Page 85 of The Devil She Knows
And you’re welcome
Nacho and Pumpkin were notoriously camera shy, but she was pretty sure Mel wouldn’t mind a blurry picture. She swiped open her gallery and frowned, squinting at the tiny, unfamiliar picture filling the thumbnail of her recent photos album. She tapped on it and the album opened to no fewer than a dozen smiling selfies of Sam and—
Her phone hit the floor with a clatter as the memories came at her like a freight train.
Daphne.Their deal. Her wishes. Clinging to hope and letting go. Trusting Daphne to catch her. Their stolen moments. Louisiana. Arguing with Daphne and being suddenly so tired she couldn’t keep her eyes open, feeling like she was sinking into a pool of warm Jell-O. Sam had fallen asleep in her childhood bedroom, and she’d woken up here and—
No, no, no.The elevator.
Knees weak, Sam staggered across the apartment and shoved her feet into a pair of boots sans socks. She grabbed her coat off the hook and snatched her keys off the table and booked it out of the apartment and down the hall, where she jammed her finger into the down button of the elevator.
The elevator opened, doors parting soundlessly, and Sam’s heart thudded painfully inside her chest.
Gone were the walls inlaid with gemstones, the plush woven rugs. The elevator looked like an elevator once more, with its mirrored walls and control panel of buttons and glazed tile floor. There was no bar cart or retro television, no whisky glasses. Not even the carton of bread pudding she’d spent her first wish on remained.
It was like Daphne had never even existed.
“Daphne! I know you can hear me,” Sam called out, stepping inside the elevator. “Daphne! Shenanigans!”
Sleep, Daphne had told her.We’ll talk about it in the morning.
Liar. Discussing it later had never been Daphne’s intention.Thishad.
All of this will feel like a fever dream.
Knowing Daphne, she probably thought she was doing Sam a kindness, but she couldn’t have been more wrong. Dead wrong. No. She didn’t get to do this. Flounce into Sam’s life like a pink tornado and turn everything upside down. Convince Sam that she deserved to be loved and then leave without warning, without giving Sam a say in anything. Raising her hopes and then dashing them to pieces, ripping the rug out from under her feet.
Sam’s chest burned, an angry flush working its way up her throat.
It wasn’t right and it wasn’t fair. Consequences be damned, Sam wasn’t going to accept it. She knew exactly what she needed to do.
Daphne wouldn’t talk to her?
Fine.
Sam would just have to find someone who would.
Heart in her throat, she reached out and with a trembling finger pressed the button, riding the elevator down to the first floor.
Outside on the street, the air was bitter cold and sharp, cutting through her like a knife. She wrapped her coat a little tighter around her and stepped off the sidewalk, crossing thestreet, heading west in the direction of Riverside Park, where the streets were a little less crowded. Fewer cars, fewer pedestrians, the chances of being seen or overheard slimmer than if she tried this at a crossroads on Broadway or Columbus Avenue, where, no matter what time of day it was, the streets were never dead.
At the corner of West Eighty-First Street and Riverside Drive, Sam stopped walking and looked around. There were a few joggers out, but they paid her no mind, moving past without stopping.
Sam took a deep breath and let her eyes fall shut.
Desperate. Okay. She tried to zero in on it, the ache in her breast and the too-tight feeling in her chest, heavy and hollow at once. She reached for the feeling and let it wash over her, let it sink into her bones and build and build until it hurt to breathe.
The sensation of being watched crept over her. The hair on the back of her neck stood on end, the air humming like someone had plucked a taut string or struck the rim of a singing bowl. The note, bright and clear, ran through her from the top of her head down to her toes, and a violent shiver racked her body.
Sam opened her eyes.
The street was as quiet and empty as before. Her heart withered and shrank inside her chest.
It was supposed to work. Ithadto. It was this or nothing. She had no other option.
