Chapter 309: Their Perfect Scapegoat

David’s POV

Rachel’s laugh died down, but that creepy sparkle in her eyes stayed locked on us like we were her favorite TV show and she had the remote.

She took a slow breath, like she was about to drop the biggest bomb of her life.

“My parents were so happy he was improving,” she went on, voice smooth and sweet like poison candy.

“He started smiling again. Talking more. Going to classes without fighting…stopped locking himself up for days. So they did what any loving family would do…they ran a full background check on yours. Just to know who their son was hanging around with. Father sent men to stalk your family members. They learned your routines, your schedules, where you ate, the functions you attend, what time Justin left for school every morning. Everything.”

I couldn’t help it. A bitter laugh ripped out of me. “So your sickness is hereditary? Your whole family’s a bunch of clowns. Stalking kids because they’re friends? Jesus.”

Justin actually nodded, eyes still wet but flashing with the same disgust I felt. “That’s right. Which parent in their right mind stalks another family just because their kid made a friend? You people are insane.”

Rachel tsked, shaking her head like we were the slow ones. “You’re getting it wrong. My brother was abnormal. So Father figured his friend had to be abnormal too for them to have become friends. He was intrigued by that. Wanted to know everything about this family that could match his son’s… interests.”

I scoffed so hard it hurt my throat. “Still sounds like a bunch of losers to me.”

Rachel smiled…slow, wide, the kind that makes your skin crawl. “You won’t be saying that for long. Very soon…you will know who the real losers are?”

She leaned forward again, eyes gleaming. “Justin, have you figured out who my brother is yet?”

Justin exhaled through his nose, still half-trembling but trying to sound tough. “Not to burst your bubble, but I was the social butterfly back then in school. Kids flocked around me wanting to be my friends. Sorry, but your brother must’ve been one of the shadows in the back that I didn’t notice.”

Rachel’s smile turned full creep-mode, like she was enjoying every second of this. “Oh no. He was your best friend. So think carefully.”

Justin paused, thinking hard, his brow scrunched in concentration. “Tristen?”

She shook her head.

“Dylan?”

Another shake with a tiny bubble of laughter.

Justin laughed…mocking, shaky, but still a laugh. “Those were my actual best friends. Guess I was right…your brother was just one of the wussy losers who wanted to be one of the big boys.”

Rachel exhaled, that victorious smirk never leaving her face. “My brother is no other than Stefan. Stefan Jameson”

Justin’s brow furrowed deeper. He muttered under his breath, “Stefan… Stefan… doesn’t ring a bell. And like I said… he was definitely a loser if I can’t even remember his name.”

Rachel threw her head back and laughed again, pure delight. “Yes. You don’t know his name… That’s because you two never had a single conversation. You probably never met him one on one.”

Justin and I looked at each other at the exact same second, then turned back to her like she’d lost every marble in her head.

“I’m sorry,” Justin said, voice dripping with mockery now. “Is this some kind of joke? I’ve probably never met him and somehow, you concluded that we were bestfriends?”

Rachel nodded cheerfully. “Yes. And here’s the crazy part…my brother was your best friend from a distance. But it’s the thoughts that count, right?”

Nah. She has lost her mind. There’s no way around it.

She didn’t give us time to process or fire back at her and she continued. “Fast forward to my Father’s genius plan—”

“Hold it right there,” Justin cut in, face twisted with confusion and straight-up disgust. “So you’re telling me your family is filled with a bunch of creeps who stalk people for no reason?”

“Absolutely,” Rachel said, still smiling. “But there was a reason in this case. Stefan said you had the same hobby he does. He overheard you telling one of your other friends how you fantasize about it.”

My stomach twisted with a sick, uneasy feeling I couldn’t name. “What hobby?”

Rachel’s smile stretched wider. “The hobby of hurting people.”

Justin choked on his own spit. “What?!”

‘Great,’ I thought, heart hammering so hard it felt like it was trying to punch through my ribs. ‘I’m stuck in the middle of my serial-killer brother and the family member of his serial-killer admirer.

