Page 96 of The Matchmaker

“Whatever you’re planning, you don’t want to do it.”

“Of course I don’t want to do this! Can’t you see how hard this is for me?” She shakes her head. “But sometimes we have to do hard things, right? I’m not bluffing about this, Nura—if you don’t do what I say, your family dies. That’s a promise.”

My familydies? Jesus. “Whoareyou?” Hot tears trail down my cheeks. “What do you want me to do?”

She looks visibly relieved.

“This part’s easy, I promise.” Darcy unzips her purse. She pulls out a translucent bottle. Ten white pills tinged with blue clatter onto the kitchen table. “You won’t be in pain. I read up on it to make sure. It’ll be like drifting off to sleep.” She gestures toward the cabinet above the sink. “Now, why don’t you go ahead and get yourself a glass of water?”

These pills. The same ones that fell from my purse at the hospital.

“The car accident,” I say softly. “How?”

“Do you really want to know? It’ll only hurt your feelings.” She looks at my stricken expression. “It was simpler than it seems. The dark web and a few thousand dollars. Honestly, the plan was for it to all be over that day. The police weren’t getting off my back ever since that night I shot Farhan. They’restillon my case. It’s ridiculous. He was at your house with agun. I guess I kind of messed up, though. I accidentally called Farhan from my regular phone. It was just the one time. Barely a few minutes, but they’re fixated on that. I knew they’d back off if they found a different suspect, and you’re the most logical one. If you were gone, that would be the end of it. But someone drove by that night and ruined everything. I never ran so fast in my life. Thank God it was a moonless night.”

“You were there? Y-you drugged me?”

“I was trailing the road to see where you landed…. I did get scared you might sideswipemetoo. You were out cold when I reached you; it would have been perfect. I’d even tucked the pills into your purse. Clean and simple and done.” She sighs. “I should’ve gotten a bigger syringe. It obviously wasn’t enough.”

“Now you want me to take these drugs.”

“It ties in perfectly to the blood work that came up after the car crash,” she says. “You didn’tmeanto die. It will look like an accident. An overdose.”

“Darcy—”

“Nura.” She folds her arms. “We’re friends, so I’m trying to be as nice as I can about all this, given our history, but if you don’t do what I say, the people standing by your aunt’s housewillkill your family. I’m not bluffing. If you care about them, you need to move quick.”

Lilah’s bouncing curls flash through my mind’s eye. I shudder. Darcy could be lying. I would never have thought she’d be willing to hurt my family. But I don’t know her very well, do I? I can’t risk anything happening to them. I walk to the kitchen cabinet. Pull out a clear cup. I press my hands against the cool metal faucet and turn it on. Water splashes off the edges of the glass. My burner phone rings. Again. And again. Darcy yanks it out of her pants pocket.

“Nina? What doesshewant?” She powers it off and wipes it clean with a tea towel.

“Have you thought this through?” I try again. “Don’t you think the police will be suspicious when they find out you were here when I died?”

“Have I thought this all through?” She laughs a little. “I came early to cat sit and took a nap upstairs. I came down after I woke up and found you lying on the sofa,” she says. “I thought you were sleeping. Didn’t want to wake you, so I waited a bit—but then I saw the pill bottle on the table.” Her eyes widen. “At least your family will be alive to mourn you, so there is that.”

My heart pounds against my rib cage. I have to get out of here. There’s got to be something I can do…

She gives me a sympathetic look. “You still think there’s a way out, don’t you? I see how your eyes dart around. To that pen on the counter. Your keys. You’re desperate. For something, anything, that might deliver freedom. Denial is normal. One of the five stages of grief or something, right? But time is of the essence here, so I’m afraid we’re going to need to go ahead and skip to acceptance. Because sooner or later, you’re going to have to wrap your head around the fact that tonight, Nura Khan, you will die.”

“Look—”

“Say one more word and I make the call.” She lifts her phone. Her lips press into a thin line. “I mean it, Nura. Enough. Get that pill on your tongue. Let me see you swallow it.”

I sit at the kitchen table. With unsteady hands, I place one in my mouth. I take a sip of water and pretend to ingest it before stuffing it in my cheek. But it’s no use—it’s dissolving.

“Was any of it real?” I ask her. “Was Samir?”

“Nura! Samir is my fiancé.” She looks offended. “He’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me.”

“So it was only our friendship that was a farce.”

“Hey.” Her expression softens. “Our friendshipisreal. I care about you, Nura. I do. Can’t you tell I’m sick over this? Trust me, I racked my brains for another way—but it’s either you or me. And I’m finally starting my life. Samir and I, we’re at the brink of our future together. We’re going to have kids and I’m going to do things right. I’ll be there for my family like my mother wasn’t. I can’t lose it all before it begins.”

“You could have had all that without doing this. You were paying down your debt. You were going to be fine eventually, and—”

My watch buzzes against my wrist beneath the kitchen table. I don’t dare glimpse down, but I know who the messages are from. Nina. She’s getting frantic. Waiting for me. Wondering where I am.

“Next pill, Nura,” Darcy snaps. “Can we get on with it, please?”

---