Chapter 170
Whoever made up the saying ‘Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned‘ must have scorned Lara Ellington.
She’s many things–gorgeous, fierce, sharp–and now, I’m adding an attribute to that list: terrifying.
She steps back, crossing her arms, and together, we appraise the vision board on her cream linen pinboard trimmed with pink velvet.
It’s all meticulously divided into sections: What we know (Lucas is a slimy, depraved animal. Lucas deserves to rot in hell. Lucas needs to be stopped.)
Who’s been affected (Sarah, Lucy, Olive–that we know of).
And then there’s the scary part: How to stop him.
The list is an escalating range from ‘Record and expose him‘ to ‘tackle him and saw off his balls.‘
“Lara,” I start, “this is-”
“A lot,” she finishes, turning to me. “But it’s necessary.”
If you tell me Lara had been in love with Lucas an hour ago, I would call you batshit crazy.
The look in her eyes is not of love–it’s anger, betrayal, bloodlust.
Her engagement ring glints in the trash can after being brutally yanked off her finger.
I sigh. “I like ‘expose him,“” I say. “He has a perfectly curated mask he shows off to the world. Would be nice to rip it off and let everyone
see the monster he is.”
She taps her sharpie to her lip, squinting at the board. “Okay, but how?”
“We catch him in the act. Record something he can’t explain his way out of.”
Lara turns to me, her eyes widening. “Do you think we can get Lucy to wear a wire?”
I blink. “What?”
“It’ll have to be somewhere he won’t see it when they…” Her face puckers. “You know.”
I shake my head. “No.”
She frowns. “No?”
“I can’t…” I run my hands through my hair. “I can’t ask her to do that, Lara.”
The image of Lucy curled in my bed, trembling and sobbing, rises in my mind. “I won’t put her through that.”
1/4
19:13 Tue, Oct 14 d
Chapter 170
“But-
“No, Lara,” I say firmly. “We have to find another way.”
She deflates, leaning back against her desk. “Yeah, you’re right.”
For a moment, silence fills the room as we both study the board, my mind racing with ideas, each one less feasible than the last.
My gaze shifts to the floor–length mirror in Lara’s room, the frame inlaid with glittering Swarovski crystals.
It catches the light like a rainbow trapped in glass, too beautiful to belong to a room filled with plans for revenge.
My hair is out of the intricate style Lou spent two hours on, loose and curled around my shoulders. Concealer hides my tiredness, but there’s no veiling the storm in my eyes, the questions practically popping up in a bubble over my head.
How do we expose Lucas?
How do we catch him right in the act so that he can’t use influence or money to get out of it?
And then suddenly, the answer is obvious, glaring at me–literally.
“I’ll do it.”
Lara’s head snaps to me as I look up at her. “What?”
“I’ll do it,” I whisper, the idea forming.
“April.” She drops onto the couch next to me. “No.”
I nod. “Yes. I’m one thing he wanted and didn’t get. I’m sure he’s sour about it.”
Lara wrinkles her nose. “You can’t be serious, April. You would let him do those things to you?”
An icy hand grips my heart at the thought of being reduced to a worthless plaything. The mere thought sends a wave of nausea through
- me.
I shake my head vehemently. “No, God, no.” I take her hand. “I’ll just make him think I will. Just enough to get what we need.”
“But-”
“It’ll be perfect,” I press, the idea making more and more sense the more I think about it. “I’ll make him think I’m desperate now that I don’t have any prospects or the Ashfords‘ wealth backing me up.”
She sighs, worrying her lower lip with her teeth. “I dunno, April.”
“Trust me.” Surprisingly, my voice doesn’t shake. Despite the icy grip fear has on my heart, I’m not wavering.
Lara stares at me for a long beat, her face tight.
2/4
19:13 Tue, Oct 14 d
Chapter 170
“I don’t like it,” she finally mutters. “But I get it.”
I nod slowly. I don’t like it either.
:
But preference stopped being a priority the minute I learned what Lucas was capable of–what he’d already done.
“You’ll need backup,” Lara says, standing suddenly. “Disguised surveillance. A panic button. A safe word.”
A sharp laugh bubbles out of me–dry and humorless. “You’re acting like I’m going undercover in a spy movie.”
“You kind of are,” she replies grimly. “Only the villain isn’t fictional. He’s real, and he’s worse than half the ones I’ve read about in thrillers. Hell, I’d rather go toe–to–toe with Ghost Face.”
I stand too, nerves running wild through me. “We need to control the setting. Somewhere public but not too public. Private enough for him to let his guard down.”
49
Lara snaps her fingers. “We’re all going dress fitting next week at Alice in Ivory. The boys are coming, too. That could be the perfect place for you to corner him, in like one of the dressing rooms.”
I wrinkle my nose, revolted at the idea of having to ‘corner‘ Lucas Ashford.
“But how would I even get within the vicinity?”
Lara smirks and takes my hand. “April Farrah, will you do me the honor of being my maid of honor?”
I blink. “Huh?”
She giggles, bouncing on her tiptoes. “It’s perfect. It allows you to be in close range with Lucas, and I can keep an eye on you. Make sure nothing goes wrong.”
“But…are you still going to marry him?”
Her face sours. “Absolutely not.”
She sighs and heads over to her fur–lined trash can, fishing out the ring. She glares at it like it’s the key to all the suffering in the world and then slips it on her finger.
“For now.” She shoots me a smile. “I’ll pretend he doesn’t make my skin crawl.”
“Lara, are you sure?”
She lifts her chin. “I’m not going to let him hurt anyone else. If you’re really going to do this, then we do it smart. We do it right.”
I nod. There’s no room for doubt or fear. I thought I was helpless against Lucas–turns out I’m not,
And now that there’s a plan, a solid line of action, I won’t back down.
Lucas will be stopped.
Sara Lili is a daring romance writer who turns icy landscapes into scenes of fiery passion. She loves crafting hot love stories while embracing the chill of Iceland’s breathtaking cold.
