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“How did these items get to be in your locker?” Ethan asked.
I glanced at Hawk, but he watched with the same sadness in his eyes. Did he believe me? Or was he taking his security guard’s side?
I wasn’t sure how to explain my relationship with my stepfamily to make it sound believable, like I wasn’t making excuses or relocating blame. Especially not with Stina there.
But truth had to triumph.
“It had to be Pris. Or Stina. They both have keys to all our lockers.” Pris had been accompanied off the premises last night, but she could have come back after the ball ended.
“Now, come on,” Stina said from behind me.
Ethan silenced her.
Stina straightened but did as she was asked.
“Why would they want to do that?” Ethan asked.
I glanced at Hawk. He’d seen Pris cruelly splash wine allover me. He’d seen her confront me for no reason. I’d told him a little about our broken lives.
Now, I wished I’d shared more. About the subtle sabotage, about being denied access to my own childhood home, about all the petty vendettas Pris had lobbed against me.
“They both hate me. They’ve hated me for years.”
It was so satisfying to say it, to have Stina know that I knew, and to have a buffer in the room as I said so.
It’d been a long time coming.
“It’s true, we’ve had some…animosity here and there,” Stina said in a defensive manner. “But I would never set her up like this. Ella, you can’t really think I would do this. You can’t think?—”
“Enough,” Hawk said.
He paced away, running a finger along his left eyebrow, before turning to the security guard.
“Ethan, I’d like a minute with Miss Embers, please.”
Ethan rested a hand on the edge of the desk. “Are you sure?”
“Yes. Just a minute.”
“All right,” the guard said.
He paused at the door and turned back to me. “I’ll take your testimony into account, Ella,” he said. “But it still doesn’t change the fact that we have video feed of you in the act.”
“The feed is wrong.” My voice broke. “I didn’t do this. And you know it.”
The last part was directed at Stina, whose eyes shifted, refusingto meet mine.
“I suggest you find a good lawyer, Miss Embers,” the guard said. “Good day.”
Tears stung my eyes, but I blinked them away. Hawk had to believe me.
I didn’t do this.
With the room cleared, the clock ticking was the only sound between us for several long, agonizing moments. This wasn’t how our next time alone was supposed to be.
We were supposed to go ice skating. We were supposed to snuggle up together on his futon, hold hands and talk, to get swept up in one another’s arms and kiss until we were both dizzy.
I never imagined I’d become the suspect in his interrogation.
