Page 118 of Cruel Hearts

I agree, but Mel says, “Anything too different, and she’ll stick out. Black is too harsh. I could have gone with a brunette shade, I suppose, but copper suits. Hiding in plain sight works better than a full-blown disguise. If she has to go out, we’ll pad her bra, pad her ass. She can wear glasses. It’ll work.”

Quinn nods, satisfied. “Sounds good.”

It’s painful to raise my arms over my head, and Mel massages the color into my hair. Quinn and I are still healing, and I’m grateful for the quiet days we’ve had at the hotel. Mel understands how exhausted we are, and she’s been closely monitoring social media hoping to give us as much time as possible but also wanting to put our plans into motion as quickly as we can. I’m mentioned frequently, but my death is whittled down to statements such as, “There are no new leads,” and “The investigation is ongoing.” The nurse tagged my name on a body in the hospital’s morgue, and so far, no one has suspected anything. We’re lucky the city didn’t pay to have an autopsy done on a nobody like me.

Zane and the paparazzi are caught in a twisted love/hate relationship, and they’re on his tail all the time, documenting his every move—just like he needs them to. We knew the minute he and Nathalie arrived at Luna Blanc. Mel texted him and told him to bring her to the penthouse after their dinner instead of leading the paparazzi back to the hotel. He would have brought them straight here putting us all in danger. My innocent Zane. Always thinking with his heart instead of his head.

I hate the thought of Zane and Nathalie alone, and I want him at the hotel as much as he wants to be here. She wants him. She as good as told me that. I won’t underestimate what she’ll try to do to keep him.

Mel rinses my hair and blowdries it to see what shade the color turned into. I’ve never dyed my hair before, and my strands absorbed it like a dying plant that’s finally been watered. The color is pure and shining.

“I ordered you green contacts. It will be a subtle change, but necessary. I think you look great, Stella,” she says, fluffing my hair.

“Thanks.” I study myself in the mirror. I do look like a different person. Especially after she hands me the tortoiseshell glasses I wore at the hospital and I slip them onto my face.

A sexy librarian.

I practice tucking my hair behind my ears, and I smile with my mouth closed instead of my all-teeth grin.

Mel hums in approval. “That’s perfect.”

“You look hot,” Quinn says.

Mel scoffs. “I’ll leave you two alone.” She hauls the stool out of the bathroom and closes the door.

I sit on the edge of the bathtub next to Quinn. Sucking in a breath, I say, “I’m sorry I dragged you into this. I’m sorry you got shot because of me. How are you feeling?”

“Better than you. You walk like you’ve been hit by a truck,” she says, tapping her toes on top of mine.

“It’s what I feel like. Zane won’t be back tonight. I should take a pain pill and go to sleep.”

She scowls, but it isn’t a mean sound and she doesn’t look mad. “You should have seen him after he brought you to the hospital. He was out of his mind. At first we thought he was doing it for the reporters, but then he attacked Paulo. If I didn’t believe he loved you before, I would have then, watching him grab Paulo’s throat. He broke down, and I’ve never heard a man cry like that. It was scary. It took Mel a good fifteen minutes to convince him you were okay.”

Her words touch me. Listening to her come over to Zane’s side.

“I don’t know, Quinn. Sometimes I see the boy I fell in love with. The easy smiles, the laugh. But we’re different people now. If I wouldn’t have fought like hell to escape, he never would have looked for me, and he would have been okay with that. He wants to marry me, but it’s really difficult not to resent him. He never fought for us.” I wipe a tear off my cheek. “We have a lot to work through, and maybe love won’t be enough.”

“Sometimes it’s not,” Quinn says, running her fingers over my arm.

“I’m sorry.”

She shakes her head. “You don’t have to apologize every time I say I’m in love with you. You don’t like girls. I know the truth and if it hurts me, it’s my own fault for not moving on. We have a bond, you and me, and it’s hard to break.”

I hug her the best I can, the pungent scent of dye wafting around us. “We don’t have to break it, and I don’t want to break it. You’ll always be my best friend, no matter what.”

Quinn leans away and kisses the corner of my mouth. “That’s enough.”

She leaves to chat with Mel, but I’m not tired enough to go to bed, and melancholy, I sit on the balcony and watch the lights blink all over the city.

At one point Zarah sits next to me and I hold her hand, so grateful she’s out of Quiet Meadows. Max comes out, too, and Paulo passes me a mug of coffee that I gratefully accept.

I miss Zane.

His hard chest, his husky laugh. The way he hesitantly touches me like he thinks I’m going to tell him to stop when I want to tell him anything but that. After five years, him holding me in his arms again is nothing short of a miracle.

Everyone takes a turn, even Douglas, and I realize they’re checking in to see how I’m doing. I appreciate the effort, but if I’m going to be of any help, I’ll need to be a lot stronger than that.

Mel forces a pain pill on me and tells me to go to bed.

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