And it explained when Louis Carter got his hands on her for fraternizing with Diego, how he forced medication down her throat to force her body to miscarry, and how she had been left with two options—snort the coke up her nose or die.
She snorted the coke up her nose, starting her addiction. She forced herself to hate Diego—forced herself to hurt him to keep him protected from whomever Louis was.
And at the end of it all, my best friend ended up ruining herself.
I snatched my phone off the nightstand and dialed the phone number in Diego’s letter to her, hoping it was still his number.
"Hola?" a smooth, Hispanic voice asked through the line.
“Is this Diego?” I asked a bit nervously.
“Who is asking?” he demanded, his tone now hard and cold.
“I’m Lacie’s best friend—Hayley,” I told him, hoping like hell she had told him something about me so he would recognize my name and not hang up on me.
“Hayley Jones,” he stated more than asked, but I answered with a yes anyway. “What do you want?” he demanded. “I do not have time for a conversation right now, Miss Jones.”
“It’s about Lacie,” I told him.
I walkedout onto the back patio where the guys were still sitting, talking about protection to put on everyone’s families if the Carters were really involved. I knew there was a fifty percent chance that Damien would be pissed that I had called a Carter, but I had a feeling that Diego would be more help than he was a risk to us.
“You were gone a good minute,” Damien commented as he locked his dark eyes on me. It was like he already knew I’d been doing something I shouldn’t have.
“I laid down for a few minutes,” I lied.
His eyes narrowed on me, but he didn’t comment even though I could tell he knew I was lying to him. The doorbell rang, and I turned to go back into the house, going to answer the door.
The guy standing in front of me was definitely the man in the picture with Lacie. He was fucking good-looking. Dark hair hung onto his forehead in slight curls, and his eyes were almost as dark as his hair. He had a strong jawline and angular cheekbones. It was easy to see why my best friend had fallen in love with him.
“Diego?” I asked, though I somehow already knew.
He nodded wordlessly. “What the fuck are you doing here?” Damien snarled as he protectively shoved me behind him, glaring up at Diego with a murderous expression on his face.
“Miss Jones called me in regard to Lacie,” he informed Damien, not seeming bothered at all by the hostility radiating off of Damien.
“Damien,” I said softly, gripping his biceps to grab his attention. He turned his angry gaze to me, and I swallowed hard in nervousness. “Just hear him out,” I whispered.
The muscle in his jaw was ticking, but he stepped aside. “Take a seat in the living room,” I informed Diego as I rushed off to our room, Damien following close on my heels.
He slammed the bedroom door shut behind us, making me flinch. “What fucking game are you playing at, Hayley?” he angrily demanded.
I handed him the picture of Lacie and Diego. He looked down at it, and his shoulders tensed slightly in shock. He looked up at me. “Lacie and Diego?” he asked me, though he already knew the answer.
“Yeah,” I quietly confirmed. “She was cheating on Drake with Diego, and Drake has no idea.” I opened the journal, showing him Diego’s letter. “He was trying to protect her, Damien, but a man named Louis got to her. She forced herself to make him think she hated him to protect him.”
“Shit is about to blow in my fucking living room, Hayley,” Damien told me, his eyes meeting mine. “You realize that, right?” he asked.
I shrugged. “I think it’s time we got to the bottom of this—to the bottom of what really happened to Lacie, Damien. I need to know—not only for my protection but also for closure. I need to know what really happened to my best friend, Damien.”
Damien drew me into him and pressed a tender kiss to my forehead. “Alright,” he murmured, giving in.
I drew in a deep breath, and after lacing my fingers through Damien’s, I walked into the living room. I took a seat on the loveseat, and Damien sat next to me. “Diego, go ahead and inform Tyrone and Drake of who you are,” Damien commanded.
Diego let his eyes meet Drake’s coldly. “I was Lacie’s fiancé,” Diego stated calmly.
Drake fucking lost his shit.