Total pages in book: 105
Estimated words: 98965 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 495(@200wpm)___ 396(@250wpm)___ 330(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 98965 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 495(@200wpm)___ 396(@250wpm)___ 330(@300wpm)
That was new.
When I’d lived in LA, no one recognized me. I wasn’t an actor, and I’d only ever been photographed attending my father’s premieres. People in the industry knew who I was, but I wasn’t a household name. But being called “the one” by North Hunter had made me recognizable.
After our first night out at a restaurant here, photos of us showed up online. I guess the public loved a love story, but they also loved the drama of watching one fall apart, and I had a horrible feeling we’d never stop being interesting to the tabloids until we did. Fall apart, that is.
Shaking off the dread that accompanied the thought, I reminded myself I lived in a place designed for privacy, and eventually, everyone would realize North and I would not fall apart. They’d grow bored. Once we’d been married a few years and started having kids, they’d move on.
I blinked. Startled by the thoughts that just so easily entered my mind.
That’s how secure in our love and relationship I was.
I truly believed North was my future.
My phone beeped and I pulled it out of my purse. A text from North:
Meeting’s over. It’s hot as fuck. Let’s go christen the pool.
I texted him I was on my way.
He replied,
You know by christen, I mean fuck, right?
Laughing, I told him I’d somehow managed to crack that code. Feeling high on my happiness, I grabbed my gelato and headed back to my rental car. We were staying at my parents’ place in Malibu while we were here, and I’d dropped North off in Century City for his meeting. Now it was time to pick him up for more uninterrupted sex. Seriously, my family had hogged so much of his time while we were in Ardnoch that I’d had to sneak into his suite during office hours for some sexy time. Very professional of me.
I’d parked in a garage near Rodeo Drive, my flip-flops echoing off the concrete walls as I walked. After placing my new purchases in the back of the car, I changed into sneakers because driving with flip-flops was asking for trouble.
Barely a second after I shut the driver’s-side door, the passenger side opened, and I sucked in a breath of frightened surprise as an intruder got into the car and slammed the door.
Then she turned to me.
Dislike warred with wariness, the nape of my neck tingling in warning as I came face-to-face with Caitlyn Branch for the first time in over two years.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” I yelled. Had she been following me?
Caitlyn smirked, and I noted her appearance with increasing unease. She’d dyed her red hair to a shade of dark brown that matched mine. A golden fake tan covered every inch of her, and her eyes were now green instead of brown. Contacts. “It’s good to see you too, Ari.”
“Get out of my car, Caitlyn.”
Instead, she stuck a hand in the large purse she carried and pulled out a gun.
It felt like my heart stopped for a good few seconds before it raced. The sense of unreality made my head spin.
She rested the gun to my forehead and at the cold press of it, nausea crawled through me. This wasn’t happening.
This couldn’t be happening.
“It’s Ariella. And we’re going to take a nice little drive, right?”
At her sweet tone, I stared at her with incredulous horror. “Have you lost your damn mind?”
“I just want to talk.” She lowered the gun to her lap. “Now, you’re going to drive toward Little Tokyo.”
My gaze dropped to the gun. “Why?”
“Because I’ve been trying to reach out for two years, Ari. Trying to get my best friend back. I’ve been waiting for this moment. Now no one can stop us from being together. Like we’re supposed to be.”
This wasn’t a joke. My stomach somersaulted. Gazing into her eyes, I saw she truly believed that. “Caitlyn—”
“It’s Ariella!”
“Ariella …” My tone was soft, coaxing. “I don’t know what you think is happening here, but just let me go. You don’t want to get in trouble for this.”
She scowled. “For what? Talking to my best friend?”
Oh, hell. “For holding me at gunpoint.”
“This?” She waved it. “This is just to make you listen. I don’t want to shoot you.”
I nodded. “Good. Good. So let’s just take a second. We can talk without the gun.”
Hurt tightened Caitlyn’s features. “I don’t want to shoot you … but unless you come with me and let me have my say … I will blow your brains out.”
Thirty-Seven
ARIA
Caitlyn forced me to throw my phone out of the car on the Santa Monica Freeway before we continued driving to a storage facility on the edge of Little Tokyo, down by the LA River. We could see the city skyline to our left, mountains to our back, and there were not enough people around for me to feel safe. In any way.