---- Chapter 12 Jeanette stood frozen, her hand clutching her phone, her face pale with horror. A loud bang made them both jump. Estelle, startled, looked up from her phone. When she saw Julian standing in the doorway, her face lit up with a brilliant, practiced smile. "Julian, darling!" she cried, throwing back the covers. She ran towards him, her bare feet padding on the cold tile floor, her arms outstretched. Julian took a step back. She stopped short, her arms falling to her sides. The smile faltered on her lips. She looked at him, then at Jeanette, a flicker of confusion and fear in her eyes. "Julian? What's wrong?" she asked, her voice a soft, cautious whisper. "You're a two-faced liar," he said, his voice dangerously calm. She feigned a look of hurt confusion. "What are you talking about? | don't understand." He held up Jeanette's phone and pressed play. Estelle's own vicious, hate-filled voice filled the room. "...When you see her, | want you to make her pay! | want you to ruin her!" ---- that's... that's not what it sounds like!" she stammered, frantically trying to come up with a lie. "Jeanette! Tell him! You made me say that! You The color drained from Estelle's face. were the one who hated Ember!" She ran to Jeanette, grabbing her arm. "Tell him it was you!" Jeanette ripped her arm away, her eyes blazing with a newfound fury. "Me? You were the one who told me to rip her dress at the gala! You were the one who told me to call her a scarred freak! You used me, Estelle!" The realization hit Jeanette with the force of a physical blow. She had been a pawn in Estelle's sick game, a puppet dancing on her strings. "Please, Jeannie, help me," Estelle begged, her facade crumbling. "So you can get my brother to hate me, too?" Jeanette shot back, her voice shaking with rage. She lunged at Estelle, grabbing a fistful of her hair. "Was any of our friendship real? Or was it all just a game to you?" She slapped Estelle, hard, across the face. Then she wrapped her hands around Estelle's throat. Estelle clawed at Jeanette's hands, her eyes wide with terror. Jeanette's grip faltered for a second, and Estelle broke free, kicking Jeanette hard in the stomach. Jeanette crumpled to the floor. Estelle made a run for the ---- door, but Julian was faster. He grabbed her by the hair, yanking her back into the room. "The bill hasn't been paid yet, Estelle," he said, his voice a low, terrifying growl. He played another recording, this one of the thugs who had beaten Ember. "Estelle Murphy says to stay the hell away from her man." "Explain," he said, his eyes as cold and dead as a shark's. Estelle began to sob, sinking to her knees. "I did it because | love you, Julian! | was so jealous! | couldn't stand seeing her with you!" It was her last, desperate play. The love card. But Julian was immune now. All he felt was a burning, white- hot rage on Ember's behalf.