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Briana Leigh clucked her tongue. "Like the people out here in Hickville USA know anything about a good spa." She shoved her hands under her arms. "What about Ibiza?"
"I got you a flight tomorrow," Ariana told her. "Come on. It'll be fun. It's a five-star resort. You'll love it. I swear."
Briana Leigh sighed and closed her eyes. "Fine. Just wake me when we get there."
"Oh, I will," Ariana said grimly.
Twenty minutes later, Ariana pulled the car onto a battered old one-way road on the east side of the lake, nowhere near the Philmore. She parked the car in the small clearing near the edge of the water, got out, and slammed the door. Briana Leigh flinched into consciousness. She looked around at the trees crowding the auto.
"What the hell is this?" Briana Leigh asked blearily when Ariana
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opened the door for her. She blinked several times but could barely focus her eyes. Ariana could see that the few Ambien pills she had crushed into Briana Leigh's champagne were finally taking effect.
"You're drunk. Let me help you," she told Briana Leigh flatly.
She reached into the car, wrapped her arms around Briana Leigh's waist, and yanked her out of the seat.
"Ow! Emma!" Briana Leigh attempted to swat Ariana's arm but missed. Briana Leigh paused and her eyes closed. She leaned against the top of the car for a moment, getting her bearings. "Why am I so dizzy?"
"Too much vodka," Ariana said, placing Briana Leigh's arm around her neck. "Let's go."
She helped Briana Leigh toward the old, creaky dock that jutted out into the water. On either side, a little clearing was cut in the reeds where kids had been coming for dozens of years to wade into the lake and swim out. Briana Leigh grew heavier as Ariana approached the dock. Her eyes were still open, but she was having a hard time keeping them that way.
"I don't get it. Where are we?" she said again as they finally reached the foot of the dock. "Where's the spa?"
"Right there."
Ariana stopped and pointed across the lake toward the west, where the Philmore Hotel rose like a castle out of the trees. Lights twinkled along the roof of the lakeside deck, and Ariana could hear bubbly piano music tinkling its way across the water. Briana Leigh leaned into Ariana's side and blinked at the hotel, confused.
"Know what's over there?" Ariana asked.
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She turned and looked at the Brenda T. for the first time. Her entire body filled with burning fury at the sight of it.
"What?" Briana Leigh asked, totally clueless.
"That is the Brenda T. Trumbull Correctional Facility," Ariana said. "That is where your friend Kaitlynn Nottingham will be spending the rest of her life--thanks to you."
Briana Leigh's pupils were like pinpricks, even in the dark. She pulled away from Ariana and stumbled back a few steps before righting herself. Her hands pushed into her short blond hair as she wavered on her feet.
"What?" She let out a short, confused, angry laugh. "You have to be kidding me."
"No." Ariana said. "I'm not kidding you."
Briana Leigh blinked several times before she managed to focus on Ariana. "Why did you bring me here? You're sick!"
A searing hot flash of anger racked Ariana's core. Unable to contain herself a moment longer, she closed the gap between herself and Briana Leigh with two strides and grabbed the girl by her upper arms. For once it was Ariana who had the iron grip on her.
"You know what's sick, Briana Leigh? Killing your father and letting your best friend take the blame," Ariana said through her teeth. "What's sick is you living your life out here while Kaitlynn rots away behind barred windows!"
Briana Leigh shook her head. She tried to focus on Ariana's face. "What are you talking about? Kaitlynn deserves to rot. She's a certified psycho."
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Ariana threw Briana Leigh to the ground. The thud was so satisf
