Chapter 2
Kevin froze for what felt like forever, then finally found his voice.
He stared at me in disbelief, then at the chunk in my hand, stammering, "D-Daisy, are you okay?"
I shoved the chunk into his other hand and gave his shoulder a serious pat. "Kevin, you gotta use the right tool. That steel pipe is too long, hard to handle, and easy to mess up.
"But a chunk of concrete? Compact, powerful, and all the force lands right where you want it. You only need to give one strike."
Kevin felt a bit dumbfounded. He realized that I wasn't acting like myself.
Darren finally snapped out of it. He pushed himself up a little and scooted back, fear all over his face.
He said, "Daisy, are you out of your mind? I'm your boyfriend. He smashed up my leg, and now you're not even going to help me. Do you actually want him to go at me again?"
"My boyfriend?" I crouched down to stare at him, flashing him a sweet smile. "Funny, because I remember you telling Fiona from finance in the park behind campus yesterday that I was only a lovesick fool.
"You said once you got the startup money you needed from me, you'd dump me without a second thought."
Darren's face went pale. He stared at me as if he had seen a ghost.
He had kept this completely secret. Even his best friend didn't know. He couldn't understand how I found out.
"You're talking nonsense," he yelled, putting on a brave front, but his voice was shaky.
'Mom, he's got a recorder in his pocket. He was trying to piss Uncle Kevin off on purpose. He wants money out of this and to get Uncle Kevin arrested.' Cameron's worried voice echoed in my mind.
A recorder?
I glanced at Darren's coat pocket, and sure enough, there was a weird bulge there.
What a sneaky person. Darren, I must have been blind not to realize you were plotting against us from the start.
In my previous life, he used this recording, cutting it up to make Kevin's angry words sound like threats. The school punished Kevin hard, and he ended up paying a huge amount of money.
That was not happening this time.
I stood up and stopped paying attention to his yelling.
The sirens drew closer and closer, and soon, two police officers made their way through the crowd. "Who called 911? What happened here?"
Darren acted like he'd found his only hope. He pointed straight at Kevin, crying loudly. "Sir, help me. He's Kevin Garner. He got jealous of Daisy and me and broke my leg out of nowhere.
"I've got evidence. He said he was gonna destroy me."
As he spoke, he started digging in his pocket for the recorder.
Kevin's face went pale. He had a short fuse, and he did yell some pretty harsh stuff earlier. If those words were recorded, he would be proven guilty.
I stepped forward, cutting Darren off and putting myself between him and Kevin before he could say anything.
"Sir, that's not what happened," I said, keeping my voice calm and steady. "It was Darren. He took something from me.
"Kevin confronted him about it, but not only did he deny everything, but he also insulted my family. Kevin lost his temper, and that's when they started shoving each other.
"He hurt his leg when he slipped while the pushing and fell into the concrete steps next to us. A lot of people here saw it."
As I spoke, I shot a look at some of our friends in the crowd.
They were people from our neighborhood, guys who grew up with us and were close to Kevin. They got the hint right away.
"Yeah, we saw it. He fell all by himself."
"Exactly, and he was yelling some pretty nasty insults."
The officer shot Darren a suspicious look.
Darren was fuming. "You guys are lying. I didn't do anything. Daisy, you're framing me. When did I ever take anything from you?"
"My necklace," I said, locking eyes with him, each word clear and deliberate. "A birthday gift from my mom. Worth 15 thousand. It was there yesterday, and gone today. And you were the only person who came into my room."
"I didn't," Darren shouted, veins standing out along his neck. "You're slandering me."
"A quick search will tell." I sneered, shooting a pointed look at his coat pocket.
I continued, "And if you've got anything else hidden on you, like a recorder you planned to use against Kevin, you should take that out, too, so the officers can see who's actually trying to set someone up."
As soon as I said "recorder", Darren froze.
He went pale, and the terror in his eyes was impossible to hide.
He never thought I'd catch on to the recorder he stashed.
Now his plan had blown up in his face. If they found that recorder, it would prove he set the whole thing up to frame Kevin.
The officers weren't fools. The second they saw his reaction, they pretty much got the picture. One of the older cops stepped forward and said firmly, "Take everything out of your pockets."
Darren's lips trembled, cold sweat trickling down his forehead.
He knew he had screwed up.
'Mom, you're awesome.' Cameron's excited cheers made my nerves finally ease up a bit.
I looked at Darren's ashen face, feeling nothing at all.
This was only the beginning.
I went through hell because of him before. This time, he was going to pay for everything he put me through.
In the end, Darren was too guilty to let the cops search him.
He clenched his teeth and changed his tune, saying it was just a "misunderstanding" and that he really did hurt his leg by accident.
As for the necklace, he swore on his life he'd never even seen it.
Since both sides said it was no big deal and nobody wanted to make it bigger, the officers decided not to push the issue. They gave a quick warning and told everyone to go home.
The ambulance rushed in and sped off again, taking Darren away, who was looking dirty and miserable.
Finally, everything felt peaceful again.