Just fucking great.’

Justin shook his head fast. “I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about.”

“Of course you do,” Rachel said sweetly. “Stefan overheard you saying how you’d love to cut somebody up, put them in a bag, and leave them in the ocean…just for the fun of it.”

Justin’s brow furrowed again. “The only times I ever mentioned killing someone and disposing of the body was whenever I’m ranting about David! He was always so grumpy, silently blaming Mom and me for the death of his own mother!”

I snapped back without thinking. “Because your mother and you did cause her death! She wouldn’t have died if she hadn’t found out your mistress of a mother had you while she was still happily married to my dad!”

Justin’s eyes flashed. “Isn’t that why you killed her too?! To get your pound of flesh?”

“Enough!” Rachel barked, voice cutting through like a whip. “None of you speak again until I finish my story.”

She waited a beat, making sure we stayed quiet, then kept going like none of that explosion had happened.

“As I was saying… We thought my brother was getting better after that summer. Until we visited him again and found things he’d hidden in his closet. Belongings of other people. People we later found out were missing…and believed to be murdered. Father lost his mind with anger and frustration. Until my brother looked him dead in the eye and said, ‘Justin told me to do it. In fact, he helped me do it.’”

Justin exploded. “I don’t even know your fucking brother! What the hell are you saying?! Are y’all crazy?”

I stayed quiet, but inside my head the pieces were slamming together so fast it hurt. My heart gripped tight when one possibility finally clicked.

No. No way. No fucking way.

Rachel looked straight at me and smiled like she could read my mind. “You’re getting the story now, aren’t you?”

I glared at her with pure fury. “It can’t be.”

“Well, it is.” She shrugged like we were talking about the weather. “My father thought…since your brother helped him commit these murders, why not share the burden? So, because my father had men already stalking your family, he found a day when you all weren’t home and had his guys sneak every single belonging of those victims and murder weapons into your basement and some into your brother’s room.”

I lost it.

I lunged forward so hard the ropes burned my wrists raw. “I’m gonna fucking kill you…do you hear me?!”

Three of her men grabbed me, but I thrashed like a wild animal, screaming, spitting, trying to reach her throat. One of them slammed the back of my leg and I dropped hard to one knee, still fighting.

Rachel threw her head back and laughed out loud like a full-blown maniac. “The best part hasn’t even come yet and you’re already this enraged! Just calm down, Hunt.”

She kept talking over my screams, disregarding my outbursts. “After they placed everything, Stefan got to know about it and was enraged…his so-called trophies had been moved and given to someone who didn’t deserve them. Only then did my father realize Stefan had lied about Justin being part of it,” she exhaled, like this was a casual conversation.

“But,” she continued. “The deed was already done. That same day, Father moved my brother to China for treatments because he completely lost his mind over his precious trophies being handed off. Meanwhile, the news of the murders had spread. The community was terrified. Police were starting to trace everything back to my brother. Father couldn’t let that happen…our family name tainted, and if the Millers found out, they’d use it to destroy us for good. So he kept close eyes on your family. Which is why, when you discovered the belongings and blamed your brother, my father stepped in and proposed the life changing deal.”

I was still thrashing against the three men holding me down, veins popping in my neck. “You and your family are monsters! You set my family up, used us as scapegoats, and made me work for your family all these years in the name of ‘repaying’ you for helping make the case go away…meanwhile it was all your family’s problem in the first place?!”

My voice cracked with raw rage. Justin stayed completely silent in the background, eyes wide and his face pale.

And then it hit me and everything stopped.

The struggling. The screaming. The rage… It all went quiet inside my head.

All this time… it was a stupid, twisted plot by the Jamesons.

Justin had been innocent the whole time.

The Dark Prince of Manhattan wasn’t me.

It wasn’t my brother either.

My blood ran ice-cold as the realization settled in and I froze completely, staring at Rachel like the floor had just dropped out from under the entire world.