CHAPTER 3

Lily's POV

“Lily, wake up,” a voice drifted into my ears. I felt a hand repeatedly tap my shoulders. 

I didn't want to. Waking up meant remembering what I had spent two days trying to forget. 

“Lily,” the voice came again. 

I opened my eyes. Shawna was seated at the edge of my bed. Three empty bottles of alcohol sat on the nightstand. The room was dimly lit and the curtains were closed. My clothes from Sunday night were piled up on the floor. 

Shawna stood up to open the curtains. 

“What day is it?” I asked, rubbing my face. 

“It's Tuesday,” she responded. 

“I've been calling you since Sunday night,” she said. 

“I thought you would still be with Dorian for the vacation.” 

His name broke something in me. 

The tears came like a sudden rain and I didn’t even try to stop them. Shawna pulled me into her arms without a word. She just held me tight and steady as streams of tears flowed onto her shoulder. 

When the shaking finally stopped, she pulled back and wiped my face with her hands. 

“Tell me,” she said. “Tell me what's going on.”

“I caught him with Bella Jamie,” I sobbed. “That night, on our anniversary.”

The softness of her face vanished, replaced with a stern look.

“That asshole,” she said quietly. Then she exploded. “That son of a bitch.”

“He said he ended things with me a long time ago and I was too blind to see it.”

“Don’t you dare sit there and let those words do their job.”

She pulled me up and led me to the bathroom. I dressed up and she dragged me into the passenger seat of her husband’s car before I was even ready to face the city again. 

We drove to a Chinese restaurant. Shawna ordered without asking because she already knew what I like to eat there. But the food tasted like nothing. I gave up even though she tried to persuade me to continue. 

I was wiping my mouth when my phone buzzed in my pocket. 

An unknown number flashed on the screen. 

I ignored it but it rang again.

On the third time, something about the stubbornness of it made me snatch it up. . 

“Hello.”

“Is this Lily?” The voice was deep and calm. It was familiar but I couldn’t place where I had heard it before.

“Yes. Who is this?”

“Aaron. The man you met at the club the other night.”

The white-haired stranger. He hadn’t crossed my mind since that night.

How did he get my contact? And why was he calling? Was he reaching out to appreciate me for driving him home?

“Okay,” I said. 

“I want back the Patek Philippe you took from my car that night.”

I pulled the phone away from my ear and stared at it for a second before returning it.

“I’m sorry, what did you say?” I said. 

“My wristwatch,” his voice sharpened. “The one you stole when you drove me home the other night.”

This was my reward. I had driven a stranger through the empty street in the middle of the night . Waited in the cold for the security that never came. And this was how he repaid me. 

“I didn’t steal anything from you,” I said. 

“You were the last person with me in the car.”

“No. I wasn’t. The estate security took the car. I never went past the front gate,” I snapped.

“Those men would not risk stealing from me,” he said. “You on the other hand—”

“Say it. On the other hand what?” I snapped. 

Shawna’s fork stopped moving midway to her mouth. 

I exhaled, rubbing my forehead with the tips of my fingers.

“You are literally accusing me of theft.”

“Don’t pretend. I’m just stating the facts. You were broke enough to be having a drink alone at a club on a Sunday night.”

My knuckles hurt as my fingers tightened around the phone.

“I chose to drive you home because three men were watching you from a corner and you were about to drive yourself into a tree,” I said. 

He fell silent. Long enough that I thought he had hung up. 

Then he spoke again.

“What men?” His voice was calmer now than earlier. 

“The hooded ones,” I said. “But I don’t expect you to remember because you had ten shots of long island.”

When the silence went on for too long I thought he was finally listening. But then he broke again. 

He exhaled. His voice changed to something almost gentle like a man realizing that there was a better way to go about this. “Look. I get that you needed the money. The watch belonged to my mother. It’s the only item I have of her left. Five thousand dollars. Right now. Just hand it over.”

My eyes widened in disbelief. I had just narrated how I helped, yet he continued with the accusation. 

“Your wristwatch is not with me,” I said. 

“So that’s how you want this to go.”

“I’m dealing with a lot right now,” I said. “I don’t want to do this with you.”

He fell silent. We both did. Then he spoke again. 

“Dealing with a lot?” His tone dropped low. ” Besides the plate of chicken and soda in front of you, what exactly are you dealing with?”

The muscles on my face loosened.

The color drained. 

The clinking of forks, murmur of people in the restaurant faded around us. It was like someone had pressed a pillow over the world. 

He knew where I was. 

Not the street. Not the area. The exact Chinese restaurant. The meal that sat right on the table. 

My eyes moved to the window. The street was filled with many people. He could be hiding and watching me right now. 

“Shawna,” I said quietly.

“We need to leave,” I whispered. “Right now.”