Focus on Revenge A Photographer’s Killer Shot novel Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Cassian froze when he heard my words, his face twisted with rage.

He stepped closer, his voice sharp and rising:

“Isolde! Are you out of your mind?! You wanna call off our engagement over this stupid shit? Do you even hear yourself right now?!”

“Stupid shit?!”

I gasped, forcing the words from my failing lungs, “Switching out my life-saving oxygen… is stupid shit?”

Lyra immediately jumped in, her voice all shaky and pathetic:.

“Cassian, please don’t yell at her… this is all my fault for being so useless…”

“She’s probably just saying mean things because she can’t stand me…”

She looked at me with those fake innocent eyes, but I caught the smug satisfaction lurking underneath.

Jake, one of the mountain guides, finally couldn’t take it anymore and stepped forward:

“Look, Mr. Drake, she’s turning blue. Altitude sickness can kill people up here. Maybe we should-”

“Jake, stay out of this!”

Cassian whipped around and cut him off, his voice ice-cold and brutal.

“She’s just out of shape and loves playing victim! Every single shoot, it’s the same damn drama!”

“Remember that desert assignment when she ‘got heatstroke’? Made the whole crew babysit her for hours. Now she’s pulling this crap

again!”

His words hit me like a slap to the face.

That desert shoot-I’d nearly died from heat exhaustion trying to get the perfect shot.

But to him, it was just me being a drama queen.

“Yeah, totally,” one of the camera assistants-Cassian’s drinking buddy-chimed in with a sneer.

“Come on, Isolde. Cassian’s thinking big picture here.”

“Lyra’s fresh out of college, first time on a real shoot. Cut the girl some slack.”

“You’ve done this a million times-just suck it up and deal.”,

I stared at him through my blurring vision, tears streaming down my face:

“Suck it up? How the hell… am I supposed to… suck up… dying?”

My lungs felt like they were filling with concrete, my heart slamming against my ribs like it was trying to escape.

The blood vessels in my temples throbbed so hard I thought my head might explode.

These were textbook symptoms of cerebral and pulmonary edema-I knew exactly what was happening to me.

Seeing my condition, Lyra put on her best victim act, her voice breaking:

“Oh my God, Isolde, please stop! I feel so terrible that you guys are fighting because of me…”

“Here, take the oxygen back! I don’t need it, I swear I’m totally fine…”

She made this big show of reaching for her oxygen mask.

Cassian grabbed her wrist, his voice tight with anger and protectiveness.

“Lyra, don’t be silly! She’s manipulating you! ou think she’s the only one who can play the victim?”

He whipped around to face me, his eyes filled with cold disgust:

“Isolde, I was so wrong about you!”

“I had no idea you were this selfish and petty! Can’t stand having one rookie on the team? What, the whole world has to revolve around you?”

“Remember when you got in trouble on that shoot last time? Who do you think busted his ass begging people to rescue you?”

“And now you’re gonna destroy everyone’s hard work because you’re feeling a little under the weather?”

That “last time”… It was for his father’s corporate campaign. I nearly didn’t make it back.

Now he was using it as a weapon.

The splitting headache made it impossible to form coherent words. I could only open my mouth helplessly, making broken gasping

sounds.

Lyra cowered behind Cassian, and I caught the briefest flash of a smirk before she put on her worried act:

“Cassian, she looks really scary… she’s not actually going to…”

“Fake! It’s all an act!” Cassian’s voice was cutting and final.

“She’s a hell of an actress! This is just her way of forcing me to give in so she can control me even more. Well, I’m not falling for it!”

He pulled out his thermos, unscrewed the cap, and held it to Lyra’s lips:

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