Page 52 of The Weekend Getaway

“Why?” Jason asked.

As they exited the path and headed toward the terrace, Sarah said, “I told Phil that Alex proposed staging an unfortunate accident to get rid of him.”

“You what?” Jason demanded, grabbing Sarah’s arm, forcing her to face him.

Wary of the ire in Jason’s intense gaze, Sarah yanked from his grasp and stepped back. “I wanted to warn Phil.”

“Why would you do that?”

“Because I didn’t want Alex to hurt him,” Sarah said, walking to the outdoor bar. “Phil didn’t deserve what Alex was going to do to him.”

“Alex wasn’t going to kill Phil,” Jason said. “He was panicking. Talking nonsense.”

Sarah grabbed a glass and a bottle of vodka. “How do you know Alex wasn’t serious?”

Jason sighed. “You know what I know, Sarah?”

Unscrewing the cap off the vodka, Sarah glared at him. “What’s that?”

“Alex and Grace probably are dead,” Jason said. “But not because Mia killed them. That’s ridiculous. Alex was her husband, and Grace was her best friend. But Phil is a billionaire who promised to ruin us!”

Sarah poured vodka into the glass, then finished it in three long gulps. Slamming the glass against the bar, she glared at Jason. “Well, maybe we should be ruined for what we did to Phil. We ruined his life. And for what? Money.”

Jason pinched the bridge of his nose. “We did that because?—”

“Because Alex told you to,” Sarah said, pouring more vodka into the glass. “Because Phil needed to pay for what he did to me. What a fucking joke.”

Frowning, Jason asked, “What are you talking about?”

“I’m talking about the truth,” Sarah said, finishing the second glass of vodka. “Phil Richart didn’t rape me.”

CHAPTER 49

Fifteen Years Ago

3:26 a.m.

Alex

“I’m thinking about getting out of here,” Alex whispered in Mia’s ear. “Going someplace else.”

“Good idea,” Mia told him, clinging to him as she snaked an arm around his neck, leaning toward him, no doubt eager to press her mouth against his.

Alex pushed her away, avoiding her kiss as he caught the attention of a girl squeezing through the crowd behind Mia. He didn’t have time for another quick hookup. Not tonight anyway. Not after Sarah and the three other girls he’d been with. But maybe he’d see the girl again before he left the party. If so, he’d get her number. Right now, there were other pressing matters to attend to.

Right now, he had to begin the first phase of his plan to secure his future.

When Jason told him about something bad happening to Sarah, Alex had almost panicked. He’d thought maybe she’d overdosed. Or maybe she’d passed out, stopped breathing, and died. How fucked up would that have been? Becoming known as the guy who’d brought the bitch who’d died at Phil’s party. Not to mention how pissed Phil would be, having the cops show up at his dad’s house, bringing unwanted, lurid publicity. Alex would never be invited to another party again.

But the truth wasn’t as bad as he’d thought.

It was bad, sure, but nothing Alex couldn’t handle.

As he’d promised Jason, he would turn things around and make the situation work for all of them.

“What happened to Grace and Sarah?” Alex asked, making sure to pretend he gave a shit.

“I think Grace took Sarah upstairs,” Mia said. “Remember we saw them?”

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