Chapter 87

Andrew Lucas stood frozen at the bedroom doorway, his fingernails digging bloody crescents into his palms.

The quilt rose in suggestive curves. Susan Thompson's dark hair fanned across the pillow while Ethan Sullivan's bare arm peeked from beneath the covers. The sight drove into his chest like a serrated blade.

Lovers entwined.

On the very bed he'd once shared with Susan.

Andrew's vision swam crimson, the metallic tang of blood flooding his mouth. He remembered scouring the city like a madman for this woman last night. What a pathetic joke.

"Susan. You disgust me."

He turned sharply, knocking over a porcelain vase in the entryway. The shattering echoed through the silent night—just like their shattered past, impossible to piece back together.

Icy wind hurled snow pellets against his face, but Andrew felt nothing. His trembling hands failed to light the cigarette between his lips.

Morning sunlight filtered through sheer curtains when Susan startled at the figure sprawled on her floor.

Ethan lay spread-eagled, his pajama shirt riding up to expose his navel, a corner of the duvet clamped between his teeth. Susan rushed to help him up when a dull thud interrupted.

"Christ, my spine—" Rubbing his head, Ethan blinked up at Susan's guilty expression. "Don't look at me like that, Sue. Floor sleeping's fantastic. Really!"

A violent sneeze catapulted him upright before he finished.

Susan's phone buzzed violently. The color drained from her face when she answered.

"What's wrong?" Ethan frowned.

"It's Bella." Susan's fingers turned to ice. "She's... been charged with murder."

In Greenhill Prison's visitation room, Susan barely recognized the woman before her. Bella Quinn crouched in the corner, her prison jumpsuit stained with rust-colored splotches, left ring finger bent at a sickening angle.

"They tortured you?" Susan's voice shook.

Bella's chains clanked as she shook her head. "Bruce said he'd spare the baby... if I confessed."

"It's Michelle, isn't it?" Susan gripped the bars. "The victim was William Ferber from Starlight Media. He exposed Michelle's casting couch scandal last month!"

Bella's pupils contracted.

"There was someone else in that private room." Susan leaned closer. "Who? Tell me!"

A snowflake drifted through the barred window, landing on Bella's cracked lips. She remembered Bruce's hands around her throat last night: "Mention Andrew, and your sickly sister dies on the operating table."

"No one else." Bella closed her eyes. "Sue, take care of Grandma."

As guards dragged Bella away, Susan deciphered three silent words on her friend's lips. She stood paralyzed until Ethan shook her shoulders.

"Sue? You're white as a ghost."

Susan turned mechanically. "Ethan, can you take me somewhere?"

She opened her palm, revealing smeared lipstick letters: "Surveillance Room." Bella's final clue.