Chapter 172
–
really glance this
My pulse picks up as I glance around the room time. Something isn’t adding up. Something else is going on.
–
I start sifting through the clutter on her desk. Not snooping – at least, that’s what I tell myself. I just need answers.
And then I find it.
A small, flattened box. Pink and white.
Pregnancy test.
Beneath it, folded pamphlets from a clinic in Manhattan.
An abortion clinic.
The world goes quiet. My hands start to shake.
I stare at the pamphlets, my breath caught somewhere in my throat, like if I move too fast, the truth will hit me even harder.
And that’s when I hear it.
The soft creak of the bathroom door opening behind me.
Tessa’s voice is low. Cold.
“What the fuck are you doing?”
I whip around.
She’s wrapped in a towel, another twisted around her hair, and her
eyes-
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God, her eyes look nothing like the girl I know.
They’re tired. Guarded.
“I-” I start, but no words come.
She steps further into the room, not bothering to mask the anger on her face. “Seriously, Em? Going through my stuff now?”
I lower the pamphlets slowly. “I wasn’t… I didn’t mean to-”
“You did mean to.” Her voice cuts, razor sharp. “You just didn’t mean to get caught.”
“Tess, I was just worried-‘
She scoffs. “Spare me. You were nosy. There’s a difference.”
I flinch.
But I don’t back down. Not this time.
“You’ve been locking yourself in here for days. You’re not talking to me. You’re barely eating. You didn’t even touch your breakfast.” I gesture toward her desk. “And now I find this?” I hold up the box, barely able to breathe. “You don’t get to shut me out and act like I’m the problem for caring.”
For a beat, she says nothing. Just stares at me with that unreadable face.
Then she shakes her head.
“You don’t know anything.”
She moves to brush past me, like I’m not even standing there.
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But I don’t let her go that easily.
I grab her arm. “Tessa –
She jerks free. Her skin is cold. Her movements, colder.
And still, I try.
“Why won’t you just talk to me?” My voice cracks, raw and too full. “Explain it to me. Let me in. I’m your best friend, dammit. I’m always in your corner you know that. If something’s wrong, if anything is going on with you—”
—
I trail off. My eyes flick, involuntarily, toward the desk. Her laptop. The pamphlets. The box.
Her gaze follows mine. And then she laughs. A sharp, bitter sound that slices straight through me.
“You really don’t get it, do you?”
“Tessa-”
“You only remember we’re best friends when it’s convenient for you.” Her voice is ice now, the kind that burns. “When it fits your narrative. When you want to be the hero. But let’s rewind, shall we?”
She steps closer. Her expression is thunder.
“When were you going to tell me you were still looking into Diana?” My stomach drops. “After you lied to my face and told me and Adrian we needed to let it go?”
“I was going to-”
“No. Don’t interrupt.” Her voice is shaking now, but it’s not from
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weakness. “Do you have any idea what I woke up to this morning? I got a message. From her. A message that scared the hell out of me – and when I started putting pieces together, guess what I found out?”
She exhales, sharp and trembling.
—
a girl I’ve never even met
—
“I had to hear it from your little sister that you and Liam are dating,” Tessa says, voice clipped and shaking. “At first, I thought maybe she just fell for your act. But no she already knew it was fake from the start. Isn’t that wild?”
My throat tightens.
—
turns out
“What’s even wilder is that you’ve been in the middle of something messy and dangerous, and you didn’t think to say a damn thing.” She laughs, bitter. “What were you waiting for, Emilia? For something to explode?”
“It wasn’t like that—”
“Yes, it was.” Her eyes gleam now, but she refuses to blink. “You always pick and choose what parts of yourself to share, and that used to be okay. But not when it affects me. Not when it puts you in danger. Because that’s the thing — you don’t care, do you?”
–
My mouth opens, then closes.
“You don’t even consider how I’d feel if something ever happened to you.”
The silence that follows is deafening. My ears are buzzing with it.
I want to defend myself – want to say I meant to tell her, that I was just waiting for the right time – but there is no right time for a lie of
omission.
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Chapter 173
