“You should,” she whispers. “Please watch it. And Reina?”
“Yes?”
“I’m so sorry.”
The line goes dead. I stare at the black screen for a second too long. Izzy has been acting strange since yesterday. Maybe if I watch this footage, I’ll figure out why.
I search inside my bag until I find the small black flash drive. I plug it into the hotel’s TV and keep the volume low as I open the video file.
The quality appears odd, the angle covert, almost like that video Jason showed me the other time.
Only now, the angle captures Arianna from the front. She’s looking up, probably at the person filming this.
Sitting on one of the cushions in the pool house, she twirls a bra on her finger and laughs. “Can you believe how that little bitch fell for a bra in Gray’s bag? She thinks she’s so smart, but she’s too easily manipulated.”
“Asher, too.” Jason—it’s his voice.
“Unfortunately, yeah,” she says with mock sarcasm. “All I had to do was threaten Stanford with exposing his pedophile picture collection and he called Reina’s name like a parrot when I was sucking him off.”
“Did it feel good?” Jason asks in a slightly thick voice.
“Good?” She laughs. “Nothing feels good to me, Jace. Everything is like a rehearsed play. It felt like sucking plastic. But since I knew the right buttons to push, I made him feel good. Besides, Gray believed it. Win-win.”
“You’re bad.” There’s a smile in Jason’s voice.
“Thank you.” She feigns a curtsy. “It’s gettin
g boring playing with them, you know. Gray and Reina were these two people who looked at each other like they found salvation. It was interesting to watch them dissolve, to hold on to that something even though they keep hurting. I had to know what that infuriating connection was that I couldn’t understand. It helped that they cared for me. It made messing with their lives easier. A rumor here, some chaos there, and they just keep cracking. It’s fascinating. Gray even believed Reina was behind all those dares, and Reina thought it was Gray’s revenge against her so she kept her mouth shut when everyone accused her.”
A deep laugh comes from Jason. “Only you would ruin the two people who love you the most, Ari.”
“Love.” She cocks her head to the side like a maniac. “What is that? And why should I care about it? The only reason I keep Gray and Reina close is because it’s fun to toy with them. The king and queen of school are under the most insignificant student’s thumb. Hashtag fall of a kingdom.”
“Come on, you never cared about them?”
“No. They’re just there to serve a purpose I need and then they’re out. Mom used to teach me how to be caring and attentive and it was fucking annoying. I’m glad that bitch died and left me in peace. At least Dad doesn’t care for shit and Gray became easier to fool as we grew up.”
“And now what?” Jason asks. “You said something about Reina finding out?”
“Hmm, yeah.” She taps her mouth. “I think she figured something out after I confessed I love Gray today. He didn’t suspect anything when I confessed I loved Reina, but the bitch is smarter than I give her credit for. She ruined my plan, and I’ll make her pay.”
“How?”
She sighs. “It’s getting boring anyway so I might as well go for the grand finale.”
“What grand finale?” Jason asks.
“Breaking them up once and for all. And Jace?”
“Yeah?”
“Continue my legacy. I know you yearn for chaos deep inside, so once I make the fire, don’t let it burn out.”
“You mean keep Asher and Reina apart?”
“Yeah. After I’m done with them, they’ll never come together again anyway, but just in case, don’t allow them to reunite.”
“Why don’t you make sure of it yourself, Ari?”