ame: fragmented images of the hotel room, the suffocating scent of cedar and whiskey,

lit up with more than a dozen missed c

go last night? I came

ay? Call me

gnored them and opened a chat with the only family mem

bling. She hit send, then set the phone

a long moment, her thumb hovering. Every instinct told her to decline-to block the number and never look back. But somet

hing. She pressed the phone to her ear

iffany's sharp, excited voice cut through. But she wasn

rned to ice. She

yes, dripping with cruel satisfaction. "Good girl

rrible-you can barely see his face. Just a blurry silhouette. I figured we'd wait until she's even fatter and more pathetic, then leak the whole thing with

it down. She had dialed Chloe's number, heard the click of an answer, but since Chloe hadn't spoken, she had ass

adding that stuff to her protein powder. We can't have her losing any weig

ward the kitchen counter, where a large canister of protein powder s

, had believed her. She had drunk it faithfully, watched the scale climb, and blamed herself for lacking willpower. Twice she had thrown away empty canisters and started fresh with new diets,

rved herself. But the number on the scale only ever went up. It wasn't

now, I know, it's so annoying. But Mom, do yo

arity case from his dead wife. As long as Chloe

d the phone. She ended the call with a stab of her t

it like it was a venomous snake, she threw the entire thing into the trash can.

-puffy, pale, lifeless. The last bit of weakness, the last

n her reputation. They wante

he laughed at her own naivety, her own stupidit

ve

ver been so cle

ake them suffer a hundred times over

l media account, erasing every picture of the sa

oaches and nutritionists in the ci

ecurity expert named Chris. "I need eyes on Brenda Hayes and Tiffany Price. Everything. Calls, mess

mother had left her. It was her last re

laced it in the bottom of a small jewelry box. Thi

st time. Tiffany's name

like chips of ice. She blocked th

he old Chloe H

sunlight flooded the room, and she didn't flinch. She stared d

would give her

that was hers. And she would make Brenda and Tiffany