Chapter 37
Kitty and Antoinette’s Airbnb, West Hollywood, Los Angeles
Where is she?
Where is she? Where is she?
I check my phone again but there’s still nothing from Antoinette. I try to call her and it goes straight to voicemail. Again. I open Find My Friends but it tells me she’s still offline. I check the time. It’s half past five. She should be back by now.
I don’t know what to do.
I’m about to head to the guesthouse and ask Agnes if she’s heard anything when I hear a key in the door. And Antoinette’s voice rings out through the downstairs.
‘This is where I’m staying, Aidan,’ she says loudly. ‘I think we have the place all to ourselves.’
Aidan.
She’s done it.
She’s only fucking done it.
I’ll have a word with her later about her terrible interpretation of ‘make sure you keep in touch’ but right now I could kiss her.
Aidan Ward is here.
In our house.
And then he’s in our kitchen and we are face to face.
Finally.
The moment I’ve been waiting for.
My heart quickens and a thrill skates down my spine.
LA suits him, that much is clear. He’s lightly tanned and looks relaxed. Well, in the split second before he realises who he’s looking at.
‘What the—?’ The colour drains from his face. Every drop of it.
‘Hi, Aidan,’ I say. ‘Fancy seeing you here.’
He spins around to Antoinette, who is standing behind him, blocking his escape.
‘This is my sister Kitty,’ she says with a too-sweet smile. ‘Kitty, look, I made a new friend.’
Aidan spins back around and stares at me again. His eyes narrow.
‘I’ve been looking for you,’ I say. ‘We’ve got some unfinished business, haven’t we?’
‘I don’t know what the fuck you’re playing at but no, no, we don’t.’ He turns again and tries to walk past Antoinette but she sidesteps him and blocks his path.
‘I don’t think so,’ she says.
Aidan lets out a roar of anger and grabs my sister, trying to shove her out of the way. She stumbles and he almost gets past her.
But I’m quicker and, before he can make it out of the kitchen, I slam the coffee machine against his head and he falls to the ground at Antoinette’s feet. We both watch as a trickle of blood snakes across the floor.
‘Is he dead?’ Antoinette asks. ‘Already?’
I shake my head. ‘I doubt it.’ But I drop down next to him and put my fingers to the pulse point in his neck just in case. I feel a throb against my flesh. ‘Not dead,’ I confirm. ‘Just out cold.’
She beams at me. ‘Yay.’
‘No, Antoinette,’ I say. ‘Not yay. What the fuck?’
She looks at me puzzled. ‘Aren’t you happy?’
‘I’m happy that you’ve found him,’ I say. ‘Less so that you’ve been completely radio silent for the past two hours. I’ve been worried.’
‘Oh yeah, that,’ she says. ‘Sorry, my battery died. I forgot to leave it in to charge last night and then I was just waiting around at the gym so I was playing games on it and it died.’ She gives a little shrug like it’s no big deal, like I haven’t been here picturing the worst things in the world happening to her.
‘For God’s sake, Antoinette,’ I start to say but am interrupted by a groan from Aidan.
He can’t be coming to already, surely? I grab some cable ties from where I left them on the table and hand some to Antoinette.
‘You do his wrists,’ I say. ‘Use a few and make sure they’re tight.
’ She nods and I loop two ties around his ankles, pulling them so tight they cut into his skin.
That will hurt when he comes round fully.
Good.
I slap some duct tape over his mouth because he’ll probably scream when he regains consciousness and, although the sound would be like the sweetest music to my ears, the walls here aren’t the thickest. Then we stand up and admire our work when the back door rattles.
‘Antoinette? Kitty?’
It’s Agnes.
Antoinette and I stare at each other and then at Aidan hogtied on our kitchen floor.
Thank fuck I remembered to lock that door.
‘Shhh,’ I say to Antoinette. ‘She might think we’re out and go away.’
I can tell Antoinette doesn’t approve of this plan and she’s about to say something when Agnes wails through the door. ‘Please answer the door, please.’ She’s crying. She sounds really distressed.
‘Something’s wrong,’ Antoinette says. ‘I have to let her in.’
Urgh.
Not now.
This is the moment I’ve been waiting for.
‘Help me get Aidan into the cellar first,’ I hiss.
‘Two seconds,’ Antoinette calls through to Agnes. ‘I’m just coming.’
We grab his feet and heave him through the door before dragging him backwards down the steps, his head making a pleasing little cracking sound as it hits each one. Then, before I can say anything, Antoinette is racing back into the kitchen to let Agnes in.
‘I guess you can’t get into any trouble down here,’ I say to Aidan’s prone body before I follow Antoinette back up the steps.
When I get into the kitchen, Antoinette has already let Agnes in and she’s sitting at the table, her head in her hands. My sister is sitting next to her, her arms wrapped around Agnes, who is sobbing.
Antoinette looks up at me, her eyes wide.
‘Something’s happened,’ she says. ‘Something bad.’