AllFreeNovel
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She was pretty, rich, and well versed in the decorum required for their sort of circles. Everything I wasn’t. I didn’t do bad, but I wasn’t what anyone would consider svelte or with the model good looks Nicole had.
Was I jealous? Abso-fucking-lutely. And that just made me all the angrier. I shouldn’t care.
‘Ooh,’ came the collective gasp as Nicole ascended the mirror-surrounded white podium and moved this way and that.
‘Oh sweety, I think that one’s the best so far,’ my aunt said, bursting into another round of tears at the sight of her step-daughter in a wedding dress.
‘Calm down, Anette,’ Nicole laughed as she spoke, ‘I think Dad would have a heart attack if he had to walk me down the aisle in this one.’
‘You can totally pull it off,’ said one of Nicole’s friends.
‘What do you think, Valentina?’
I almost choked on my champagne as Nicole called me out. ‘I think you look great.’
‘Hmm, probably not the right one.’ I worked hard to not roll my eyes as she dismissed my comment. ‘This looks more like something one of those slutty girls at the resort Daddy’s sending Logan to would wear.’
My ears perked up at that. What resort? I hadn’t heard from him since he deleted his account on Primal Princesses.
‘Is that the sex one?’ Nicole’s friend said, ‘What’s it called again?’
‘Rose Hall, or something.’
My mum and aunt dipped out of the conversation, going to the far corner of the store to sift through rack upon rack of white dresses.
‘Aren’t you worried about him being there?’ Another friend chipped in.
Nicole let out a sweet laugh and shook her head. ‘No, of course not. Logan’s not like that. He’s only going for business. He’s very loyal.’
It took everything in me not to laugh out loud. She was busy getting it on with her bodyguard every night and talking about her fiancé as if she actually gave a darn about him. She had no idea the things Logan was into, the dirty things he’d growled at me before he knew who I really was. The things I was so desperate to hear him say again.
I pulled out my phone and typed Rose Hall into the notes.
It looked like I had some research to do.
Later that night, Lara and I sat curled up on the sofa, eating a mountain of Chinese food, and scouring the internet for any sign of a hedonistic escape in the highlands.
‘Are you sure it exists, and she wasn’t just having you on?’ Lara asked, pushing her iPad away with a sigh. ‘We’ve been searching for hours and are still no closer to finding an answer.’
‘It’s got to exist. Why would she say it otherwise? She doesn’t know that he and I... well you know.’
‘That you flicked the bean online for your cousin’s fiancé and are stalking him?’ Lara was less than impressed with the turn of events after I got back from the party and filled her in.
‘Well, yeah. That. Stop being judgy and help me find it. She said he goes for ten days on Wednesday and I need to try to find a way in.’
‘Do you think he’ll just fall in love with you when you show up there? He sounded pretty definitive about his no.’ Lara scooped a load of chow mein into her mouth as she eyed me sceptically.
‘I’m not looking for love. I want to experience what he was offering, just for a day or two. Then I’ll get it out of my system and come home. Just a fling. Nicole never needs to know.’
‘It’s a terrible idea, babe,’ Lara said after swallowing down her noodles and taking a swig of the awful blue alcopop she favoured.
‘I know. But your twenties are a time for terrible choices, right?’ I winked as I went back to my deep dive through Reddit threads, following half mentions and skirting language. It was a whole warren of rabbit holes to fall down, but the place that seemed most promising.
‘Do you want a top up?’ Lara asked as she stood and stretched.
‘Yeah, please.’
Then I saw it. A thread buried in some random Reddit community that mentioned having been ‘prey’ at Rosenhall Estate. Rosenhall, not Rose Hall! Adjusting my search brought me a little closer, with the occasional mention here and there. But nothing concrete.
