Viv moves so quickly. She grabs Piper’s hand, the one holding the knife, but instead of wrenching the weapon away, she wraps her fist around Piper’s, using her momentum to drive them both forward. Plunging the knife right into Elena’s side.
“No!” Ashley screams, rushing forward.
But Rachel lunges at her, grabbing her twin, pulling her back, keeping her from the melee. “You’ll get hurt!” she cries. “Fiona, help me!”
Fiona doesn’t move; she’s frozen to the ground, gawking at the carnage, a glassy look in her eyes.
Elena doesn’t even make a sound. She collapses to the floor. I can’t see her anymore—she’s hidden on the other side of the kitchen island. Piper screams, but Viv won’t let go of her hand.
“Finish it! Finish her; look at what you’ve done!” Viv’s voice is unhinged, hysterical, even though she was the one who drove theknife. “Do it, Piper!”
Viv finally lets go of Piper’s hand. Stands off to the side. Watches as Piper, panicked, sobbing, disappears from the frame, the knife flashing once above her head as she brings it down to meet Elena on the ground.
Chapter 30
The video doesn’t capture the moment Elena stops breathing. It ends with Piper standing up, suddenly calm and pale, no longer holding the knife, the other girls sobbing, snapped back into their bodies, reaching for each other, huddling away from Elena’s body.
Eventually, they trickle away, walking out of frame, looking like battlefield ghosts, leaving only Piper and Viv remaining. And I suppose, whatever is left of Elena. I’m grateful she’s hidden behind the kitchen island.
My eyes are filled with tears for her—and understanding. She wanted out. Trey was offering her an escape. I remember how desperate I was for money, how I wanted Trey to pluck me from the yacht and give me a “real” job. If he had hit on me then, instead of during the storm, would I have fallen for it too?
“This was hard,” Viv says on the video, rubbing Piper’s shoulders.“I know that. But we made the right call. It had to be done.”
“No,” Piper replies, her voice harsh and cold. “No, it didn’t. But it’s over. Now what?”
Viv bites her lip. “I’ll need your help. You’re the strongest here…”
“You want me to carry her.” Piper’s voice is frighteningly dead and flat.
Viv nods. “Help me get her to the tender. Then put her in the water. Take her away from Ligia. Away from the Keys. Listen, you have to weigh her body down, okay?”
“You want me to do this by myself?” Piper asks, sagging forward.
“I have to clean up the kitchen,” Viv says, grimacing. “Get all the blood wiped up. Come up with our next moves. I’ll say she quit and left, and we never heard from her again. I know her passwords; I can post something from her phone to her IG about going on hiatus. It will all be okay.”
Piper’s voice wavers. “What about Elena’s brother?”
“Oh, please,” Viv scoffs, reaching out to gently wipe a drop of blood from Piper’s cheek, staining her own finger in the process. Piper flinches. “He’s too busy doing lines with his consulting buddies to even notice her missing. Piper, she was only close to us. That’s the whole point. We’re her family.”
“The others… They saw everything. They might…”
“They’re not going to tell,” Viv says firmly. Confidently. She leans forward. “They didn’t stop you, Piper. They didn’t go for help. If they tell, they go down too. And they need this job. No one wantsto lose the money and glamour ofEmpress.”
“Elena did,” Piper whispers. “We could have…fixed this.”
Viv raises her chin and pulls her hand away from Piper’s face. “Are you serious? Girl, you don’t get to have regrets now. You should have thought about that before you pushed her into my knife.”
“It was an accident,” Piper repeats, miserably.
“And now we have to clean it up. Come on. The sun’s almost down and I want to get her loaded up while we still have light left.”
“Viv…”
“Oh, and one more thing,” Viv states, snapping her fingers. “I’m going to tell Trey.”
Piper gapes. “What? Why? No one else has to know about this!”
Viv shakes her head. “Trey’s our boss, but more importantly, he has deep pockets. If something goes wrong, which it won’t,” she adds hastily, “I need to know he’s got our back. He’s got the ability to make people look the other way. He can help cover this up. He doesn’t need to know the details. I’ll tell him there was an accident and Elena drowned, and it would be bad press for the truth to get out there.”
