Page 126 of Chandelier Enthralled
“The trick is for her to not see me coming.”
“Don’t get caught in Jewel’s crosshairs when she counterattacks.”
“Someone has to stop her,” I said.
“We are doing everything we can.”
“I need to do something, too,” I reasoned. “Maybe a story, or some kind of exposure that warns others about her.”
“An evil person eventually spirals into madness as their final act. She’ll unwittingly take herself out. Don’t get dragged down with her.”
“But until then?”
He wrapped his arm around me. “I can’t force you not to go back to Pulse360, but please, at least consider it.”
Stories were where the danger lay—the higher the danger the closer the truth became. I had already proven that.
And I would never tell my brother something just to placate him.
He already knew my answer.
“Don’t go back.”
Even though I respected the weight of Cameron’s plea, I stood in the elevator waiting for the doors to open to my floor at Pulse360—nervous, but with a renewed sense of purpose.
I can do this.
I hadn’t been at my desk since Thursday, so showing up on Monday as if nothing was out of the ordinary didn’t feel quite right.
This is what it was like to have a well-meaning but overbearing family.
I arrived at my cubicle and took my seat, sensing the tension coming off Chloe, who hadn’t acknowledged me. She was typing fast, words spilling onto her screen as she worked passionately.
She was the first real friend I had made here, and her not responding to my arrival made me uneasy.
Not wanting to invade her privacy, I focused on my own tasks, on researching my story and hunting for current events that might catch Julia’s interest. Also, I reviewed the work sent out for me to follow up on. I’d been sent several articles to review, and I needed to fact check and concisely edit them. It was going to take me a while.
Finally, Chloe paused and said, “She wants to see you.”
She was telling me thisnow?“Julia?”
Chloe leaned back in her chair and looked at me. “Hadley.”
I tried not to swallow the nervous lump in my throat. The last time I’d seen Jewel we were at Pendulum—witnessing an orgy. And my doppelganger had gotten up to some crazy things in front of her.
I sensed I’d gotten away without her knowing it was me.
There was no reasonable excuse for a low-level journalist to be summoned up to her office.
“You’re sure?” I asked.
“She came looking for you.”
“Did you ever find out who gave you that chandelier snow globe?”
“Not yet.”
“Weird.”
