Page 53 of Cruel Fate

Quinn chews, swallows, and laughs. “You’re so fucking proper. ‘By whom,’” she mimics me, teasing. “Information only travels so far, chickie, even down here. That’s all I got. There won’t be news about the crash. They may find someone to pin it on, but it won’t be the right person, or for the right reason. Then they’ll bury it.”

I can’t believe Zane’s parents were involved in something that would have gotten them killed. “There were other people on the plane,” I point out. “Maybe it doesn’t have anything to do with Kagan or Lark at all.”

Quinn doesn’t care. “Yeah, right. They’ll use one of them as a coverup. Not everyone leads a perfect life. I’m sure there’s plenty of dirt to go around.”

I think back to the meeting. The cheating senator. The other passengers unaccounted for. Either someone was on the plane to take it down, or they’d be blamed, the FBI hiding the true reason for the crash. How would they defend themselves if they’re dead?

What would happen to Maddox Industries? Is Zane’s fortune built on dirty money? Is that what paid for my clothes? The idea makes me sick. How much do Zane and Zarah know? How much are they keeping from me? I should quit my job and never see them again. Quinn sewing fake purses is one thing. Drugs, murder, whatever Kagan Maddox was into, is another.

“Tell me how good he is in bed,” Quinn says, moving closer.

I pick at my food, my appetite gone. “I’m not telling you that.”

She moves a piece of my hair away from my face and tucks it behind my ear. Her way of life is already starting to wear on her. I could ask her to move in with me, help her find her path, but all she would do is bring trouble to my door. She likes how she lives. The danger of it. Quinn would never live the quiet life I live, that I want to live.

“Why?”

“Because it’s private.”

“I missed you.”

I let her lean into me, the supple leather of her jacket brushing my cheek. “I’ve missed you, too.”

Gripping my hand, she rubs her lips over mine. Even if we were together, she would insist on going her own way. We share a history, a painful one of disregard and neglect, and we’re coping the only way we know how.

“Nothing?” she asks.

Not the feelings she wants me to have. I kiss her knuckles. “No. Sorry.”

“I didn’t think so.”

“I couldn’t be what you want,” I say, squeezing her fingers. “You’re a wild child, and I’m on the straight and narrow.”

“Not so narrow if you’re hanging around a Maddox, but straight, for sure.” Quinn sighs.

I’m glad she’s not going to hold that against me. I need her friendship. I can’t forget where I came from. “Tell me about this set up,” I say, and we settle into a conversation about what we’ve been doing since high school graduation.

She didn’t have someone like Maryanne to show her the way. Quinn graduated with her own grit and determination, stuck in a foster home that used her as a babysitter. It killed me when we were split up. We were sent to different parts of the city, and we didn’t attend the same high school.

Her friendship, now that kind of life is behind us, means more to me than she’ll ever know. I lean my head on her shoulder and we talk past midnight, but I can’t spend the night. I don’t want to send mixed messages, and I need to go to work in the morning—a job she disapproves of.

“Will you be okay going home?” Quinn asks, gently gathering me into a hug.

“Yeah, sure. I’m not that soft.”

“Okay. Be careful, Stella. I don’t mean going home.”

“I will.”

Part of me thinks her fears are unfounded, but part of me knows people who have that much money and power come to feel they can do no wrong and do whatever they want no matter whom they hurt.

Maybe Kagan Maddox simply made a mistake or trusted the wrong person, and it cost him and his wife their lives.

I’m confident walking through the industrial park in the middle of the night. There’s more of Quinn in me than I want to admit, and she’s right. I need to keep my head on straight.

When Zane promoted me, I had to jump out of the kiddie pool and into the deep end. There are sharks swimming at the bottom and one could attack at any moment.

I don’t see Zane’s message until I’m home and plug my phone in to charge.

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