“Mara has been Angelica this whole time. Holy fucking fuck.” I turn to face the woman who has made the last few years of my life absolutely miserable. “What more do you want from me? My family already paid you. You ruined my life, Angelica! Can you just leave me the fuck alone for once?”
She shakes her head. “Unfortunately for you, that money just wasn’t enough.”
Her words echo through the space as my jaw tightens—how could someone do this to me, tous, just for money? “You two were the ones behind all of this? The texts, the creepy photos, reporting Kenni for the bad landing when it was Chadd McFuckFace flying. God…I knew you had something to do with all this, asshole! Fuck both of you.”
Chadd saunters closer to us. “Well,Icertainly couldn’t be blamed for the shaky landing. I figured we could at least divert their attention to Kennedy until all of this got sorted out. So, how about us getting our money?” he says as he walks over to put his arms around Angelica.
“Not now,” she grumbles, pushing Chadd away from her. He winces, almost like he did that night when I told him Kenni was my girlfriend.Yikes bikes.
“Fine. What’s the plan here, sweetheart?” he asks, stepping back from her, completely defeated.He is totally pussy whipped. And honestly…same. Just for thegoodwoman in this room.
A pit forms in my stomach. All along, I thought Chadd was the bad guy and Mar-Angelicawas just his little minion. But…shit…it was the other way around. The gears in my brain startturning like a cheap-ass blender trying to crush frozen fruit for my smoothie.He gave up his weakness, justlike an opponent on the ice. He’s more fucking whipped than a horse on a racetrack.
I have an idea.
Angelica continues to ignore Chadd, stalking toward me and waving a knife in my face. “That depends. Is my money in the account?”
“My dad’s working on it. This isn’t like the movies. You can’t just move ten million dollars at the drop of a hat. There are forms that need signing, and co-signing—this shit takes time.”
“Well, he’d better hurry up. You have a game to get to tonight, don’t you? Time’s ticking. And now that I have you both, I think I should maybe ask your family for more. Maybe…ten million each?”
“Angelica, don’t do this! I have nothing to hide. You have no leverage on me.”
“I don’t? So, you don’t care about the woman sitting next to you? What if she suddenly, I don’t know, weren’t here anymore?”
I grit my teeth, shifting and twisting and using every bit of my strength to get out of this chair, but fucking Chadd McStalker tied these super tight. “I swear to God if you touch another hair on her head, I willendyou.”
She smirks. “Funny, you’re making threats, but I’m the one with the weapons here. I have the power. I’m the one with all the control. Just like always. Admit it, handsome, youlose.”
The sick feeling from earlier still lingers in my stomach, churning and clenching and making me want to sit and cry.Of course,this is all happening hours before the biggest game of my life. I bite the inside of my cheek. I want to just crawl into a hole and die.
“Angelica,” Kennedy speaks up. “Just let him go. This is the biggest game of his career. Can’t you just let him have thisonething? Look…I’ll stay here; you can keep me until all the money gets sorted out. Including the extra ten million.”
I whip my head toward her. “Kennedy Kramer…hellfuckingno. I’m not leaving you here by yourself. We’re going to get out of this, okay? Surely someone from the arena staff will need to come down here for,” —I look around the empty space, noticing nothing but some broken shit no one would ever need— “something…”
“We’re in the fucking arena?!” Kennedy whisper-yells.
“Oh, Blondie. I’ve been plotting this for months. Why do you think Bridget got fired for selling her tickets, and there was suddenly an opening with the Riders? Oopsies! Did I forget to mention that? It just so happened that this all came together like a perfect storm right before game seven, making my plan even more diabolical, and guaranteeing that I’ll get my money so he can play in his precious little game.”
I would give anything to see a giant piece of the ceiling crush her right now.As much as I want to channel all my hate toward that, I can’t focus on her. This is my time to fight. For Kennedy, for our child, and for once, I’m gonna fucking fight for myself. So, I set my sights on the one person I know I can goad into a blowup.
Chadd.
He’s still standing back from us, his arms crossed, face red, gun still in his shaky hand. He’s not looking at Kenni and me, thank the hockey gods, his focus is onher.He’s still pissed. Still miffed at her dismissal moments ago. I may not be able to physically reach him, but if there’s one thing I’m good at, it’s my acting. A slight lead over my poetry skills, but still. He’s just another opponentundermyice. And that happens to be where I thrive.
“Wow. Impressive Angelica. Bravo. I would clap if I didn’t have my hands tied behind my back, but kudos to you. Really.You managed to get Bridget firedandconvince Chadd to date you so you could get insider information on Kennedy to take her down as well.” I cock my head to the side, raising a brow. “And all you two could come up with was reporting her for a bad landing? I thought you were smarter than that. We all know that if we pull the tapes, it will be clear as day Chadd was the one flying that night.”
“Congratulations, Einstein, you figured it out,” Angelica scoffs with a smirk. “Any other earth-shattering discoveries you’d like to unveil? What happened to Amelia Earhart, perhaps?”
Chadd moves to stand beside her. “She didn’tconvinceme to date her. We met at a bar; she was all over me, not surprising since I’m a catch, and we hit it off.”
“Oh really?” I snap back, looking at the scum of the earth woman standing next to him. “Is that true, Angelica? You were all over him because he’s so hot, and you wanted to date him? Not because you wanted to use him to get insider information on us? Specifically, to have access to a pilot to help you take Kennedy down?”
Angelica narrows her eyes. She knows exactly what I’m doing, but she doesn’t seem to give a shit. She turns to Chadd, giving him a fake smile.
“Mar—I mean, Angelica, you said this was all for both of us. I could get rid of Kennedy, and you were going to get the money so we could be rich. Together. That was all true, right?”
I fight the smirk dying to creep across my face. I’ve got him right where I want him.
