All my life, I'd been known as the nice one, a sweet girl who never had a cross word for anyone. So vengeance wasn't exactly my thing. "I... I wouldn't even know where to begin," I admitted.
Aria grinned at me, and honestly, it was kind of scary. "Well, you happen to have two evil older sisters who can be quite creative."
Laughing, I thought about the bouillon cube she'd planted in her cheating ex's shower, and how he'd smelled like chicken soup when she'd run into him soon after.
"This is true," I agreed. "So what's the plan?"
My sister clapped her hands together. "So you want to get revenge? You'll actually do something?"
"I—I guess? I need to think about it, I suppose. Maybe we could talk to Annalise too."
"That's it. We'll have a girls' night, drink some wine, have dinner, and..." She rubbed her hands together, channeling her inner villain. "...plan our revenge."
Miraculously, my big sister was turning what had been the most painful part of my life into something bordering on fun and entertaining. Not quite there. But it certainly had the potential to be.
"Okay. We can do that." A thrill shot through me at the prospect, even though I couldn't even begin to imagine what might happen. "As long as he doesn't know it's us. That's important."
Aria scoffed. "Of course he won't know it's us. I'm not exactly an amateur at this revenge shit."
Ethan laughed. "No, she's not. My girl can be diabolical."
My girl. They were so cute together. Annoyingly so sometimes.
"So what will you tell him?" I asked Ethan. "When you get back to him about tracking me down? It'll make you look incompetent if you can't find me, you know?"
Aria's smile turned into a frown. "That's a valid point. I don't want him to think you failed and can't do your job."
Ethan gave her a look of love and caring that honestly made my soul cry a little bit because, damn it, I wanted that too.
"Babe, that's sweet of you to worry about my reputation, but I'm just going to tell him the truth. I did find her, but she wishes to remain anonymous." He paused. "If that's okay with you two."
The man had learned so much, making sure it was okay with us before proceeding.
But I had to think about that plan. If it were me, knowing that person was out there but didn't want to talk to me would drive me batty. It would probably propel me to search even harder, just so I could know why.
However, Tristan couldn't be that attached to me at this point to even pursue it that much. It was one night together, one night that had been incredible, amazing, the best night of my life. Until... the big finale when I'd found out his name.
If it had been some other man, though, I would beobsessed. I mean, that had been my plan in the first place when I'd searched for his wallet... to stalk him.
But surely he wouldn't feel the same about me. It was me we were talking about. I wasn't exactly Helen of Troy with a face that could launch a thousand ships.
"I have an idea," Aria chimed in, breaking me out of my reverie.
"What?" Ethan and I asked at the same time, his voice full of caution.
She turned to him. "Can't you give her a burner phone or something like that, some number that would be untraceable? And then they can talk, and that would be stage one of our fuckery."
My first reaction was a big huge hell no. Because the last thing I wanted to do was talk to an old bully of mine. Fuck him. The sooner I forgot he existed, the better.
But then, something my therapist had said a few times popped into my head. Darn it. She'd mentioned how avoidancekeeps the past alive and the only way to get your power back was to face what you'd been running from head-on.
I hadn't exactly been running though. I'd dealt with it. Pretty much. Mostly.
"Maybe string him along a little," Aria continued. "At least see what he has to say and find out what he wants."
Even just the idea of hearing his voice made my stomach clench. But my sister did have a good point, and I had to admit, I was a tiny bit curious to know what he was after.
"Okay," I finally agreed. "It can't hurt to have the phone at least and give him my fake number. And then I can figure it out from there. Maybe I'll toss the phone into the Hudson, or maybe I'll actually talk to him. But at least I'll have the option."
