Cruel Legacy (Cruel 3)

“I do this for a living, sweetheart. I’ve got it under control.”

“All right, all right,” I said and then hustled back through Trinity, staring at what I hoped would be the finished decorations for the event tonight.

I’d made the guest list and checked it twice. Everyone who was anyone was going to be there, and I just had to make my grand entrance to complete it all.

I was almost out of Trinity when I heard my name being called. I froze in place and debated whether I should just leave or not.

“Nat, please,” Jane said, hurrying toward me.

I turned slowly back around and found my friend standing before me, looking like a shadow of herself. There were dark circles under her eyes. She looked like she’d lost weight, and she hadn’t had any weight to lose. Her clothes hung on her small frame. And she didn’t even have her customary sunglasses on her head.

“What is it, Jane?” I asked, keeping my voice neutral. I felt for her. But I hated her betrayal. A grudge-holder was who I was as a person. I didn’t know how to move past that.

“I just…wanted to apologize,” Jane said. “We never really got to talk after what happened at the club, and I feel awful.”

“About what? That you sold me out to Katherine for Percy money or that you got caught?”

“That I hurt you.” She frowned. “Everything happened so fast with Katherine. I overextended myself for the soft opening for Trinity in December. I had all this money that was supposed to show up from my overseas banks, and Court could only help me cover some of it. And then the investors backed out at the last minute. Lewis helped me with a contact of his earlier, but they wouldn’t back the whole thing. Katherine found out about it. I have no idea how. And she offered to help.”

“She’d give you Percy if you outed me,” I finished for her. “Classic Katherine.”

“I didn’t want to. It was do or die for my dream.”

“Funny you say that. Since what you did killed mine.”

“I know. I’m so sorry, Natalie. I didn’t know what she was even going to do with it.”

“Yes, you did,” I said with a chuckle. “Don’t play dumb, Jane. You’re as savvy as they come. You hoard secrets and gossip like it’s your job. And look, it kept you in business. Congrats.”

“I didn’t know what else to do.”

I stared back at her with indignation on my face. “What else to do? You could have told me! You could have come to me. We could have figured it out as friends. But you didn’t, and you won’t. You’re only telling me now because you’re desperate.”

“Please,” she whispered, reaching out for me. “You’re…you’re my best friend.”

I withdrew my hand and frowned. “I can’t do this. I thought we were friends. And, right now, I just…I don’t know. Can we figure this out after the party?”

“Okay,” she agreed softly. “Sure, after the party.”

“I have to go get ready.”

“I’ll…I’ll see you tonight then. And, Nat?”

“Yeah?”

“I won’t say anything…about my contact.”

I narrowed my eyes at her. Was that a threat? “What contact?” I asked with a blatant glare.

“Right. Sure,” she said, chewing on her bottom lip. “There never was one.”

I nodded and turned away from her and out into the bright light of day. My heart constricted as I walked away. I hated what had just happened. I wanted to be Jane’s friend. I wanted her at my side, as she had been for so long. It felt wrong, not including her. It felt dangerous with her having the information about Lewis.

Ugh! I couldn’t think about that. There was too much riding on tonight. I’d have to figure out what to do about my friendship with Jane later.

“Are you ready in there?” Penn called down the hallway.

I bit my lip as I stared at my reflection in the mirror. Was I ready? Maybe this was all a horrible mistake. Maybe I didn’t need to do any of this. But I did. I knew that I did. To survive in this world, I had to come out on top. I had to make myself untouchable. Make it so that no one could ever hurt me again. And then, when I secured that tonight, Penn and I could ride off into the sunset for the summer in Paris.

I took another deep breath and then opened the door to the bedroom. “Ready.”

“Wow,” he breathed as I stepped toward him in my soft green princess dress with a lace sweetheart neck that plunged in the front.

We’d decided to do a romantic novel theme for the event to coincide with the literacy charity we’d partnered with. So, tonight was a night of Happily Ever After. The dress that Elizabeth had created for me was the biggest, most incredible thing I’d ever stepped into. Normally, we went for fitted sleek attire. But tonight was all about embracing the magical fairy tale princess of your dreams.