Page 57 of The Weekend Getaway

“Argued?” Mia was confused. “About what?”

“About what happened that night at Phil’s party,” Sarah said. “I told Jason the truth.”

Mia’s heart kicked. “What do you mean?”

“I know what really happened that night,” Sarah said. “Or rather … I know whatdidn’thappen.”

CHAPTER 53

MIA

“I think we need to leave the island,” Jason announced, later that evening, after the sun had set, and they were sitting on the terrace.

Pushing food around her plate, her appetite gone, Mia looked toward the rainforest, where the trees stood in stark relief against the backdrop of a lavender sky.

“We can’t,” Sarah said. “Mia and Chris didn’t find the speedboat.”

“Well, we can call the coast guard,” Jason said. “Or the Bahamian authorities. I don’t know, but … we can’t stay here.”

Mia glanced at Sarah, taking a sip of her third drink. Vodka, Mia thought, then glanced at her glass of wine, which needed a refill. Sarah, also, hadn’t touched her food. Jason held his fork, spearing the tines into the fish swimming in a congealed miso sauce.

Staring at the square of fish on her plate, Mia’s stomach clenched.

She’d cooked a meal of glazed salmon, broccoli, and jasmine rice, which probably tasted fine, but she was too unfocused to eat. Couldn’t concentrate on eating. Putting food into her mouth. Chewing. Swallowing. And there was too much food. Not on her plate, which contained a sensible portion, but overall. She’d prepared enough for seven people.

But there were only four of them.

Mia’s heart seized, and her throat closed at the thought. Only four of them. No, that couldn’t be right. That wasn’t right. Quickly, she amended it. There were four of them because Alex and Phil had gone to the mainland and Grace was somewhere hiding. Or, maybe she’d called a water taxi.

Mia didn’t know. Wasn’t sure. She didn’t want to think about why Alex and Phil and Grace weren’t at the table. She didn’t want to think about what Sarah had told her, but she couldn’t get the words out of her mind. They’d been talking about the night of Phil’s party. Sarah made a pointed comment about knowing what hadn’t happened, which made Mia feel as though she’d been kicked in the gut.

Because how could Sarah know what hadn’t happened that night?

She’d been out of it. Drugged unconscious. Mia had put the GHB in Sarah’s drink, and the drug caused memory loss, so how could Sarah know the truth?

“What are you talking about?” Mia had asked, thinking Sarah had to be drunk. She was pouring more liquor into thetumbler, even though her hands were shaking so badly, more tequila was splashing on the table than into the glass.

Sarah slammed the bottle of vodka on the table, then picked up the tumbler.

“Sarah …” Mia said, a demand in her tone, resisting the urge to grab the glass of tequila and smash it to the ground. “What do you mean you know what really happened that night?”

Sarah glared at Mia, her gaze demented, chaotic.

Her heart slamming, Mia tried to brace herself for the confrontation. The accusation. She imagined Sarah screaming in her face, telling her that she knew the truth about the GHB. Somehow, someway, Sarah knew that Phil Richart hadn’t drugged her. Someway, somehow, Sarah knew that Mia had spiked her drink. But how? Who could have told Sarah? Chris, possibly? Mia didn’t think so. Chris had given Mia the GHB but she hadn’t told him why she needed it. Hadn’t told him her plan to make sure Sarah stayed away from Alex.

Sarah said, “Phil didn’t rape me.”

It had been the last thing Mia expected Sarah to say.

Confused, she’d stared at Sarah, watching her drink another glass of vodka, momentarily unable to speak. Questions swirled in her mind, making her dizzy, nauseating her. What the hell was Sarah talking about? What did she mean?

Phil didn’t rape me.

How was that possible? How could it be true?

Finding her voice, Mia sputtered, “But … you had bruises all over you, and?—”

“Phil didn’t rape me,” Sarah said, pushing the empty glass away. Propping an elbow on the table, she rubbed her face, leaving smudges and smears of make-up across her skin. “And Alex knew that … “

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