Chapter 4

A little past ten that night, I heard the lock turn.

Vivian was home.

She came in carrying two large bags of my favorite snacks, wearing an expression of perfectly calibrated concern and exhaustion, like a hero who had dropped everything to rescue me.

"Serena, look what I got you — dried mango and those yogurt bites you're obsessed with."

She set the bags on the coffee table with a rustling crash that ripped through the silence in the room.

"Please don't take what happened today to heart," she said, moving toward me, arms already opening out of habit. "Ethan is such a jerk. You're way too good for him. Good riddance. I already chewed him out for you!"

I was sitting on the couch. I shifted back slightly without thinking about it, just enough that her arms closed around empty air.

She froze in that awkward half-embrace, and the perfect mask of concern cracked just slightly.

"Serena? Are you okay? Are you still upset?"

I didn't answer. I just looked at her. Took her in, slowly — her face, her eyes, the nude polish on her fingertips.

Seven years I'd looked at this face. Right now it made me feel physically ill in a way I couldn't suppress.

She recovered quickly. The mask resettled. She pressed on with her performance, her voice thick with manufactured warmth.

"I know you're hurting right now, and that's okay. I'm here. Once the dust settles, I promise I'll introduce you to someone ten times better than Ethan. Someone who actually deserves you."

Oh, shut up. Still sitting there with that dead-fish expression.

Ethan's fiancée — that's going to be me. He was so worried about me after I fell on that stage. Spent the whole car ride home comforting me.

Once you're gone, the first thing I'm doing is throwing out every last thing of yours. Can't stand looking at it.

And that tacky little necklace from your dead mother — I've been sick of it for a while. Tomorrow I'm having Ethan buy me a real one.

Each thought was more vicious than the last. More certain. More smug.

And each one left me a little clearer. A little colder. A little more ready.