I knew he would come and find me.

I knew if I stirred up enough trouble, the mysterious man I’d only seen once would punish me, warn me against him.

Life had been lonely since Harlow had left. Lonely and boring, and it made me obsess over why Harlow had been chosen for the training program over me. Yes, I knew she’d outshined me in our performance of The Nutcracker. Even though she was dancing in a smaller role, she’d done better than me. She was incredible that night. I’d gotten an offer for a larger ballet, but that was it. After that performance, I was quickly forgotten.

Amber being chosen as the next one to leave was the final nail in my coffin. They’d chosen someone else over me again, and I couldn’t forgive them for it. I was going to find out exactly where the program was, and I was going to join it myself if it was the last thing I ever did. Once I got something into my head, I didn’t stop until I fucking got it.

There was something else on my mind, though. Something I’d worked hard to forget because the events of that night felt like something out of a dream.

But it was there nevertheless. I had met a man. A dangerous, dark man capable of horrible things. He’d proven it when he’d killed someone in front of my very eyes. And not just anyone. The father of my unborn child.

That was the night I decided to keep the baby. I was convinced maybe the kid would help me be a better person. I was young, I had a bright future ahead of me, and a trust fund in my name. I knew I could make it.

But I lost the baby three months later.

A spontaneous miscarriage, they’d told me. It happens sometimes in the first trimester.

Something happened to me when I realized I wouldn’t be a mother. And when the doctor ran some tests and came back with the grave results, he broke a primal part inside me. The part that cared about other people and wanted them to be happy. He ripped out my ability to be compassionate, and I wondered whether I’d ever get it back. Because if my own life was so fucked up, why should I care about anyone else’s?

That was when the jealousy became truly overwhelming, sending me on a wild goose chase to find Harlow.

We’d been told the program she was invited to was exclusive, well-paid and with results that would show over the months she’d spend there. But no one gave us the location.

I’d been to see Harlow’s apartment, but it was rented to someone else, her stuff already gone.

I knew I had to dig deeper, so my next stop was Harlow’s father.

The man lived in a dump.

It wasn’t so much the small house, which was nice enough. It was the inside, the dirty dishes, old books and newspapers and unwashed laundry. I could tell he lived alone. The house needed a woman’s touch badly. He didn’t even want to let me in when I arrived, and his mouth set in a thin line when I mentioned Harlow.

“She was a mummy’s girl,” he grumbled when we finally walked inside and sat down on his grubby sofa. “I never had much to do with her.”

I tried to hide my disgust. Not only with my environment, but also with his attitude when it came to his daughter. She was only eighteen years old, and he was already treating her like she had nothing to do with him. Compared to my own overprotective parents, it came as a big surprise, and I found a new understanding for Harlow deep down, behind my contempt and jealousy.

I’d asked him about the training program she’d left for and quickly came to realize he didn’t know or care a shit. She could have been in fucking space for all he cared, and when I tried to raise his interest, it just didn’t work. He’d written his daughter off a long time ago, or perhaps he hadn’t even bothered to get attached to her in the first place. I felt sorry for my friend. She truly was alone in the world. I knew her mother had died when she was little, and I couldn’t imagine her life, living with this awful human being who was belching in front of me, scratching his balls through a pair of thin pants.

I left feeling disgusted and worn out. I hadn’t come any closer to find out where Harlow had gone, but at least I had another thing occupying my thoughts, another interest I could pursue.

The man I’d met almost a year ago, the one who had piqued my interest.

He’d told me never to speak of what I saw that night. I had kept my promise, but now, with both my friends gone, I felt fucking alone. I needed someone, a friend. So, I decided to do the stupidest thing I could have done. I decided to seek out the man who had killed the father of my child.

* * *

As I sat in his office, I couldn’t believe I’d actually done it.

Months of teasing, prying, trying to find out more, and here he was. I’d dragged him out of his shell, forced him to find me.

Now, he was sitting across from me. His suit was expensive, tailored. I could tell. His scent was dark and sweet, and I was enamored with him. He had dark hair, dark eyes and he was cleanly shaved, with stubborn stubble poking through already. He was impossibly handsome. Like someone off a perfume ad. I couldn’t look away.

