Letting out an exasperated breath, Ranielle shoved the lid onto the box and leaned across it. “They’ve fired everyone. The show is canceled. Effective immediately.”
“What?” said Carter. “They can’t do that! The finale is next week!”
Ranielle fixed her with a vicious look. “They’re already dismantling the sets, and they’ll start tearing that cursed finale room apart first thing tomorrow morning. By this time next week, there’ll be nothing here but plywood and rubble. But feel free to send in your complaints.” She started pulling books from a nearby shelf. “It’s no longer my problem.”
“But . . . what about the grand prize?” said Beck. “The money? The invitation to Sweetbrier?”
“Sweetbrier?” shouted Ranielle, throwing the books unceremoniously into another box. “My life is falling apart around me, and all anyone cares about is going to some fucking resort.”
Adi winced as she snatched up more books. “And my mother was pissed off because . . . ?”
“How the hell should I know? Some part of her still thought she was a contender for the host position?” She fisted her hands on her hips. “Do I even want to ask what you’re doing here? Because if this is about that damn recording, then go ahead. Tell the world the great Ranielle Russell helped a contestant cheat. My reputation is shot at this point, anyway.”
“Yeah?” said Sierra, stepping forward. “What’s going to happen to your reputation when people find out you killed my sister?”
Ranielle stared at Sierra like she’d started talking in code.
Then she laughed. A shrill, humorless sound. “You teenagers and your goddamn conspiracy theories. I don’t have time for this. Get out of my office.”
“We know about the blackmail,” Sierra continued. “We know Louis didn’t write that suicide note. We know everything.”
This time, Ranielle looked borderline amused. “Oh, you knoweverything, do you? How quaint.”
“Yes, everything.” Sierra’s anger grew at Ranielle’s nonchalance. Didn’t she get it? Sierraknew. Ranielle would pay for what she’d done. “Alicia left me a note telling me about her relationship with your husband, and how she threatened to go to the media if you didn’t give her what she wanted. It’s over. My sister will finally have justice.”
Slowly, Ranielle’s smug expression shifted. A moment of concern, but then . . . regret.
The fire roared in Sierra’s chest. Finally.Finally.
She had her.
Ranielle’s gaze drifted from Sierra to each of her teammates, and back again. Then she walked around the desk and shut her office door.
Instincts had Sierra bracing for an attack. They should have brought weapons.
Carter and Adi both reached for their phones.
But Ranielle paced to the sofa and thumped onto it with a heavy sigh. “All right,” she said quietly. “Let’s get a few things straight. I didn’t kill your sister. I was trying to protect her.”
Sierra frowned. “Excuse me?”
“I’m sorry, Sierra. I should’ve stepped in sooner.” She looked at Carter. “I did with you. At least, I tried. When I saw you that first day in Louis’s dressing room, I tried to warn you away. I didn’t know what else to do without exposing my husband’s despicable secret.”
Carter shuddered.
“But I didn’t do any of that for Alicia,” Ranielle continued. “I stood by and let it happen because I didn’t have the time or energy for Louis’s antics—I had a show to run.” She shook her head. “I never expected Alicia to blackmailmeover it.”
“What did you offer her?” asked Adi. “Money?”
Ranielle fixed him with an inscrutable look. “I offered her the world.” She left that comment hanging before adding, “In exchange for her discretion, and ending the affair.”
“Oh,” Adi said, exhaling softly. “You think Louis killed her because she was going to leave him.”
“That was my suspicion, yes.”
“You told her to break up with him, then provided police with his alibi when he killed her for it,” Sierra said. “What . . . the . . . fuck.”
She couldn’t stop her body from shaking.
