is locked. There aren’t any cars parked here. It’s empty.
I sigh, frustrated, and call Ivy again.
Still, no answer.
So I direct the driver to Margot’s mansion. I don’t know the twins’ address or their phone numbers, so the only other person I know is Margot.
When we get there, a chill passes through me. This mansion became my second home while I was in Farcliff, but now it seems cold and uninviting.
Dread twists in my stomach.
Why isn’t Ivy answering? She hasn’t spoken to me at all since that awful conversation. Does she really want to toss me aside?
Does she not care about what happened between us?
Closing my eyes, I try to talk myself down. It’s late. She’s probably asleep.
Margot will know where she is. At the very least, she should know where Giselle and Georgina live. I take a deep breath and put my hand on the car door handle, ready to face Margot and her wrath.
As it turns out, though, Margot’s wrath isn’t directed at me today. The front door of the mansion flies open and Hunter, Margot’s agent, sprints out.
Margot isn’t far behind, hurling projectiles at him as she screams. One of them hits him on the head, bouncing toward the driveway. I get out of the car in time to see an apple rolling on the pavement.
“I trusted you!” Margot shrieks, her eyes blazing. She doesn’t even look at me. All her energy and anger is directed at her agent. “You bastard!”
“I did it for you, Margot. With the bakery and your sister gone, you’d be able to rebuild your career. But you’re too fucking dumb to realize what’s good for you.”
My eyes widen. Hunter’s gaze swings to me, and he snaps his teeth.
Margot trembles, stalking toward him with fury in her eyes. “How dare you?”
“Oh give me a fucking break,” he says, puffing his chest out but backing away from her. “You never cared about your sister. You just used her, and she used you.”
“Leave,” Margot says. Her voice is low and dangerous. It sends tremors through my stomach, and her eyes don’t leave her agent. “I never want to see your face again, Hunter.”
“You’d be nothing without me, Margot. You’re making a big mistake. You’d still be waiting tables at the Grimdale Diner if I hadn’t discovered you.”
Margot trembles, staring at her agent and taking one more step toward him. The roar that comes out of her mouth is inhuman. She screams wordlessly as Hunter scrambles away from her, jumping into his car and tearing down the driveway.
Falling to her knees, Margot drops her head in her hands. Sobs shake her shoulders. I rush toward her, putting my hand on her back.
She sniffles, wiping her nose on the back of her hand as she lifts her gaze to mine. “He poisoned them, Your Highness. He said he did it for me. He put my sister in the hospital because he thought that was what I wanted.”
A chill runs down my spine. “He what?”
The next few minutes are a blur. My heart is in my throat as Margot slips into the back seat of the car with me. Vaguely, I hear her give the name of a hospital to the driver, and I grip the edge of the seat with my hand.
“Drive faster, damn it!”
I’m hyperventilating, gripping the leather so hard my hands go numb. Margot sits beside me and puts her hand over mine.
For the first time, her touch doesn’t make me uncomfortable. It’s not the touch of a lover—or someone pretending to be a lover—it’s the touch of a friend. Of someone who is hurting just as much as I am.
Her face is white, and runny mascara has left trails down her cheeks. Her long, blonde hair is stringy. She gives me a tight-lipped smile and nods her head.
“It’ll be okay.”
I inhale, not believing her.
Why didn’t Ivy tell me? Why would she hide the fact that she was in the hospital? What if she’s not asleep or ignoring me… What if it’s worse?
The driver stops outside the emergency department, and I rush through the sliding glass doors. I drum my fingers on the reception desk as the old woman behind it takes an eternity to type Ivy’s name in the computer.
Her glasses are perched on the end of her nose. “Let’s see, here,” she says, staring at the screen.
I want to scream. I want to turn the screen toward me and yell at her to hurry the fuck up, old woman!