Chapter 6 6

Bridgette burst through the crowd, her eyes wide and rimmed with red. She looked exactly like a startled, innocent deer.

She threw herself onto the pavement, wrapping her arms around the sobbing Eleanor. She looked up at Alanis with an expression of profound betrayal and sorrow.

Ashley stepped firmly in front of Bridgette, puffing out his chest and glaring at Alanis as if she were a monster.

"Don't blame my sister!" Bridgette's voice trembled beautifully. She looked at the cameras, tears spilling over her lashes. "Even though Alanis tried to seduce Ashley tonight... I forgive her. The bone marrow... that was a bond of sisterhood! I thought we loved each other!"

Her masterful manipulation worked on some of the onlookers. A few people muttered that Alanis was being ungrateful and cruel.

Ashley seized the moment. "I only love Bridgette!" he announced loudly to the press. He pointed a disgusted finger at Alanis. "She stripped off her clothes in my hotel room! She tried to use her body to climb the social ladder!"

The paparazzi immediately swung their lenses back to Alanis, hungry for a shot of her breaking down in shame.

Alanis didn't break. She stood with both hands buried deep in the pockets of Kane's jacket. She looked at them like she was watching a poorly acted high school play.

Her brain automatically engaged its behavioral psychology matrix. She dissected Bridgette's face muscle by muscle.

Alanis suddenly took a sharp step forward. The sheer predatory intent rolling off her body was palpable.

Ashley, remembering the agonizing pain of his dislocated shoulder just twenty minutes ago, instinctively flinched and took a step back.

That cowardly step completely removed him as Bridgette's physical shield. Bridgette was left totally exposed to Alanis's gaze.

"Look at her," Alanis said coldly, pointing directly at Bridgette's face. "Notice how the muscle under her left eyelid is twitching? That's an involuntary nervous system response. She's lying, and her body knows it."

Bridgette's heart hammered against her ribs. She tried to force her face to relax, but the panic was setting in. "I-I don't know what you're talking about!"

Alanis didn't let her breathe. "Why did you use a prepaid burner phone ending in 7492 to send a text message tonight?"

Bridgette's pupils dilated massively. Her breath hitched in her throat.

"I saw the phone you left on the nightstand to frame me," Alanis continued, her voice ringing out like a judge reading a death sentence. "The message was sent at exactly 8:14 PM. You used Ashley's name to lure me into Suite 704."

The crowd fell dead silent. The whispers started again, this time filled with dark suspicion.

Ashley froze. He turned his head slowly, looking down at Bridgette. "Bridge... did you send a text?"

Bridgette squeezed her eyes shut, forcing more tears to fall. "No! Ashley, she's making it up! I don't even know what a burner phone is! She's trying to destroy us!" She grabbed his pant leg, weeping pitifully.

Alanis looked at the pathetic display and let out a dark, mocking sneer.

She slowly pulled her hands out of the jacket pockets.

In her right hand, she held the cheap, cracked smartphone.

Under the blinding flashes of the paparazzi cameras, Alanis's thumb tapped the shattered screen three times.