Everyone turns as the spotlight scans the crowd and eventually lands on me. I force a smile and head to the stage.
Chapter 27
Liz
Sam climbs onto the stage, and I want to stop him. That feeling is niggling my gut again—my stupid, untrustworthy gut. I don’t want him near her. But it’s not just that. Something tells me he shouldn’t be on the stage, and I edge closer to the front as he whispers something in Sabrina’s ear.
Her happy mask falls for three beats of my heart, but then she recovers herself and plants a hard kiss on his lips.
He’s standing so stiff that I can’t believe anyone in the audience is buying it when he slings his arms around her shoulders.
“Where are you going?” Grace asks.
I’m at the front of the crowd now. I could reach out and touch Sam if I wanted to. And God, I want to. My gut screams at me to get him off that stage.
“What are you doing?” Grace says, grabbing my arm. “You’re worrying me.”
Sabrina snuggles into Sam’s embrace and grins at the crowd. “We’re the luckiest people in the world, and I’m not just talking about Sam and me. I’m talking about all of us. Everyone in this room is blessed to be able to vote for my mom in November!”
The crowd cheers, and Sabrina sweeps the floor in front of her with her foot.
I see the switch taped to the stage the second her foot connects with it, and I grab Sam’s hand and tug. “Sam!”
Everything seems to happen at once. Something explodes in the scaffolding holding the lights above the stage, and I dive for the floor, my grip tight on Sam’s hand. His eyes go wide as he sees the explosion, and he follows me to the floor. His big body covers mine and the lights come down with a crash. The room erupts into the chaotic symphony of equipment crashing to the stage, lights breaking, and the hissing and popping of electrical fires.
When everything but the panicked crowd quiets, Sam lifts up on his forearms and brushes my hair from my face. “Are you okay?” he asks quietly.
I nod, but when I catch sight of the stage behind him, I gasp. Sabrina’s body is limp and pinned under the lighting equipment.
“You saved me,” Sam says. “How did you know?”
“I had a gut feeling.”
Sirens roar outside of headquarters, and moments later, Sam and I are separated as the emergency personnel gets to work.
* * *
Sam
Sabrina is alive. Not well, and not happy, but alive.
She’s in bed in a blue hospital gown, the burns on her face and neck bandaged, her broken legs in casts. If it hadn’t been for Liz, she’d have been even worse, if not dead, but when Liz pulled me off the stage, I had my arm around Sabrina and she moved several feet forward from the bulk of the crashing lights and equipment.
“Why?” I ask. It’s the first time we’ve talked since I whispered in her ear on the stage letting her know that we’d reverse-engineered the code on the Something Real site to make it look like the conversations between Riverrat69 and Tink24 were between her and Connor, not Liz and my dad. It was Connor’s idea, and my little brother is just brainy enough to make it work. “Why did you try to kill me?”
“You were supposed to be mine.” Her face crumples pathetically behind the bandages. “Our parents talked about it since we were kids. ‘Sam and Sabrina,’ they’d say, ‘even their names sound perfect together.’ They set me up for heartbreak by dangling you in front of my face. My mother knew I was in love with you and—”
“You couldn’t have been in love with me, Sabrina. We hardly knew each other.”
“Maybe you hardly knew me, but I knew you. I loved you. And she seduced you just because she could. She took you away from me.”
“I was never yours,” I whisper.
“You were mine, and since you couldn’t see it, ending it tonight was the only way we could be together.”
Ryann cracks the door and gives me a tentative smile. “Are you ready?”
It’s time. There’s a buzz of voices outside, and when I crack the blinds to look, I see the parking lot is littered with reporters and news vans.
“Yeah, I’ll meet you in the hall.” When I turn back to Ryann, her face is stark white. “Everything is going to be okay, Ry. I promise.”
She leaves, and I look at Sabrina one last time. “Goodbye, Sabrina. I hope I never see you again.”
When I exit the room, Christine Guy is waiting for me. “Are you sure you don’t want to go in there?” I ask her.
“I don’t want to look at my daughter right now,” Christine says with a shaky smile. “I’m just so sorry.” She folds her arms in front of her. “You know, about everything. I’ve definitely made mistakes.” She cuts her eyes to Sabrina’s door. “A lot more than I realized, apparently.”
“You ready for this?” her lawyer asks.
I nod and pull on my suit jacket. “As ready as I’ll ever be.” I wave to the police officer guarding Sabrina’s door. “Thank you.”
The lawyer stays by our side as we make our way to the front of the hospital and out to the awaiting press.
The second I step out the doors, the questions come rapid fire.
“Do you have a comment in response to the allegations that Sabrina Guy sabotaged the lighting at headquarters and was intending to have you killed?”
