Page 173 of The Art of Ruin

“I think you’re scaring me.”

Something flickers across his face then.

Guilt maybe or shame perhaps, but he doesn’t lower the gun.

“He took everything from me.”

The words crack out of him rough and broken.

My stomach twists painfully. “Jasper, please.”

“You were supposed to stop him.”

“I didn’t even know about it.”

“Bullshit! You wanted to see me squirm for embarrassing you.”

The shout turns heads nearby now, parents looking nervous as they move their children closer to them.

My pulse spikes harder.

I glance instinctively toward the school entrance.

Big mistake, because when I look back, Jasper is closer and he has the gun pointed at my belly beneath his coat.

Hidden enough that nobody else notices.

Every sound dulls instantly beneath the roar of blood in my ears.

“Jasper, this is a mistake.”

Adriano will kill him for this.

“Get in the car,” he says quietly.

My body goes ice cold. If I get in that car, I’m as good as dead, but if I don’t, he could end up hurting an innocent person.

I shake my head a little. This isn’t Jasper. Not the Jasper I knew, at least. This is someone cornered and unraveling and dangerous in a way I don’t think even he fully understands anymore. “Please,” I whisper.

His expression twists sharply. “Don’t make me do this here, Casey.”

Fear slams hard through my chest, making me feel like I can’t catch my breath.

Because I believe him.

Not that he wants to hurt me.

But that he genuinely might.

I glance around for help that isn’t coming. I have no other choice. I climb into the car, wishing I hadn’t been so insistent that Adriano’s security give me space by the school gates.

The warehouse smells like damp concrete and gasoline.

My wrists ache where the zip ties bite into them behind my back. I’m not sure exactly where I am because Jasper put a hood over my head. His evolution from charming businessman into comic book villain seems complete.

Jasper paces twenty feet away, muttering under his breath while dirty winter light filters through cracked windows somewhere overhead.

I still can’t fully process this. Every few minutes, my brain seems to reset slightly. Like surely this cannot be happening. Surely this is a misunderstanding. Jasper is a cheating piece of shit, but this?