Next to him, there was a woman. A woman who could be his wife or his girlfriend. She equaled him in beauty, but her gaze was cunning and looked at me with a mixture of curiosity and contempt.

“This is Pia,” he told me while he went through some papers, never giving me much attention. “Hopefully we can reach an agreement together.”

I wondered what he meant. Was he going to try to pay me to shut me up?

“You have been busy,” the man said darkly.

His voice had a hint of a British accent but was mostly American.

“I wanted to see you again,” I said honestly, never moving my eyes from his. “I was just hoping it would only be the two of us.”

The woman, Pia, snickered, but my attention didn’t waiver. I kept staring at the man.

“I told you this once, a year ago,” the man went on. “You need to stop looking. You need to leave this alone. I saved you from a hellish life.”

I stayed quiet as he stretched back in his chair, folding his hands together.

“How’s the baby, by the way?” he asked, and something inside me shattered into a thousand pieces.

“It’s gone,” I told him plainly. “I lost it.”

I didn’t tell him I’d be unable to have children for the rest of my life. I wanted him to like me. To want me. I didn’t want him to feel sorry for me.

His powerful brows furrowed, and he gave me an apologetic glance.

“I’m sorry to hear that. It doesn’t change the reason you are here.”

“Which is?” I raised my brows, waiting for him to go on.

“You need to let this go,” he said. “You need to stop searching for her.”

“Searching?”

Something clicked in my brain, and it must have clicked in his, too, because his face grew pale.

“Harlow,” I muttered. “You know where she is?”

He didn’t reply, just got out of his chair, grabbed me by the wrist and showed me to the door. I tried to fight it, but his grip was firm and electric against my skin.

“Don’t dig,” he warned me one last time before he shut the door in my face.

I left, walking out from the beautiful, tall building into the icy London weather. I was already a few steps down the street when I felt someone tapping me on the shoulder. I turned around to see who it was, and with it, sealed my fate and changed the course of my life forever.

* * *

“Things have changed around here.”

I bit my bottom lip nervously, waiting for her to go on, the phone pressed tightly against my ear.

“In what way?” I demanded to know. “How is Harlow, and how is Amber?”

“They’re fine.” She always got so fucking terse when I mentioned my friends. I got the impression that she was jealous. “Some… things went down. We lost one of our own. It seems to have messed up Harlow a little.”

“I’m sure she’ll be fine,” I replied. “Is she training?”

A long pause followed, and I stewed in my own jealousy. I knew they were both probably getting the royal treatment, and it filled me with rage. Why hadn’t they chosen me? I’d won over Harlow once, getting the better role. So why did nobody else recognize my talent? It made me so angry.

“She’s fine,” the woman went on. “Just stop thinking about it. Think about our plan instead.”

My blood rushed through my veins at the thought.

Yes, the plan. We had a plan, a great plan, a grand plan. Soon, I would take Harlow’s place.

“When will I see you?” I asked, and she avoided the question, speaking about something else unimportant, so I asked again, letting her know I wouldn’t take no for an answer.

“Soon,” she finally promised. “We’ll meet up soon and discuss everything. Are you sure about this?”

“What do you mean?” I didn’t understand.

“I just mean…” she sighed before going on. “It’s a big thing to do. You might hurt Harlow in the process. Are you sure you want to do it?”

I pondered her words for a second.

Harlow was probably the best friend I had. I had a couple of others, nice enough girls who went out with me but who I didn’t exactly trust with all my secrets. I remembered the months after I lost my baby. How Harlow had stayed by my side because she was the only one who’d known about it. I hadn’t told Madame or any of my friends, waiting for my second trimester to start. Except it never happened, and now, it never would.

“Yes,” I replied harshly. “I’m sure. I want to do it.”

“All right,” she said, and I could just picture the smile on her stunning face. “I’ll call you soon and tell you what you need to do.”

“Pia…” I said softly, but she’d already cut the call.

I threw my phone on the bed with exasperation. I was late for practice again, not that anyone seemed to care about that since Harlow and Amber were gone.

This was my last shot. My last chance to get back at Harlow for being better than me.

And Pia would help me get my revenge.