Chapter 6

Tyler froze where he stood, and the color drained from his face while the whole lounge waited. Amber stared at him with mascara running down her wet cheeks, and her voice cracked like glass.

"Tyler, tell her the truth."

"Call them," Chloe repeated, tilting her head with a slow, teasing smile. "Or admit that you gave the necklace to her because she's the woman you really chose."

She lifted her fingers to the clasp at the back of her neck and let her voice turn soft and dangerous. "And if you can't do that, take your precious necklace back, darling, because we're done."

"No!" Tyler lunged forward and caught her hand before she could reach the clasp.

The house, the investments and the easy life he believed Chloe would hand him were all worth more to him than Amber. He is choosing the money again, and he does not even blink.

He dialed nine-one-one with shaking fingers, and when the operator answered, he looked straight at Amber and said, "I want to report a theft."

Amber slapped him across the face so hard that his head snapped to the side. "You bastard!" she screamed, and her whole body shook with rage and disbelief.

Tyler caught her wrist and shoved her back, his teeth bared. "Stop it, you stupid woman, you're ruining everything!"

"Security!" someone shouted from the doorway.

The party exploded into chaos. Amber was sobbing and cursing at the top of her lungs while Tyler tried to explain himself to the operator in a panicked whisper, and half their classmates held up their phones to film every second.

Chloe stood in the middle of it all with the crystal pendant resting against her throat. It sat exactly where she wanted it, and she folded her hands in front of her like a quiet guest at someone else's funeral.

Tyler ended the call with a ragged breath and shoved the phone back into Chloe's hand without even looking at her. Then he dropped to one knee and pulled a small velvet box from his pocket, holding it up with both hands while his eyes shone with desperation.

"Chloe, please," he begged, his voice trembling for the cameras. "I planned tonight because I want to spend my whole life with you, so don't let Amber destroy what we have."

The diamond inside the box was tiny, and the speech was almost word for word the one he had given her in her last life. Around them nobody cheered now, and a few of the girls lowered their phones and looked away.

Chloe gazed down at him and let the silence stretch until it hurt. Kneel a little longer, Tyler. You owe me every second of it.

"I need time," she said at last, her voice soft and fragile. "If you ever really loved me, you will give me that."

Tyler's mouth opened to argue, but every camera in the room was aimed at his face. He forced a broken smile, and his hand shook around the little box. "Of course, babe. Take all the time you need."

Chloe turned and walked out with her back straight and her red dress swaying.

She did not run until she reached her car, and then she dove into the driver's seat and slammed the door behind her.

Her whole body trembled as she locked every door, and she clutched the pendant with both hands. The chain had left a thin cut across her palm from the struggle with Amber, and a line of blood slid across the crystal.

The pendant flashed.

The hotel parking lot vanished around her. Chloe found herself standing inside a silent space, with an enormous empty warehouse stretching in front of her and dark, endless land beyond it.

For several seconds she could only stare with her lips parted, her heart pounding in her ears. Then the laughter bubbled up from deep in her chest and spilled out of her, wild and shaky and free.

In her last life, Tyler and Amber had used this very space to steal everything she collected and leave her outside to die. This time Tyler had paid back part of her money, paid for his own humiliation and broken his secret lover in front of the whole class, and then he had placed the space in her hands himself.

The apocalypse was coming in twenty-four days, and Chloe wiped her wet eyes and lifted her chin.

"Come and get me, end of the world, because this time I'm ready."