Chapter 7

"Oh, no!" Kassie cried, her hand flying to her neck. "My locket! It' s gone!"

Griffin looked annoyed. "It' s a piece of junk, Kassie. I' ll buy you a hundred more."

"But it was a gift from my grandmother!" she wailed, tears welling up in her eyes again. "It' s the only thing I have left of her!"

Allie knew for a fact that Kassie' s grandmother was alive and well and living in Florida. The locket was a cheap trinket Griffin had bought her from a street vendor a few weeks ago.

"It must have fallen off when I fell in the pool," Kassie said, looking pointedly at Allie. "Please, Griffin, we have to find it."

Griffin sighed, his patience wearing thin. He turned to one of the club staff. "Drain the pool. Find the locket."

"Sir, that will take hours," the staffer said.

Griffin' s gaze fell on Allie. A slow, cruel smile spread across his face. "There' s a faster way."

He looked at Allie, his eyes glinting. "You. Get in the pool and find it."

A murmur went through the remaining crowd. It was late October. The night air was cold, and the unheated pool water would be icy. Allie was already pale and weak, her simple sweater offering little protection.

"Find the locket," Griffin said, his voice leaving no room for argument, "and we' ll call it even for tonight. I won' t punish Devon anymore."

The threat was clear. Her brother' s safety in exchange for her humiliation.

Allie looked at him, her eyes empty. She knew what would happen if she refused. She knew the sounds she would hear over the phone.

"I' m not feeling well," she tried one last time, her voice barely a whisper.

Griffin stepped closer. "Kassie is cold and wet because of you. You' re the one who is dressed for a swim. It' s only fair."

Kassie put on a show of protest. "Oh, Griffin, no, you can' t ask her to do that. She' ll get sick."

"She' s tougher than she looks," Griffin said, his eyes never leaving Allie' s.

Kassie smiled, a flash of pure victory.

Allie closed her eyes. She took a deep breath, and when she opened them again, there was nothing left inside. No fear, no anger, no love. Just a vast, cold emptiness.

She walked to the edge of the pool and, without a moment' s hesitation, slipped into the water.

The cold was a shock, a brutal, physical assault. It stole her breath and made her muscles seize. But she pushed through it. She submerged her head, her eyes stinging from the chlorine, and began to search the bottom of the pool for a locket that she knew wasn' t there.

She came up for air, gasping, her body shaking uncontrollably. She saw Griffin standing on the edge, watching her, his arms crossed over his chest. Some of the onlookers were whispering, their faces a mixture of pity and morbid curiosity.

"Maybe it' s by the filter," one woman suggested, her voice full of sympathy.

Griffin didn' t move. He just watched her suffer.

After what felt like an eternity, he finally seemed to grow bored of the game. He tossed a towel at her feet.

"Get out," he said, his voice flat. "It' s probably not in there anyway."

He turned and walked away without looking back, Kassie clinging to his arm like a trophy.

The crowd dispersed, leaving Allie alone in the icy water, shivering and broken. She stared at her hands, blue and numb from the cold, and knew that this was the end. He hadn't just broken her spirit. He had killed every last bit of love she had for him.