doesn't mean I'm done looking into the fire. I was told I can't know something, which of course only makes me want to find out about it even more. I've always been stubborn that way, and the fact that I have people I care about involved only makes the determination to find answers more intense. It's buzzing in my veins to know about that night. To find the answers. To finally have all the puzzle pieces come together to complete the picture.

So instead of going home to get ready for the party like everyone else at school I'm sitting in the back of the library as the sun sets and the moon rises to do research. I might've hit a lot of roadblocks but that hasn't stopped me. Nothing will stop me.

Preston said he poured the gasoline that ignited the fire. But why? Was his intention to kill? What was his vendetta against Lucas? There are so many questions, but zero answers and that is what is causing me to spiral.

I need to know why. I have to know why. My heart can't ache for someone who kills. I need a reason. I need answers, not more half truths and barely there confessions.

I'm sitting in the back corner of the library with my laptop on my lap, and a few law books around me that focus on the act of arson and how those cases are handled in a court of law.

I write down a few notes from the textbooks that can help me to understand why the case went down the way it did. But as I search deeper online I find a few names of low level lawyers who were involved in the case. They are only mentioned once, and I don't even know if they went to the trial or were just involved at the beginning, but it's a start.

Everyone already knows who the heirs used as their main lawyers in court. Everett's father represented him, Preston, and Lawrence. He's partners with my father at the firm, and he handles all criminal cases while my father handles the corporate cases. Most firms don't specialize in both, that's what has always made their firm so special.