Chapter 25
TWENTY-FIVE
“Calm down, Sophia.” Avalon tries to reach for my hand, but I pull it back. I’m pacing back and forth inside the restroom of the venue. Lila’s outside, and she called a few people to help take away the internet connection before it spreads any further.
“How the fuck am I supposed to calm down?” I grit out, biting down on my bottom lip.
My entire body is fucking rigid, and I’m absolutely livid.
For one, I don’t think that Soren’s the one who leaked the image.
And thank God, whoever it was, had at least enough decency to blur out my mouth and his dick.
“This entire venue will explode if the news leaves this restroom,” Grace sighs, leaning against the wall.
“God, what were you thinking, Sophia? If we ignore the fact that you’ve been fucking Soren behind our backs — which, we will get back to at some point, I promise — doing it in an elevator with cameras? Really?”
“Do you really think I was paying attention to fucking cameras?”
The door of the restroom opens, and my mouth falls shut. Grace and Avalon straighten up when a girl comes in, and immediately, it’s like I’m seeing a light at the end of the tunnel. She’s an acquaintance at best, but I’ve attended quite a few events with her, and she’s been lovely to speak with.
“Grace, Ava, can you give us some privacy?”
The two exchange an odd glance, but they leave the restroom without questioning me. The moment the door closes, I turn to face the much taller girl, watching as she looks up from her phone.
“Oh, Sophia,” she smiles. “My data isn’t working.”
“Yeah, I know, listen, I really need a favor from you, Aria.”
Aria frowns, then puts her phone into the back pocket of her suit-pants. She comes from a long line of family that deals with oils, too. Both of her sides, maternal and paternal, have had the business for generations; however, there’s always been an unspoken secret.
Aria De Santis is from a family of killers. It’s definitely true, but no one would dare utter a single bad word about the De Santis family or try to expose it. They’d be dead long before they could even call the authorities.
Her face goes all serious when she sees the desperation on my face, her back straightening. “Do you want someone dead, or?”
I shake my head. “No, nothing that extreme.”
“Bummer,” she mutters. “What is it?”
With a deep breath, I take my phone out, and with trembling hands, find the image that I took a screenshot of. It’s hard to even look at it, so I’m quick to turn the screen Aria’s way.
Her brows lift to her hairline. “What am I supposed to do with this?”
“Someone leaked it. I had someone mess with the internet and data all around for a while, so it doesn’t spread.”
“Things like these always spread,” she groans. “Alright. Arlo can definitely have it taken down soon. But if someone took a screenshot, or if they saved it to their phones, I can’t guarantee it’ll disappear. The Internet is forever, darling.”
“I know, but is it possible to track where the image originated from?”
Aria takes the phone from my hands, zooming in. At the bottom of the screen is time, and she quickly flicks her eyes back to me. “This was taken an hour and a half ago. It definitely came from here.”
“Yeah. I’m curious who it is.”
“Fine. I’ll do it, but I can’t do it for free.”
“No, of course not. Whatever the price it is, I’ll pay.”
“No,” she shakes her head. “I don’t want money from you.”
“What do you want?”
Her blue eyes gleam with a deep, dark hue that sends chills down my body. The front pieces of her hair are bleached into white, as well as the bottom half of her hair, while the rest is in a deep, midnight shade of black.
“A favor.”
I blink. “A favor?”
“Yes,” she nods. “I won’t cash it in immediately, though.”
“Done,” I nod. “Just do it, and do it quickly.”
She hands me back my phone, then takes her own. “I’ll be back soon. Wait for me at the bar.”
My heart’s beating rapidly in my ribcage as Aria leaves the restroom, and I follow suit.
No one seems to have noticed the data malfunction, and Soren’s nowhere to be fucking seen.
It’s better this way, because if it turns out that he’s the one who leaked it, I’ll pay Aria to kill him, and I’m not messing around.
“Who was that?” Grace asks as I sit on the high chair at the bar, my fingers drumming against the cool countertop.
“Just an old friend,” I mumble. “Do you think anyone’s noticed the picture?”
“No,” Avalon shakes her head, taking my hand in hers and giving it a firm squeeze. “It was shared through Sinners and Saints. The older crowd doesn’t have any access to the site, and Lila shut everything down before it could spread.”
“I’ll have a shot of tequila, please,” I sigh as the waiter steps closer to my side of the bar.
The man’s brow furrowed. “I’m sorry, miss, we don’t have tequila.”
I blink. “You don’t?”
“I’m afraid not.”
“Then give me the strongest thing you have, in a shot glass.”
The man’s perplexed, but he doesn’t say much. He works quickly, and before I can even start talking with Grace and Avalon, the drink is in front of me. It’s in a deeper color than a regular whiskey, and although it smells the same, the moment it slides down my throat, I can tell it’s not whiskey.
“That was… good,” I cough a little, covering my mouth with my palm.
Whatever it was in the drink seems to be working, because I feel calmer than before. I take a deep intake of breath, and try to brace myself for what’s coming next.
No matter if the image spreads tonight — it will spread out eventually, or at least, the word of it will. It will reach my parents' ears sooner rather than later, and I need to do some damage control before shit hits the fan.