“Have you read the suicide note she left in her office?”
Chapter 27
Liz
Sam climbs onto the stage, and I want to stop him. That feeling is niggling my gut again—my stupid, untrustworthy gut. I don’t want him near her. But it’s not just that. Something tells me he shouldn’t be on the stage, and I edge closer to the front as he whispers something in Sabrina’s ear.
Her happy mask falls for three beats of my heart, but then she recovers herself and plants a hard kiss on his lips.
He’s standing so stiff that I can’t believe anyone in the audience is buying it when he slings his arms around her shoulders.
“Where are you going?” Grace asks.
I’m at the front of the crowd now. I could reach out and touch Sam if I wanted to. And God, I want to. My gut screams at me to get him off that stage.
“What are you doing?” Grace says, grabbing my arm. “You’re worrying me.”
Sabrina snuggles into Sam’s embrace and grins at the crowd. “We’re the luckiest people in the world, and I’m not just talking about Sam and me. I’m talking about all of us. Everyone in this room is blessed to be able to vote for my mom in November!”
The crowd cheers, and Sabrina sweeps the floor in front of her with her foot.
I see the switch taped to the stage the second her foot connects with it, and I grab Sam’s hand and tug. “Sam!”
Everything seems to happen at once. Something explodes in the scaffolding holding the lights above the stage, and I dive for the floor, my grip tight on Sam’s hand. His eyes go wide as he sees the explosion, and he follows me to the floor. His big body covers mine and the lights come down with a crash. The room erupts into the chaotic symphony of equipment crashing to the stage, lights breaking, and the hissing and popping of electrical fires.
When everything but the panicked crowd quiets, Sam lifts up on his forearms and brushes my hair from my face. “Are you okay?” he asks quietly.
I nod, but when I catch sight of the stage behind him, I gasp. Sabrina’s body is limp and pinned under the lighting equipment.
“You saved me,” Sam says. “How did you know?”
“I had a gut feeling.”
Sirens roar outside of headquarters, and moments later, Sam and I are separated as the emergency personnel gets to work.
* * *
Sam
Sabrina is alive. Not well, and not happy, but alive.
She’s in bed in a blue hospital gown, the burns on her face and neck bandaged, her broken legs in casts. If it hadn’t been for Liz, she’d have been even worse, if not dead, but when Liz pulled me off the stage, I had my arm around Sabrina and she moved several feet forward from the bulk of the crashing lights and equipment.
“Why?” I ask. It’s the first time we’ve talked since I whispered in her ear on the stage letting her know that we’d reverse-engineered the code on the Something Real site to make it look like the conversations between Riverrat69 and Tink24 were between her and Connor, not Liz and my dad. It was Connor’s idea, and my little brother is just brainy enough to make it work. “Why did you try to kill me?”
“You were supposed to be mine.” Her face crumples pathetically behind the bandages. “Our parents talked about it since we were kids. ‘Sam and Sabrina,’ they’d say, ‘even their names sound perfect together.’ They set me up for heartbreak by dangling you in front of my face. My mother knew I was in love with you and—”
“You couldn’t have been in love with me, Sabrina. We hardly knew each other.”
“Maybe you hardly knew me, but I knew you. I loved you. And she seduced you just because she could. She took you away from me.”
“I was never yours,” I whisper.
“You were mine, and since you couldn’t see it, ending it tonight was the only way we could be together.”
Ryann cracks the door and gives me a tentative smile. “Are you ready?”
It’s time. There’s a buzz of voices outside, and when I crack the blinds to look, I see the parking lot is littered with reporters and news vans.
“Yeah, I’ll meet you in the hall.” When I turn back to Ryann, her face is stark white. “Everything is going to be okay, Ry. I promise.”
She leaves, and I look at Sabrina one last time. “Goodbye, Sabrina. I hope I never see you again.”
When I exit the room, Christine Guy is waiting for me. “Are you sure you don’t want to go in there?” I ask her.
“I don’t want to look at my daughter right now,” Christine says with a shaky smile. “I’m just so sorry.” She folds her arms in front of her. “You know, about everything. I’ve definitely made mistakes.” She cuts her eyes to Sabrina’s door. “A lot more than I realized, apparently.”
“You ready for this?” her lawyer asks.
I nod and pull on my suit jacket. “As ready as I’ll ever be.” I wave to the police officer guarding Sabrina’s door. “Thank you.”
The lawyer stays by our side as we make our way to the front of the hospital and out to the awaiting press.
The second I step out the doors, the questions come rapid fire.
“Do you have a comment in response to the allegations that Sabrina Guy sabotaged the lighting at headquarters and was intending to have you killed?”
“Have you read the suicide note she left in her office?”
