Page 2 of What Doesn't Kill Us

Tony shakes his head, his arms coming up to cross over his chest as he replies, “Not a chance. Not one fucking chance, Nettie. There’s definitely a far bigger picture here than what we see in that picture. There has to be.”

I turn to Matt, knowing he wouldn’t have spent the last hour twiddling his thumbs. “What do you know, Matt?”

“Not a lot. My initial feelers report back that he’s going by his real name. The woman is a European actress, newly arrived on the scene by the name of Carolina Tennent. I found a short trail of them on some lesser-known red carpets. It seems like they’ve been working their way up the ranks slowly over the last few weeks. It’s fucking weird and makes little sense at this point in this clusterfuck.”

I frown, a little perturbed by this seemingly ridiculous scenario. The fucking guy has been missing for months, and then he pops up on the arm of some young movie star. Like, what the fuck kind of alternate reality am I in right now?

I raise my hands up in front of me in surrender. “All right, I got nothing here. So, you guys tell me what I’m gonna do, and then let’s go do it because I’m fucking sick of this entire thing.”

Tony and Matt smile at each other, and a small shiver of foreboding goes down my spine. They both turn their focus on me as Tony says, “Come on, Nettie. You know the old Darius Hughes motto.”

I roll my eyes and groan as Matt snickers and adds, “We’re gonna go over there, and we’re gonna fuck around and find out.”

I groan and shake my head at them. “Well, I guess we will, indeed.”

It doesn’t take long for our plan to take shape, and before I know it, we’re on a plane headed to France. I don’t speak French, but apparently everyone else does.

Watching the three of them put together a plan—and several backup plans—was impressive. I meant to throw in a few tidbits here and there, but one thing Matt and Tony keep repeating is that if Darius is playing a role with a certain endgame in mind, getting him to crack publicly will be nearly impossible.

They’ve reminded me so many times, it’s getting fucking annoying, so when Tony brings it up for the millionth time, I finally snap back at him, “Yeah, Tony. I fucking get it already. Why don’t you lay off?”

Tony frowns at me and then leans forward in his seat. “I don’t think you get it, Nettie. Darius is not some amateur hack who randomly turns his back on the people he cares about without a word, unless it’s for a very specific reason. And whatever that reason is, he will not break character out in the open. You need to have your game face on and keep your cool. And for the love of all that is holy, when our man on the red carpet comes up to you, you gotta play the part.”

I roll my eyes, unable to keep the petulance from my voice, as I mutter, “Yeah, fine. I can pretend to be enamored by a random, attractive man. Not a problem. I got this.”

Lilith snorts beside me. “Oh, yeah. She’s totally fucking got it.”

“Shut up, Lils.” I snark, showing her my middle finger.

She grins at me, reaching out and giving my arm a pinch. “That’s no way to speak to your elders, Toni. I know you think you’re ready for all this, but I worry you underestimate how shocking it’s going to be to see him with his hands on another woman. Especially given the memories that have come back recently.”

I sigh and swallow past the lump in my throat. She’s not wrong. As time has gone by, more and more bits and pieces have come together to make me see a bigger picture of my life. It appears as if the memories come back in reverse order, and a lot of them have to do with the period when we didn’t have a romantic relationship; however, they show how the frequency and intensity of our dalliances increased. I feel that it’s a safe assumption for me to believe if that incident in the warehouse hadn’t happened, we would’ve ended up together much sooner.

Thinking about it makes me sad and a little angry, given there are still so many pieces of my previous life I don’t remember. Lilith helps me fill in some of the gray areas around the solid pieces, but she never gives me too much information for fear she’ll create false memories.

Tony’s voice startles me from my thoughts. “So, tell me one more time, Nettie. What are you gonna do when you see him?”

I take a deep breath, straightening in my seat as I stare back at him. “I’m going to do nothing. I’m going to stare right through him like he doesn’t exist.”

This was a mistake. Standing on this fucking red carpet in this stupid fucking dress with sweat rolling down my fucking back is not my idea of a good time.

This was supposed to have been choreographed perfectly so we would cross paths at the exact right moment, but so far, there’s no sign of him or the whore he seems attached to.

Yes, that’s right. Whore. Whore. Whore.

My three comrades are waiting in the wings where they can observe what’s happening without being easily spotted by Dare whenever he saunters down the red carpet with that whore.

I give my head a small shake, centering myself on the mission at hand. At some point, Darius is going to appear. Then, strategically, some dashing man named Peter Thorne will strut in and literally sweep me off my feet. Tony assures me his old military buddy will have zero issues maneuvering the scene appropriately, regardless of how I manage my own emotions.

Still, I swallow down some nausea at the thought of having to pretend to be enamored by some fucking stranger, but a job is a job.

It’s fine. Everything is fine. I can do this. No problem.

I sense him before I see him, as the fine hairs on the back of my neck prickle, and I attempt to glance around inconspicuously. From the corner of my eye, I catch sight of him, then I avert my gaze, staring in the other direction toward the theater entrance. Inhaling deeply, I straighten my spine, raising my chin to prepare for what must be done.

My gaze roams over him again and then shifts to the woman standing next to him. She’s tall and stacked, her dark hair shiny, and her full red lips smiling seductively.

I want to punch a hole through her chest, rip out her heart, and fucking eat it.

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