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Ali could tell she was trying not to yell. She was hurting. That much was clear in her rigid stance and the faint crease between her brows. But beneath the mask of artificial calm, rage churned, contained only by sheer will. One wrong breath from boiling over.

“Do I make myself clear?”

Lilah bobbed her chin, standing up a little straighter.

Charlotte’s gaze snapped to Ali, blue eyes lit like flame. “Will you escort my sister to her room?”

“Of course,” Ali said, wringing her fingers as the tics she’d fought earlier crept back in. “Do you want me to stay with Lilah? If you need to be alone for the night I understand.”

“I do not care.”

Charlotte spun on her heel and strode toward the stairs, heels striking tile with sharp, decisive clicks, leaving little time for Ali to feel the sting of those words.

But Lilah’s voice piped up, wet and raw. “Where are you going?”

Charlotte stopped at the top of the stairs, looking back at them. The rage in her eyes was bone rattling.

“To kill Victoria.”

Then she was gone.

Ali stared at the empty space Charlotte had occupied. Then at Lilah, who dragged trembling hands through her hair.

“Shit. Shit. Shit!”

Ali lifted a hand toward Lilah’s shoulder just as Lilah bolted for the stairs, following Charlotte’s trail.

“Where are you going?” Ali called, dread blooming fast in her chest.

“To try and stop a murder!”

Ali followed without thinking. “I’m sure she wasn’t serious about the murder part.” But the image of Charlotte’s burning gaze surfaced again. “…Right?”

33

CHARLOTTE

The air crackled around her as fury leached from her skin, turning to static in the night air. Wind howled in her ears… or maybe it was the rush of blood, pounding so loud it drowned out everything else.

That fucking cunt.

Her hand closed around the vertical metal door handle, jerking it open.

“Charlotte, don’t!” Lilah called, her feet thundering closer.

Charlotte stepped through and dragged the door shut behind her, twisting the deadbolt just as Lilah reached it, Ali hot on her heels. They’d have to use the other entrance.

“Please,” Lilah pleaded from the other side of the glass. “Be reasonable.”

She paused long enough to take her in. Lilah’s face was red and blotchy… Her hand spread over the glass, heat fogging around her fingers. And suddenly, Charlotte was eighteen again, staring down at a much smaller version of her sister, sobbing because the girls at school teased her for dressing in head-to-toe lime green. Yes, Lilah was older now, but to Charlotte she would always be the sensitive six-year-old who never wore lime green again.

Ali peered over her shoulder. Charlotte turned away before she could witness coffee-dark eyes widen with shock and… No. She didn’t want to see that.

Lilah banged on the door, begging her to stop, to think, to not throw a grenade into the wedding.

Charlotte didn’t listen…

Her heels struck the marble hard, measured beats as she crossed the atrium toward the bar. The core group was still around two narrow tables pushed together. Sasha and her siblings. Their children had migrated a table over for a rousing poker game. Lizzie and Imani were locked in one of their playful mock-fights which Cindy was refereeing.