Page 36 of What Goes Around

Her smile deepened.

“You remember.”

I did.

That memory was rotting inside me.

Something in her expression shifted then. Sharper. Colder.

“This was never about him,” she said. “It was about you.”

My breath stuttered.

“The messages were just the beginning,” she continued, her tone flattening with boredom. “After that, everything else fell into place. The rumors. The little pushes. Making sure you had nowhere to go.”

My heart pounded, uneven and frantic.

“The acid?” I choked.

Her smile didn’t falter.

“A bit extreme,” she said. “But it got the job done.”

I couldn’t breathe.

“And then,” she added softly, stepping closer, “you disappeared.”

A pause.

“Exactly like I needed you to.”

“Why…?” The word tore out of me.

She crouched down so we were eye level, her perfume overwhelming in the stale air.

“Because you always had the things I wanted,” she said softly. “Things I worked for. Things I bled for. And you got them without even trying.”

“So you… ruined my life?”

She smiled, slow and deliberate.

“I didn’t ruin your life,” she said.

“I just removed you from it.”

My chest constricted.

“They all left you, Ashley,” she said, almost gently. “Every single one. No one looked for you. No one missed you. No one cared.”

She tilted her head, her smile widening. “Life’s been so peaceful without you. Like the world finally corrected itself.”

I just stared at her, trying to make sense of the words, trying to breathe.

“Life’s been amazing, actually.” Her hand drifted to her stomach.

Rounded.

Obvious.