“What are you talking about?”
“If she doesn’t want to tell us, she doesn’t have to,” Abby adds.
“You’re right,” Millie agrees. “She doesn’t have to share her dirty secrets with her little sisters. But shedoeshave to accept she’ll never be in our group chat.”
“What are you bloody talking about?” I huff, throwing my hands up. I feed them for free and this is what I get. Honestly, they wonder why I am the way I am.
“Fuck it. I’m just going to show her,” Millie says.
“Show me what? What is actually happening right now?”
Millie scrolls through her phone before holding the screen towards me so I can see what she’s showing me.
Ah. I see.
It’s Gus and I strolling through Monaco, hand-in-hand. I have my big hat on so unless you knew me well, you’d never recognise me. Unfortunately, my sisters do know me quite well so it doesn’t take me long to realise why they’re annoyed.
I feel like I’m busted.
Am I busted?
I don’t know what to say. Because is this even a crime? Why am I not allowed to keep secrets from them? This all feels a little unjust, so I hold my head up as I face them. This doesn’t prove anything anyway. Thatcouldbe someone else. Could be.It isn’t.But it could be for all they know…
Millie snatches the phone back and scrolls again.
This time I’m shown a deeply pixelated photo of Gus and I laughing at a small restaurant in Old Town, Dubrovnik.
Then Gemma adds to the evidence, showing me a photo taken from on the yacht. Gus is spinning me on the dance floor, Edith and Paul smiling at us adoringly in the background.
Well, ok. That’s undeniably me. I’m going to struggle to squirrel out of this one.
“So?” I say, eyeing them. “What do you want me to say?”
“SO?!” Millie scoffs, finally putting her phone down.
Abby’s eyes go wide. “So?Sara.” She says my name like she’s about to put me in a timeout.
Gemma shrugs like she’s unsurprised but still disappointed by my response. “Told you. She doesn’t air her dirty laundry with us.”
This gets my back up. “Hold up. Gus isnotdirty laundry.”
There’s a collective gasp. “SO, IT’S TRUE!” Millie shouts. They’re all staring at me, gobsmacked.
“What do you want me to say!?” I ask, gesticulating. “We hung out a little.So what?”
“Sara, Gus Kenwood doesn’t justhang outwith random strangers. Also, his fans have done the math. You guys missed the cruise. There’s this big social media search for the blonde girl in all the photos. They’re hunting you.”
I scrunch up my face. “Huntingme?”
“Yeah. But don’t worry,” Gemma says, waving her hand dismissively. “They’ll never guess it was you.”
Millie nods, snorting. “Yeah. You’re safe.”
“Wait?” I blink rapidly, completely and utterly shocked by this revelation. How long did they know? How long have they been keeping this from me? What if someone actually worked out who I was and harassed me in the street?
“What do you mean?” I demand, fiddling with my hair. “I’m so confused. Who ishuntingme?”
“Gus’s fans,” Millie says like it’s obvious.Oh, yeah, like duh.