My eyes snap shut, and the anxiety starts swirling inside of me. The anger, the fear, all of the above slowly start to overwhelm me, and I feel like throwing up. It’s not the alcohol, since I’ve had perhaps three glasses, with the fourth one being the mysterious shot.
“Oh, God,” I bury my face in my hands. “My life’s ruined.”
“It’s not ruined, Soph,” Avalon puts her hand on my shoulder. “When we find out who leaked it, we’ll make their life a living hell.”
“No. I will make their life a living hell, after beating the shit out of them.”
“That’ll just land you in jail.”
“Oh, who cares?”
I lift my head, just in time to spot Aria strolling toward me with a glass of wine in her hand. She squeezes herself between the two chairs where Avalon and I are sitting, her eyes skimming through the crowd. She leans a little, whispering in my ear.
“Most of it’s been deleted,” she mutters. “Arlo shut down the website and deleted it from the IP address as a whole. If it reappears, we’ll know and take appropriate measures.”
A sigh of relief slips from me. “Wait, he shut down the entire website?”
Aria nods. “Though, given the nature of it, I’m sure a new one will be created. He was able to track the devices that received the email with the image and delete it from everything. It’s been wiped. But there’s a possibility that someone still has it. You’re still not in the clear.”
“This is still better than nothing,” my shoulders slump. “Thank you, Aria. I owe you one.”
“That, you do,” she chuckles. “Now, for the really sweet treat for you.”
I look up at her. “Yeah?”
“The girl in the violet dress is one of the people running the website. Arlo tracked it down to her, though she’s not the only one.”
“Violet dress?” I frown.
Immediately, I start looking frantically through the venue. The lights have been dimmed after the dinner ended, and a lot of people are in every corner, chatting, drinking, and laughing. Quite a few of the women are wearing different shades of violet, though one stands out in particular.
My heart sinks to my feet, and I’m numb for a moment. I struggle to breathe, my mind going into a frenzy. Why the hell would she do that? She’d do it to me, but why would she do that to Soren?
“Astrid Ford,” I breathe out her name, making Avalon and Grace snap their heads in my direction.
“I’ll beat the bitch up,” Grace jumps off the stool, and my hand wraps around her wrist immediately, pulling her back toward me. “Let go, she’s about to kiss the fucking floor.”
“No,” I shake my head. “I’ll do it.”
“No, you will absolutely not,” Avalon protests. “Violence won’t solve anything.”
“Oh, let the girl get all that anger out,” Aria comments, sipping on her drink. “I’ll tag along in case Astrid starts winning.”
Avalon immediately starts protesting, but the moment I see Astrid leaving the venue alone, I’m off the stool, following her. Aria and Grace are close behind me, and Avalon’s nagging fills my ears. I managed to filter it out successfully.
The cold air hits my face, but I don’t feel it. Adrenaline’s pumping in my veins, my entire body feeling hot. I swallow a knot that forms in my throat, and pick up my pace. The music fades into the distance, and there’s no one in sight.
“Hey, Astrid.”
The girl stops dead in her tracks, her body going rigid. Slowly, almost as if I’m watching a movie play out in slow motion, she turns to face me. She’s trying to cover up the anxious expression, and as she glances around, she sees that there’s no one nearby.
“Yes?”
I don’t respond verbally. My fists are by my side, and without thinking, I lift one up, aiming for her nose. She doesn’t see it coming in time, and the sound of her nose cracking fills my ears when my fist connects with her skin.
She screams out, and that’s the opportunity I’ve been waiting for.
I push her to fall on the floor, then get on top of her.
I’m not even looking where I’m hitting her, or if I’m using any right technique.
Hell, I can’t fight to save a life. But there’s so much anger inside of me, and no matter how much she’s trying to fight me off, I managed to catch her by surprise, and she’s struggling to push me away.
“You dumb cunt,” I scream in her face, grabbing her by the hair on each side of her head, and smashing it against the tiled floor. “You never should’ve made me an enemy. I promise you, I’ll ruin your fucking life, and I’ll make sure you get what you deserve.”
“Sophia, wait—”
Her begging only eggs me on more. I can’t stop myself from hitting her everywhere my fists can reach, even if I wanted to. Her face is bloody, and there’s a bruise already forming on her eye, cheek, and I managed to split her lip.
But before I can land the finishing blow, I find myself roughly pulled back. I try to fight it off, but the familiar cologne of my older brother makes me pause. Aria steps forward, ready to intervene if needed, and Grace follows suit.
“Let me go! The cunt deserves it!”
“No one deserves this,” Sawyer hisses in my ear. He only lets me down when we’re a couple of feet away from Astrid’s lying body. He looks at me with so much fury, and something I can’t quite place.
“But—”
“Shut the fuck up, Sophia.”
The anger in his voice catches me off guard, but it’s nothing to the shock I experience when he turns on his heel, and walks right where Astrid is. He bends down, picking her up in his arms.
My heart threatens to burst, half from pain, half from pure fucking confusion.
Because it might be only for a split second, but that split second is enough for me to see that he isn’t looking at Astrid with the gaze of a person who’s simply worried about her wellbeing after I just beat her to the pulp.
No, he’s looking at her the same way Dad looks at Mom.
And the realization crushes me to the bone.