Last Christmas (Private 0.60)

"Oh my God," Ariana gasped.

The screen had just landed on a picture of her and Thomas as they entered the old chapel in the woods the

other night, followed by a photo of Eli heading back in the direction of town. He'd probably caught the last

train to Greenwich that night. Smart guy.

"I was right. He's been following us this whole time," she said, shoving the camera at Thomas. "What is

wrong with him?"

She pushed away from the bed, clutching the framed picture in her hand. The familiar feeling of panic clawed

at her once again, threatening to drag her under. If Sergei was capable of stalking her like this, what else could

he do to her?

193

"Thomas, what if he is planning on blackmailing us?" Ariana said shakily. "He has dozens of pictures of us

from the last two days. He could get us expelled in a heartbeat."

"Ariana, it's okay." Thomas's voice sounded far away. Aloud beep emanated from the camera. "I just deleted

all the files."

"But he could have saved them on his computer. Or worse, an Internet

account. That's not a guarantee that-"

Thomas put the camera down and placed both hands on her shoulders. "It's okay. We'll take care of it."

Ariana stared into Thomas's eyes, but she barely heard him. Sergei could ruin everything. If she got expelled,

her life would be over. She would never graduate from Easton, never get into Princeton, never have the life

she and her mother had planned for her.

And she would never see Thomas again. She couldn't let that happen. For the first time in her life, she was

actually living. She was herself when she was with Thomas. Ariana, and nobody else. She couldn't go back to

the way things were before. Couldn't go back to pretending. It would kill her.

Thomas was right. They were going to take care of this. Starting now.

Heart thundering, Ariana whirled around to the door and froze. Sergei was standing in the doorway, his cold

gaze fixed on her.

194

SO EASY

***"You son of a bitch," Thomas hissed, grimacing as he tried to put weight on his bad ankle.

There was something in Sergei's dark eyes that sent tiny, electric chills through Ariana's body. She