Natalie's Legacy [sequel to Natalie's Diary]

[22] Ace of Swords, Reversed

[22] ACE OF SWORDS, REVERSED

Rhys

The thick carpets masked the sound of clicking heels. Light-hearted chatter drowned out everything else, including my heartbeat. The entire party was designed to convince me everything would be fine.

Except that, even on the surface, it wasn't. We were falling apart, trust dissolving. I stepped into the lobby on the reasonable chance Bia might have headed out the door. There were only so many places to go within the hotel, but also only so many outside of it. My truck was parked. Her only other way of getting home was a very expensive Uber ride.

A hand yanked me behind a pillar, a finger pressed to scarlet lips. Bia's fingers pressed into my arm as she peered around.

"So is the blonde after us or is she just dressed as Angela from The Office?" she whispered.

"Both?" I offered.

The woman in question emerged from the hall, clearly looking for something until her phone rang. So close, but what could she really accomplish in a hotel lobby? She raised the phone impatiently to her ear, flashing the wallet case toward us. A slew of plastic cards stuck out from the pockets. Credit, debit, room key.

"What? Well, you better think of a plan b fast," she said.

I certainly was.

"I have an idea," I said. My heart quickened, but Jane had pulled idiotic moves like this a dozen times before.

Bia nodded silently, holding her breath in anticipation.

"Get her room key, okay?"

I stepped out from behind the pillar and ran into her, bordering on body checking to send the phone skittering out of her hand. For good measure, I kicked it under one of the plush wingbacked chairs.

"Watch where you're going," the woman snapped, quicker to scan the floor for her phone than look at me.

When she finally did, her annoyance swiftly changed into shock.

"So sorry. Was that call important?"

Behind her, Bia dropped to her knees, fishing the phone out from under the chair. One by one, she pulled the cards out, checking for a hotel logo.

"You must think you're invincible," the woman replied, "but all you're doing is flipping an hourglass."

She couldn't touch me in the lobby. I was bigger, in better footwear, and she'd sent away her heavy hitter. The man who could put me in a choke hold wasn't there.

Still, the threat pulled an invisible rope around my chest. At least she had the decency to threaten me to my face. She didn't waste time trying to gaslight me into believing her innocent.

Bia stood up, pushing the phone back under the chair so it stuck out under the front.

"I can flip it a few more times," I said, taking a step back. The sand wouldn't run out just yet. Bia slipped away, darting behind a boxy Godzilla costume to find her way back to the ballroom.

Luck couldn't be my only virtue. There had to be something more keeping me alive. Maybe I was invincible, but not unshakable, but I left the woman in the pencil skirt to retrieve her phone. She didn't need to know her words left a ringing doubt echoing inside me.

I pushed back into the core of the party.

Miss Scarlet reappeared by the ice fountain, twisting frantically.