Page 56

Celia’s fingers tightened around mine, and Megan leaned between our seats. “I’m sorry, but your daughter is about to find out that when you play stupid games, you win stupid prizes.”

As if on cue, Detective Walker opened the front door.

I got out of the car, and for the first time, I was too distracted to think about opening Celia’s door for her. I was staring as Ellie came out of the house first, hands cuffed in front of her, head down. Courtney and Harry followed the officers, both of them talking at once.

Celia circled my vehicle to stand on my right, and Megan stood on the other side of her as we watched the situation spiral even further out of control.

“This is a mistake,” Courtney snapped. “You can’t just haul her off like this.”

Harry stayed close to Ellie’s shoulder. “We’ll call a lawyer. Don’t say anything.”

Ellie stopped on the curb and lifted her arms to gesture at Courtney. “My mom helped. She knew about the video.”

Courtney’s face went tight. “I can’t believe you ratted me out. I didn’t tell anyone that you faked the pregnancy to get Harry to marry you and then lied about having a miscarriage.”

Harry took a step back from Ellie. His mouth opened and closed several times before he managed to shout, “You tricked me into marrying you?”

The officers mostly ignored him as they slapped cuffs on Courtney too.

I understood his shock because it mirrored mine in many ways. Ellie had talked me into paying for her wedding and getting Harry a great divorce attorney by using a fake pregnancy. Then she’d tried to imply the stress Celia allegedly caused was the reason she lost the baby.

I had thought about getting her a lawyer and urging her to take a plea deal because the evidence was so strong, but there was no rescuing her from the depths she had sunk into on her own.

Harry just stood there shaking his head until he looked up and saw Celia beside me. He started toward us at a run, his shoes slapping the pavement.

“Celia. Please. I didn’t know. She lied to me. We can fix this. Just give me a chance.”

Celia waited until he stopped a few feet away. “What did you just say? Because I definitely couldn’t have heard you correctly.”

Megan bumped her elbow against Celia’s arm. “It sounded an awful lot like he was begging you for a second chance, just like I predicted when you told me he was cheating with a girl fifteen years younger than him.”

“Yeah, but you didn’t predict this,” Celia pointed out.

Megan shrugged. “I don’t think anyone could’ve seen this coming.”

“But I can certainly enjoy watching it all go down in flames.” Celia smiled. “It seems like everybody is experiencing the consequences of their own actions today. Can’t say I’m sad that you are too.”

“Celia, please,” Harry begged. “It was just⁠—”

“Not my problem. Enjoy living with your parents.” She waved goodbye at him. “I’m going to sue everyone involved. That includes your wife. Which means you’re screwed.”

Harry’s face went pale. He looked past her at the officers loading Ellie into the car, then back at Celia. “You can’t do that. The settlement already took more than it should have. My parents are going to lose their minds when this hits the papers.”

That only made her smile bigger. “Couldn’t have happened to anyone who deserved this more.”

Detective Walker called for Harry to move. His shoulders slumped, and he finally turned and walked toward the house without looking at either of us.

“All those cookies you baked, and you didn’t think to make a bag of popcorn,” Megan chided. “I really could’ve used some right about now.”

“I have some at my house,” I offered.

Both women turned to look at me with wide eyes.

Megan shook her head with a laugh. “Sexy lawyer can make jokes.”

“I thought you weren’t going to call him that to his face,” Celia muttered.

“Sorry, it sounded better in my head.” Megan shrugged and waved at the cop cars. “And I figured we could use something to make us laugh after all that.”