"What?" Ariana breathed.
Suddenly she saw her whole world collapse around her. All her plans, her dreams, her future. Everything had hinged on coming here, gaining Briana Leigh's trust, and getting her inheritance. Ariana needed that money. But there was no inheritance. There wouldn't be one for another nine years.
Ariana's mind started to whirl, trying to find some logic. Something to latch onto. She had thought that Briana Leigh had murdered her father to get the cash. That was what Kaitlynn had always said. Had Kaitlynn been somehow misled? Or was it Briana Leigh who had been duped? Maybe she hadn't known about the trust clause until after her father was dead.
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God, that must have sucked. Murder your own father and then find out it was all for nothing? Ariana knew the feeling, at least in a way. She had let Sergei die on that awful day nearly three years ago, had held him under the freezing water until he went limp, and had then learned that he was perfectly innocent. Ariana could only imagine Briana Leigh's face when the will had been read. It must have been classic. Suddenly she wasn't sure whether to laugh at Briana Leigh's misfortune or cry for her own.
"Yep. Until then all I get is a monthly allowance," Briana Leigh said, raising her hand to look at her sparkling diamond ring. She sighed and buried her face in a down pillow.
Ariana felt suddenly weak. She turned and lay back on Briana Leigh's bed, Briana Leigh's feet uncomfortably close to her cheek. Still, she didn't move. Couldn't have done so if she tried.
It was over. All over. There would be no starting fresh. No living the dream. What was she going to do now? Where was she going to go? She had no one. Nothing. Not a friend in the world.
Ariana's fingers closed around her forearm and squeezed.
In, one... two... three...
Out, one... two... three...
The breathing wasn't working. Ariana was starting to panic. Her vision spotted over and she felt sweat pricking under her arms, at the small of her back, along her temples. She had lost control of the situation. There was nothing she could do. Nothing at all.
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REALITY
The sky outside Ariana's windows was just starting to turn pink, but she had yet to close her eyes. Sleepless nights had been a regular thing for her inside the Brenda T, but since she had been out, she had been so exhausted from the activity, the acting, the hope for the future, that she'd slept like a rock the whole week she'd been in Dallas.Not this night, however. This night had been one of the worst she had ever experienced.
Letting out a deep sigh, Ariana rolled onto her back and stared at the revolting chandelier above her bed. What the hell was she doing here? Why
was she torturing herself with Briana Leigh's company, bending backward to please her and her horrible fashion sense, if the girl didn't have any money? And what the hell was she going to do next? Where was she going to go?
All night long she had been asking herself these questions, and she had yet to devise an answer. Because there was nowhere. The moment
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she stepped off this compound, she'd be nothing but a fugitive with a crappy cell phone and less than three hundred dollars to her name. She supposed she could steal some of Briana Leigh's couture and a few pieces of jewelry and hock them, but that money would only last so long. She could go back to her parents, but if she did that, it would only be a matter of time before she was caught. It was simply too dangerous.
She needed Briana Leigh's millions. Needed the money so that she and Kaitlynn could truly disappear and start over. The thought of that money was all that had kept her going those last few months on the inside. It was completely inconceivable that she might leave here without it.
There was only one answer. All night long Ariana had kept returning to the obvious, but all night long she had shoved the thought into the back of her mind. She couldn't go there. She wouldn't. There had to be another way.
But now, in the dim light of dawn, she was starting to realize there was not. If she wanted her new life, she was going to have to make this sacrifice.
Taking a deep breath, Ariana let the cold hardness of the truth settle over her. Felt the weight of it in her veins. Let the reality seep into her mind. First she had to accept it. Only then would she be able to do what she had to do.
A moment later she shoved the covers aside, grabbed her robe, and was gone.
She walked calmly down the stairs and crossed the great room with
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a swiftness born of necessity. The back door slid open soundlessly and she was outside, crossing the stone patio in her bare feet. The air was already warm, and somewhere on the grounds a lawnmower roared. Ariana looked around to make sure none of the staff were in sight. She was alone.
The sliding backdoor of Grandma Covington's small bungalow was, thankfully, unlocked. Ariana opened it a few inches and turned sideways to slip inside, closing the door behind her with the tiniest of clicks. The cozy kitchen gleamed in the gathering morning sunshine, everything in its place. On her way through Ariana spotted a pill bottle and paused, snatching it up in curiosity.
Ambien. A full bottle. She pocketed half the pills. Past experience proved that something like these could come in handy one day.