I shook my head in disgust at Chloe’s cruelty. How could she be so evil and unremorseful? She had taken a human life, one of the worst sins that you couldmit. She was going to curse the Hawthrone family… maybe she already had. Sadness for Russell Lewis and his family swirled in my stomach until I was queasy from it. Tears pricked at the back of my eyes as I thought about his life that had been cruelly taken from him.


    Richard was slowing down and parked in front of an upscale


    restaurant.


    We had arrived at the location for Alexander’s blind date. Quickly, I pulled out my headphones and stuffed them back into my bag. I couldn’t get the thought of Russell Lewis out of my head. He had just been a boy when he was murdered. I wiped a tear from my cheek and tried to pull myself together.


    “Ms. Wright will be waiting for you at the hostess table at the front of the restaurant,” I told Alexander in a quiet voice.


    His grim face changed when he looked at me. If I didn’t know any better, I would say that his eyes were full of concern. “Are you alright, Olivia? What happened?”


    “I’m fine,” I said briskly, brushing him off.


    He frowned and pulled/back from me. “Fine. Well, you have toe with me.”


    “No.” I crossed my arms in defiance.


    After what I just learned, something as trivial as joining my boss on a


    0.00%


    000


    11:45


    blind date didn’t seem too important anymore.


    292 Vouchers


    “Yes. You don’t have to sit at the same table, but you will get a table near my date and watch.” His expression hardened. “Robert will make sure that youe in.”


    I nced at the driver’s seat, and Alexander’s bodyguard gave me an apologetic look.


    “Fine,” I said and crossed my arms tightly across my chest. “But I’m ordering whatever I want using thepany card.”


    He smirked. “I was actually going to suggest that.”


    Then, he put his warm hand on my thigh and squeezed it.


    My stomach jolted from the contact, and I watched him exit the car. Jealousy ate away at me as he entered the restaurant to meet another


    Woman.


    Five minutester, I went into the restaurant.


    “How many in your party?” the young hostess asked.


    “Just one,” I answered, my voice sounding glum even to my own ears.


    She showed me to a small table that wasn’t far from Alexander and his date–Naomi Wright. His mom had set him up with a leggy blonde who smiled suggestively at him from across the table.


    I mmed my purse on the table and ordered a bottle of the most expensive wine on the menu. My server was a handsome man around the same age as me, and Iughed loudly when he made a joke about a dish’s name that actually wasn’t that funny. But my loud chucking made Alexander tear his eyes away from his date and frown when he saw me talking to the server.


    34.66%


    11:45


    ??


    Good.


    Let him watch me enjoy myself with another man when he was unting his date right in front of me. It was only fair.


    Soon. I tucked into my meal. I had ordered three delectable dishes and was nning to take the rest home for leftovers. As I sipped my red wine and cut into my Filet mignon, my phone rang. Usually, I wouldn’t answer my phone inside a restaurant, but I didn’t care about appearing rude tonight. The news of Chloe admitting to killing Russell Lewis and Alexander forcing me to watch his date had made social norms seem unimportant.


    My stomach flipped when I saw that Ava was the one calling me.


    “Did you listen to the voice recording?” she said, bypassing a greeting.


    “Yes, I can’t believe that she confessed to killing her high school friend.” I said in a quiet voice. “Do you think it’s enough to go to the police with?” I took a bite of my steak and almost moaned at the taste.


    “I’m not sure,” Ava admitted. “Chloe’s fancywyers could argue that we had manipted the recording in some way. I don’t think it’s irrefutable evidence.”


    My shoulders sagged. I had been afraid of thát.


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