Forty-Four
Ari paced the length of the small, shabby room, her hands clenched into tight fists. It was little more than a storage closet, piled high with forgotten junk, broken furniture, and the remnants of things no one cared to fix. Security had shoved her inside, confiscated her phone, and left her there with nothing but the echo of her thoughts.
‘Wait for the police,’ they had told her ominously. As if she could do anything else.
She could hear the wedding carrying on without her from a floor above. The low thrum of music coming from the DJ she’d arranged pulsed and feet bumped in rhythm. Nothing had stopped. Nothing had changed.
Except for the fact that she was locked in a bloody room. Wasn’t this illegal? False imprisoning, that kind of thing? She knew she wasn’t in Fritzl’s basement or anything, but still.
She spun, glaring at the locked door. She’d tried the handle already, but it wasn’t budging. She’d spent all day trying to get into a locked room and now she wanted out of one. It would have been hilarious if it wasn’t happening to her.
Nothing was funny anymore. Particularly not the thought of Paris standing in that reception hall, spinning her little lies to a rapt audience.
And Nancy…
The last thing she’d seen before being dragged off was Nancy standing there, watching it all unfold, her face tight with anger. Ari had thought for a brief, stupid moment that maybe she was angry for her. That maybe she’d say something, step in.
But as she was dragged off, Nancy didn’t say a word.
She had a limit, and Ari had been given a lot of space inside that limit. But she couldn’t help herself. She had to go too far. It had always been a problem. Only now it had cost her Nancy’s respect.
Ari let out a shaky breath and pressed the heels of her hands against her eyes. She was alone in this. She had no plan. No options.
Best-case scenario, she’d be slapped with some petty theft charge and her name splashed across every shitty gossip site for a week.
Worst case, prison. Because it was her word against Paris’s, a natural-born liar who would do everything she could to make this bad for Ari.
Nancy had been right. This had been a terrible idea. And now it was over. Not just this plan, but them. Not that there had been a them to begin with.
She let out a bitter laugh and dropped onto a dusty chaise, staring up at the ceiling. She shouldn’t have kissed her. She’d known it was a risk. But she’d thought that it was worth it, for where it might lead.
But Nancy had looked at her like she was a mistake.
Ari wasn’t sure how much more of that she could take. Not only did she not get the necklace, but it was broken. Everything was broken.