Page 154 of Empire of Ash
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“I have to tell you something.”
She jumps a little at the sound of my voice behind her in the dressing room. She whirls, and my heart stops a little as I watch her lips curl and her cheeks flush.
God, she’s beautiful. All legs and blonde hair, wearing a stunning shimmering black, strappy, and sleeveless evening dress that falls just above her knees. The matching heels only make those legs even more appealing.
“Noel?”
I blink, realizing I’ve been spacing out staring at her.
“What did you want to tell me?”
“That you look absolutely stunning in that dress.”
She blushes, biting her lip.
“And that I’m more than slightly annoyed that this is for Jacob.”
Ella rolls her eyes.
“It’s notforJacob. It’s for dinner, with a man who is verifiably not interested in this dress on me the same way you are. Plus…”
She grins coyly as she walks over to sink against me. She raises her mouth to kiss me softy before her lips trace across my jaw to my ear.
“Plus, you’re the one that gets to take itoff, later.”
I growl, my hands sliding to her hips and squeezing possessively.
“I do have to run, though,” she giggles. “And you still have your sit-down with Oliver.”
I scowl as she turns to head back over to the mirror.
Iamstill having a sit-down with Prince. Before, I had every intention of using it to trap him—to let him walk into my trap before I let him know exactly what I knew. The flights, the psych diagnosis. All of it.
And then I’d smile and watch him try and beg for mercy before I had him hauled to prison.
My brow furrows.
As of last night, that plan has obviously gone out the window. Right now, the man who reallyisresponsible for the horrible crimes that have dogged both Ella and me for years—one of which took her younger years from her and almost killed her—is behind bars. Lewis and Liam have overseen Jon Karzony’s transfer to police custody, where he’s being thoroughly interrogated.
I’d originally planned not to tell Ella anything about it, lest she backslide into the darker places in her memories. But now that this is over, I’ve changed my plans regarding that as well.
She deserves to know. She needs to know, so that she can finally breathe, knowing it’s over. I’m not going to ruin her dinner by heaping it all on her now. But, after. Tonight, when she’s home, I’ll tell her it’s all over.
As for Oliver and I? We’re still meeting. Because as much as I’d like to watch him suffer, he’s right.
Wewerefriends, once. Maybe just talking will at least get us past this toxicity that keeps hurting those around us.
Ella glances at me through the mirror she’s standing in front of.
“Choker, or pendant?”
She’s holding up two necklaces, her brow furrowing as her eyes dart between them. A smile curls at the corners of my lips.
For a long time, I had it just because… honestly I don’t even know why. Because they gave it to me in the hospital when I went to see her that night—when I told her that her mother was dead. And after that, when her pain turned to rage, and when I realized that’s what I could be for her, giving it back to her felt like a cruelty. A reminder of what was lost the night it seared itself across her skin.
Amusingly, I had it with me the day I watched her yank the contract out of Clarence’s hands on the steps of Hemlock Estates and rip it in two. I’d intended to give it to her that day, but then she disappeared into the world.