Page 67 of Sugar Coated

“Now—” she clapped her hands together. “—should we party?”

I glanced at Kieran, then Fang, and then at Mike as he approached us. My three guys, the ones who’d helped me more than they could ever know. Kelly had said I’d changed, and she was right. I wasn’t the same girl I used to be. That girl was dead, but a phoenix rose in her ashes.

A grin spread across my face. “I could go for some celebration.”

Chapter Fifteen – Laina

Lola’s idea of celebration couldn’t quite take form until nightfall, when her favorite club was open. And not a club like the Gilded Rose, but a normal club with fast music you could dance to. I told her we’d meet her there, but she wanted to get ready with me. Do our hair together, our makeup, all that stuff.

Which was fine—I could go home, make sure Tessa stayed true to her word and left, and then I could shower and wash the memory of everything she did away.

But, there was one conversation I wanted to have, first.

My dad got home at five-thirty, and I was waiting for him in the foyer of the house. Fang had gone home; Mike and Kieran were somewhere else in the house, letting me take the lead on this. After Tessa had left, I had to do some editing to the recording on my phone. Don’t worry, though, I still had the original saved.

My dad needed to know the truth, but if he found out Kieran was behind my kidnapping, he’d never forgive him. With this recording, I’d prove that Tessa had been behind it all, and she’d tried to have Kieran killed to suit the narrative she wanted to portray. With any luck, my dad would be too shocked to think too much about it.

And if Kieran had to move out… well, we’d take it one day at a time. I was hoping the fact that I had Tessa’s voice on recording say she’d tried to have him killed and that he’d helped expose her lies would be enough to sway my dad and let him keep living with us.

Anyways, when my dad walked through the door, the first thing he did was loosen his tie and slip off his shoes, and then he spotted me and gave me a smile. “Laina, honey. What’s going on? You never wait for me to get home.”

“Dad,” I said softly, “we need to talk.”

That got his attention. “What is it? Did something happen?”

“You should probably sit down for this,” I warned. When he only stared at me quizzically, I ushered him into the nearby sitting room and sat him down on one of the chairs. I sat across from him, my phone in my hand. “What I need to tell you isn’t going to be easy for you to hear. You’re not going to want to believe it.”

The seriousness of his expression gave way to a sheepish, confused laugh. “What’s this about?”

“It’s about Tessa.”

My dad swallowed hard. “What about her? Where is she? Is she okay?” He stood, like he was seconds from searching for her in the house.

“Dad, sit,” I told him, watching as he was slow to sit. “She’s fine. Probably pissed off beyond belief, but fine besides that.”

“I don’t understand.”

“She moved out.” Before he had the chance to ask why, I continued, “To start, there’s something you should know. That Friday I snuck out? I was kidnapped again. Mike and Fang saved me before anything could happen to me. They kept one of the kidnappers alive, and we got some information out of him.”

He shook his head. “What—this is… what are you talking about?”

The story I was about to tell him was the truth, just with a little embellishment. A few white lies sprinkled in, to retract Kieran’s involvement in telling me Tessa was behind it all. “Tessa. It was always Tessa. Tessa hired these guys to kidnap me after she originally hired them to kill Kieran at the press conference.”

Based on the silence radiating from my dad, I could tell his wheels were turning, and ultimately they ended on denial. “What? No, that can’t be right. What kind of story is this? Whereis Tessa?” Again, he stood, and I let him walk toward the hallway while I unlocked my phone screen and hit the play button.

My mixed recording of Tessa’s voice, admitting to it all, and it stopped my dad dead in his tracks.

I let it play in its entirety, and then I whispered, “I’m sorry, Dad, but it’s always been Tessa. She’s the reason I was kidnapped in the first place. She had me taken from you for two years, and when things didn’t go right, she turned on her own brother.”

My dad pinched the bridge of his nose before turning around and sitting down on the same chair, though his movements were measured. He sat hunched, leaning forward, his elbows on his knees. “This has to be some kind of sick joke,” he muttered, mostly to himself.

“It’s not. I have this recording, but I also have two videos showing the same thing. Kieran and Fang helped me set it up.” Seeing his face so conflicted made my stomach pang in an uncomfortable way. “I’m sorry.”

“Play it again.”

So I did. I let the recording play, the volume turned all the way up.

He shook his head again, asking once it was done, “Why would she do this?”

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