Crowned by Fate (Crowned 2)

Bryant sits between Stacey and I, his arm wrapping around the top of my chair. I know that he wants me to be more involved. I know that I should at least try to be, but I’ve grown up believing all I had to bring is shame. At these events, I always felt inferior, unwelcome, and like I was the dirty secret Peter had to try to hide. It’s hard to slip out of one habit and into another.

My phone dings and I reach inside my clutch, taking it out.

Tell me Max isn’t there.

It’s Devon, and he’s once again being cryptic.

He is and he’s opposite me.

There’s a long pause and Bryant leans into my ear. “Who is it?”

“Devon,” I answer, just as my phone vibrates in my hand. I open his next text.

Is he alone?

I roll my eyes, just as Bryant’s fly to the woman sitting beside Max. He must pick up something from Devon’s text that I haven’t.

No. He’s with a girl. Help Ash and stop harassing me.

My phone starts ringing but I silence it, turning the screen flat on the table. I can’t deal with Devon’s constant issues while distributing my thoughts over everything else that’s going on in front of me. The atmosphere is busy.

The rest of the dinner moves quickly, Max and I share awkward stares from across the table, and when Bryant leaves the table, I finally gesture to Max. “Can we talk outside?”

Max nods, tossing his napkin onto the table before following me out the side exit. The cool air whisks through the strands of my hair, cooling the sweat that is forming on my lower back.

I spin around. “What is this?” I flash the photo in front of his face.

He looks at it, then comes back to me. “It’s you.”

I shove him in the chest, only he doesn’t move. “No, it isn’t. I would remember. My brain is clear now, I remember everything that did happen. Everything that I created inside of my head doesn’t even exist upstairs anymore. So, who the fuck is this?”

Max opens his mouth, but when the words fly out, it’s not in his voice.

“It’s me.” The woman he was sitting with steps out of the shadows, taking Max’s hand while slowly removing her mask.

My breathing stops.

Shock shoves me backward as the building and trees sway in the distance. Slowly, I recollect my thoughts. “What the fuck?” When you look into a mirror, you see the reflection of yourself. Everything is you, only flipped around. But it’s fine, because you know it’s you. Pearl is everything like looking into a mirror, only this is not fine.

Because this is not me.

This is Pearl.

“Isa…” Max warns, coming closer to me. “What are you thinking?”

“I’m thinking what the fuck is going on?”

A car pulls up behind me, over the crunching of rubber tires and loose gravel.

Max tilts his head and I see it. The exact moment his eyes flash and his true colors present themselves.

“You’re not on my side, are you, Max?” I say the words, but car doors are opening behind me and my heart is beating loudly in my chest. I’m suddenly aware of the fact that we’re down the side alley of the hotel. Why didn’t I leave through the front doors?

Max slowly shakes his head, his finger pressed to his lips. “No, Isa.”

“Why?”

Max leans in. “You and Brianna took everything from us. You were both the golden children.”

I laugh so loud that Pearl jolts beside him. I square my shoulders. “Are you fucking serious, Max? My father tried to kill me, you stupid fuck!”

“Guess he didn’t succeed a second time, huh?” Pearl says, and every time I look at her, an eerie feeling washes over me. “Get in the car, Isa, and don’t make a scene.”

“Or what!” I spit, disgusted in Max. Ashamed of myself for allowing emotions and for thinking that once again, I could trust someone that I shouldn’t.

“Or my precious little niece—”

“Nah, uh, uh.” I hear Devon’s voice boom off in the background. Chills break out over my spine at the eerie sound of hearing Devon’s voice so calm.

Slowly, I turn over my shoulder to see not only a black city car behind me but also a dark limo that’s caging us all in, parked sideways. The door is open, and Devon is walking stealthily toward us. He’s not the Devon I recognize; this is The Reaper.

“You see, I don’t particularly like hearing my niece’s name being threatened.”

The exit door flies open, and Bryant is standing breathless, his eyes on mine. He quickly checks over my body before slowly turning his head to Max and Pearl. “What the fuck is going on?”

“Seems you were right about Max. Isn’t that right, Max?” I say, twisting back toward the city car that he was expecting I get into and seeing it empty. No driver. No other passengers.