Page 105 of What Goes Around

Then footsteps.

Somebody started toward the stairs.

I didn’t move.

Marissa took the first step, looked up and froze.

For a split second, her face went blank.

Caught.

Exposed.

A deer in headlights.

Thinking how long I’d been standing there. How much I heard.

Then the smile snapped into place.

“Oh,” she said lightly. “You’re still awake, Ashley? I’m sorry if we woke you.”

“It’s fine,” I said. “I was just getting some water.”

Her eyes searched my face, trying to read me. But I kept my expression unreadable.

“Well,” she said softly, climbing up, “don’t stay up too late.”

She brushed past me and I watched her disappear down the hall.

Then I turned and headed back down the stairs to the kitchen.

Chapter 33: Get Ready With Me

Apple POV

I had always believed celebrations were meant to be seen.

If something mattered, it had to be large enough to leave an impression, expensive enough to make people talk about it afterward, and polished enough to plant envy quietly in their chests.

That was why Mom had booked the largest hotel in the city. Not just the ballroom, but an entire wing of guest rooms. If you were going to celebrate, you did it properly.

Mom and I arrived at eleven that morning.

Naturally, I was given the largest suite.

Sunlight spilled through the floor-to-ceiling windows, washing the room in gold. The air smelled faintly of citrus cleanser and expensive detergent, that sterile luxury scent hotels perfected.

By noon, the space was no longer a room, it was a production set. A stylist. A makeup artist. A hairdresser. Someone just for my hands. Someone else assigned to the dress. Brushes, palettes, sprays, pins slowly swallowed every flat surface.

I sat in the chair by the mirror as hands moved over me, touching, lifting, smoothing, correcting, as if I were a celebrity.

People were coming to see me. I needed to be flawless.

I lifted my phone and angled it just right.

“Get ready with me,” I murmured to the camera, a soft smile in place as sunlight caught my cheekbones.

I filmed short clips next, the curling iron winding through my hair, foundation blended seamlessly, lashes fluttering as they were set.