Chapter 4

The air in the boutique grew thick with a new kind of tension. The excited chatter of the team died, replaced by a confused silence.

"What's wrong with your machine?" Chloe snapped at the cashier, her voice sharp with panic.

"There's nothing wrong with the machine, ma'am," the cashier said timidly.

Chloe' s face was pale. She frantically pulled out her phone, trying to log into the banking apps. "There's... there's a security hold. All the accounts are frozen." She looked at me, her eyes wild with accusation. "You! You did this!"

I gave a small, indifferent shrug. "Me? How could I do anything? My credit is probably terrible anyway. I got a notice about an old unpaid medical bill a few days ago. I guess it finally went to collections. Must have tanked my score."

Her face went from white to green. She understood immediately. My trashed credit score was the tripwire that had sprung her own trap.

"Call them!" she hissed at me. "Call the credit bureaus and fix it! Tell them it's a mistake!"

"Why would I do that?" I asked calmly.

Liam stepped forward, his face a mixture of confusion and anger. "Ava, stop this! Chloe is trying to do something nice, and you're sabotaging it! Just make the call!"

The team, now looking terrified as they eyed the massive bill, chimed in.

"Yeah, Ava, what the hell?" Jessica cried. "Help her out!"

"Please, Ava, just fix it!"

Liam grabbed my arm. "This isn't a game. You are going to help her, or we are done. I mean it."

I looked at his hand on my arm, then back at his face. The face I used to love, the face I had seen in my nightmares. I remembered how he stood by and let me die.

"Good," I said, pulling my arm away. "We're done."

His jaw dropped. He had expected me to crumble, to beg him not to leave. He had used that threat against me a hundred times in our relationship, and it had always worked.

Not anymore.

The team stared at me, their panic turning to fury.

"You're a monster, Ava!" one of them shrieked.

"You're going to get us all kicked off the team and expelled!" Jessica yelled, her face blotchy with fear. "Chloe will figure this out! Her family is rich! They'll sue you into the ground!"

They still believed her lie. They clung to it because the alternative-that they were on the hook for over $150,000-was unthinkable.

I ignored them and looked directly at Chloe, whose bravado was completely gone, replaced by raw, animal fear.

"Go on, Chloe," I said, my voice soft but carrying across the silent store. "Pay the bill. You said you could afford it."