Nineteen
Daphne
Rachel shoves down the hoodie of her sweatshirt and holds up her hands. “It’s me.”
Like that’s supposed to make me feel better about the situation.
Her normally perfectly styled blonde hair is loose around her face, with dark roots showing. She’s in yoga pants and a baggy, shapeless sweater. There are dark craters under her eyes. She looks fragile, but all the more beautiful for it.
Of course she’s the one woman who looks amazing even when she’s a wreck. I brush crumbs off my lap from the teacakes with Armand, and tug up the sleeve of my boat neck sweater, which has fallen off my shoulder. I look like seven types of shit.
“Daphne, I am so, so, so sorry.” She’s stopped a few feet away from me, wringing her hands.
I scoff. Does she really expect me to believe that? Especially after she just broke into my house, on top of everything else?
“Adam blackmailed me,” she blurts. “I didn’t want to help him with any of it.”
“What?”
“He’s had dirt on me a long time. I know you’re mad, and you have a right to be. But I can explain.” Her eyes drop to the floor in shame. “A few years ago, remember when my dad needed surgery?”
In spite of myself, my heart tugs. “Rachel, I told you I could help you out, no strings attached.”
When she looks up, a tear is streaking down her cheek. “I was too proud. I thought I could fix it on my own.”
“How?”
She swipes angrily at her tears and swallows hard.
“Belladonna has an annual slush fund for company parties. It’s stupid and nonessential and no one ever usually checks the balance but me since I’m the chair of the committee. I just needed $2000 to pay off the hospital so they wouldn’t foreclose on Dad’s house. I knew I could pay it back as soon as I got my tax refund. And I did. In full. The money was only missing a few weeks. It seemed harmless.”
My thoughts are on a merry-go-round. I was barely able to sleep last night after they took Logan away, but that reminds me—
“You drugged me.” The betrayal still cuts deep.
“Not me. Adam.” Her voice is desperate. “Look, I know you won’t believe me. I can only imagine what he’s told you—”
“That you instigated the whole thing so you could sell my pictures to the Inquirer.”
“What?” she rage screeches. I flinch. “Sorry,” she drops her voice, still fuming. “I can’t believe he accused me. That lying...cheating…”
“Douche canoe?”
“The douchiest!” She throws her hands up in the air. I shouldn’t laugh, but it’s amazing seeing Rachel like this. Her hair’s mussed and her cheeks are red with rage. It’s a good look for her.
I want to throw my arms around her. I miss my best friend so badly. But my naïveté has cost me too much, too many times.
So I hold myself back and gesture at the kitchen table. I sit at the opposite side and fold my hands together. “So what happened then?”
She nods, swallowing hard again, and returns to her story. “It should have been harmless. But somebody did notice the money was missing.”
“Adam,” I say.
Furtively, she looks my way and nods.
“Adam,” she agrees. “I didn’t even know Archer Industries had access to our books until he showed up in my office one day looking for answers. We weren’t officially affiliated with them back then.”
I know the answer to that. Dad. No doubt Adam made the request, framing it in such a way as if he was looking out for my dad’s interests… When all along it was just another lever of control for Adam, always on the hunt for any weakness.
And he found one in Rachel.
Rachel’s eyes are back on the table. “At first it wasn’t anything big. He just said I might owe him a favor in the future. Then sometimes he’d show up at my apartment in the middle of the night and I got the idea it was in my best interests not to say no.” The last part comes out as a whisper.
“Back then I was still trying to pretend that I was into it. He was hot and New Olympus’ Most Eligible Bachelor three years running…”
She sucks in a deep breath. “But then he started dating you.” Her eyes dart up to meet mine and then away again. “He said I should encourage it. When I balked, that’s when he started to hold the missing money over me. And it only got worse from there.”
Her hands shoot across the table and grasp mine. I jump in surprise but she doesn’t let go. “But I swear, I never drugged you. I didn’t know, that night at his apartment. I swear I didn’t know what he was doing. And I didn’t let him touch you. I swear, Daphne. You have to believe me. I distracted him the whole night. He was determined to take those damn pictures, but he didn’t touch you.”
Her impassioned plea and the tears shining in her eyes— Either she’s the best damn actress I’ve ever witnessed in my life or…
I shove out of my chair and move as quickly as my tired body can take me, then I throw my arms around my best friend.
She hugs me back just as fiercely. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry,” she repeats over and over, eventually shaking and sobbing in my arms.
“It’s okay,” I find myself laughing and soothing her, patting her back. “We were both taken advantage of by The Douchiest Douche.”
But when she pulls back, she’s shaking her head. “He’s more than that. He’s evil. And I didn’t just come here to apologize.”
That’s when she starts to pull folders out of a backpack I didn’t even notice she’d brought in. “I came here so that we could take that bastard down. I’m not the only one he’s tried to blackmail. And I’ve got proof.”
With Armand and Cora’s help, it takes about four hours to put together the press conference.
Armand himself came to style Rachel and get her camera ready. She’s shaking while several news teams set up the lighting and cameras.
“You look perfect,” I say. I grab her forearms. “You look fierce. Confident. You can do this.”
But she’s shaking her head rapidly back and forth. “No, I can’t. I’m not like you. I’m not strong.”
I barely keep in my laughter. Is she serious? Me, strong? Then again, maybe she’s right. Maybe strength is what it’s taken all these years to survive. And lately I’ve been determined not only to survive, but thrive.
So maybe Rachel’s right, that does take strength. Incredible strength. And it’s okay if it took me a while to get here. Just like it’s okay that Rachel’s finally discovering that well within herself now.
I move my hands to hers and squeeze hard. “You’ve got this. I know you do. You’re a total badass and now you’re going to go show the world that you won’t let anybody walk all over you. Because you deserve so much better.”
She grins wide at me. “Fucking love you.”
She hugs me hard, then pivots and walks out to the podium before I can even return the sentiment.
Lights blaze and cameras flash as she reaches the podium and arranges her notes. Finally, she takes a drink of water from the glass that’s been set there and then begins.