Faye nods, looking down as she picks at her nail beds. Naomi wonders if Faye feels more remorseful for what happened to Harlow after discovering what she was grappling with at the time. How she was actively gathering evidence against Colton to send him to prison, even if it meant she’d go herself. Now, only Naomi and Faye know the truth, while the rest of the world still believes Colton was the victim in all this. She’ll have to find a way to fix that. But it will be tricky, since handing this letter into the police will actually implicate Faye, since she’s now Harlow.
She exhales. “So you found all this… and then what?”
“I didn’t know what to do at first,” Faye says, sighing. “If people didn’t think I was Harlow, of course I would’ve turned the documents over. I even thought about sending them to you anonymously, without the letter. But all I could think about was his family getting him off somehow. Using their money and power and connections to simply make it disappear. And the more I thought about it, the more I could only see one option that would truly ensure he never hurt anyone again. One that would also ensure he’d leave me alone. Plus, it felt like a way to honor Jade and Harlow. I know nothing can make up for what I did to her, but maybe finishing what she started would… I don’t know… mean something.”
Naomi swallows hard, chest tightening at what she knows is coming next.
“I figured an overdose was the best way to do it,” Faye says. “Fitting, considering how they covered up Jade’s death. Plus, actors and musicians overdose all the time, you know that. So I got in touch with a friend, who got in touch with another friend, who then got in touch with the sketchiest drug dealer in New York. Told them if they didn’t ask any questions, they’d be paid double.”
Faye runs her tongue over her teeth, shaking her head. “Like I said before, Colton expected me to be on call for his every want and need. So the next time he told me to come over, I was ready. I got him high off good stuff first, and then distracted him with…” Her face reddens as she gestures at her body, looking away from Naomi. “Once I could tell he was in a… trusting… mood, I pulled out the other bag of cocaine, which was heavily laced with fentanyl. He was dead within the hour.”
Naomi’s breath catches in her throat. It feels as if her blood has run cold. She knows her sister can be vengeful, but premeditated murder? She understands on some level. She didn’t want Colton to hurt anyone again either, and his death does feel justified, to her, at least. But still. She stares at her little sister, worried how far gone she is. If she’s simply a vigilante or a psychopath. She seems to have remorse, though, for what happened to Harlow, at least…
“So just to clarify,” Naomi says. “You didn’t poison anyone else with fentanyl, right? Just Colton…”
Faye looks horrified at the suggestion.
“I’m only asking because I need to first rule you out before I make my mind up about something. Harlow and Jade were injected with the same amount of fentanyl, most likely meaning it was from the same source, the same person…”
“Sam,” Faye responds, realization dawning on her too.
Naomi nods. “It must’ve been.”
The thought is sickening, but not as sickening as her next thought. The head injury on “Faye’s” autopsy report. Was thatreallythe cause of death? Or could Harlow have still been alive when Sam injected her with the drugs?
“Do you think Sam got wind of Harlow going to the police?” she asks Faye. “So when she… hit her head… and you called him, he saw it as an opportunity? A way to save both his biggest clients from massive scandals? The perfect chance to silence his problem for good?”
Faye tenses. “I didn’t think about it like that, but guess it’s possible. The way he would talk about her, especially near the end. Like she was the biggest pain in his ass rather than his golden girl.”
Naomi imagines Sam plotting how to get rid of Faye next. “He’s really bad news, Faye. You need to get away from him.”
“I know,” she whispers under her breath.
But again, Naomi realizes there’s no way to implicate Sam without also implicating Faye. And even if they managed to find a way to spin it, he’d sure as hell make sure she went down with him if it came to it.
“Maybe you can come to some sort of agreement with him eventually, so you can both part ways… leave everything in the past.”
“Mmm.” Faye’s face is flushed and she’s jerking her leg up and down, like she used to do when she was agitated. A wave of uneasiness washes over Naomi in that moment as she studies her sister’s blank, distant stare.
Chapter 47
Three Months Later
Leo pushes Naomi’s wheelchair into the designated VIP section inside Madison Square Garden. Even after three painful months of bed rest and physical therapy, her leg still isn’t fully healed. But she doesn’t mind; she’d go through it all again if she had to. She’s just grateful to be alive. And even more grateful that her sister is too.
Despite everything Faye has done, waves of pride radiate off Naomi as she looks around the sold-out arena. Packed with twenty-thousand excited fans, all waiting for Harlow Hayes to take to the stage. But only Naomi knows who she really is.
Do you, though?a voice whispers, sending a chill down her spine.
Naomi has had three months to process everything that happened, from discovering her sister is not only alive but is impersonating Harlow Hayes, to learning that she calculated and carried out Colton Scott’s murder. They’ll never truly know who killed Harlow—Faye by accident or Sam on purpose—but Naomi’s gut tells her it was Sam. Or at least that’s what she desperately wants to believe.
Over the last few months, there have been moments where it was difficult to accept her new reality, who—and what—Faye had become. Their relationship has been fundamentally changed forever, there’s no denying that, but they are sisters, soulmates bound by blood. And Naomi is hardwired to love her no matter what. Together, they’ll figure it out.
And to her credit, Faye is trying her best to make up for all the pain she put Naomi through, making sure she has everything she needs during her recovery, helping her heal and covering all the costs, and even buying her a brand-new apartment in Tribeca. They have talked about moving to Nashville or Santa Monica, somewhere where they can start fresh together. But for now, Naomi is enjoying being back in New York. The only reason she left was because of the constant reminder of Faye. But now that she has her back, she’s lost her reason to hate the city. Plus, there’s Leo.
After he heard about the accident from Amelia, he drove all the way up to Maine with flowers, chocolates, and apologies—even though it was Naomi who had more to be sorry for. But they decided to start over.
“So tell me again how you two became such good friends,” Leo says quizzically, staring at a giant photo of “Harlow” on the jumbotron.
