Privilege 1 - Privilege (26 page)

It wasn't possible. It just was not possible.

"Kaitlynn, why?" Ariana said, her mouth dry. Her heart was pounding so hard she could barely speak past its frenzy.

Kaitlynn stepped toward Ariana. "Why? Because I killed Derek Covington. He broke my heart, so I killed him. I took out his prized antique Winston revolver and I shot him right between the eyebrows. It was me. And if you weren't such an idiot, you would have figured that out by now."

Ariana's vision clouded over so fast she had to lean into the side of the car to stay on her feet. Her blood sounded like a freight train in her ears. Suddenly all she could see was Briana Leigh's face as she sank beneath the surface of the lake. It brought back with utter clarity the sight of Sergei Tretyakov's face. She had held him under as he clung to her hands--begged for help before sinking to his death. All for nothing.

She had killed the wrong person. Again. She had killed Briana Leigh for no good reason. Just like Sergei. All for nothing.

Not again. Not again not again not again.

"But she told me," Ariana whispered hoarsely, barely clinging to consciousness. Her fingers trembled. Her knees were rubber. She could hardly breathe. "She told me on the plane that she killed him. That it was her fault."

Kaitlynn clucked her tongue. "It was. If she hadn't told him to break up with me, he'd still be alive. But she had no idea what it's really like to kill someone, did she, Ariana?"

Ariana squeezed her eyes closed. Briana Leigh hadn't been confessing.

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She hadn't been unburdening her heart. She had been drunkenly babbling. Feeling sad and guilty over the loss of her father.

And Ariana had killed her for it.

How could I have been so wrong? How could I have been so gullible? She felt so stupid. So humiliated. All those stories Kaitlynn had told her-- she had believed every last one of them. Kaitlynn had played her for months, and she had simply let her. So much for her ability to read people. It was nonexistent. Kaitlynn was right. She was an idiot.

But she wasn't powerless.

Ariana opened her eyes. Kaitlynn was turning away in disgust. A hot rage surged through Ariana--so hot it seared her skin. All she could see was Kaitlynn. Everything else--the car, the trees, the lake, the night sky--all of it faded to black. Kaitlynn had used her. She had lied to her for sixteen months, day in and day out. She had forced Ariana to kill an innocent girl. Something she'd sworn she would never do again. And now she was calling her useless?

With a guttural growl that echoed off the lake, Ariana lunged forward and shoved Kaitlynn with both hands. Kaitlynn shouted in surprise and fell to her knees. Ariana pounced on her and grabbed her by the hair, just as she had done with Briana Leigh.

"Y miserable lying bitch!" Ariana seethed, feeling the frizzy texture of Kaitlynn's curls between her fingers. Savoring the pain on the girl's face

ou as she wrenched her forward. She turned toward the lake. It was Kaitlynn who deserved to die. Kaitlynn who deserved to suffer a horrible, undignified end. And Ariana was going to make it happen.

"Get off me!"

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Kaitlynn whirled around and backhanded Ariana across the face. Stunned, Ariana slammed into the side of the car and fell backward onto her butt, taking a handful of Kaitlynn's hair with her. For a moment she had forgotten that she was dealing with someone who wasn't drugged. Someone who wasn't tied up. Someone who could defend herself.

Someone who could kill.

"Ow!" Kaitlynn held her hand to her head and gaped at the hair in Ariana's fist. "You bitch."

Before Ariana could even move, Kaitlynn had jumped on her and slammed her head back into the hard-packed dirt. Ariana kneed the girl in the stomach and used the moment of shock to roll her attacker off her, but Kaitlynn grabbed Ariana's foot before she could scramble away. Ariana hit the ground again, face-first. Kaitlynn pressed her knee into the small of Ariana's back and gripped her hair, shoving her face into the dirt.

Ariana couldn't breathe. She struggled, wagging her head back and forth, trying to grab behind her and get hold of Kaitlynn, but nothing worked. She was using up what little oxygen she had, starting to black out.

No. I'm not going to die this way. I just got my life back. No... no... no...

Just when she was about to helplessly give in to the oncoming darkness, Kaitlynn released her. Ariana lifted her chin and gasped for breath. She got a lungful of dirt and her throat burned. Coughing like mad, she turned over and looked up at Kaitlynn, who was now

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rummaging through the car. Hot tears coursed down her face as she fought for breath. She was still struggling to get her knees under her when Kaitlynn loomed over her once more.

"This is where we part ways, friend" Kaitlynn said through her teeth. She raised the half-empty champagne bottle Briana Leigh had lifted from the plane. "Thanks for nothing."

Ariana let out one pathetic screech before the bottle cracked against the back of her skull and everything went black.

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A PROMISE

The sky was purple.

That was all Ariana was able to register before her head exploded with pain. She groaned and gripped the back of her skull, rolling over onto her side. Every bone in her body seemed to ache and there was an awful taste in her mouth.

Dirt. She was lying in dirt.

Suddenly everything came rushing back and Ariana shoved herself to her knees. The buzz of a motorboat's engine assaulted her ears, and she winced as a new bolt of pain shot through her skull. Lake Page was coming alive. The search for Ariana's body was revving up again.

I have to get out of here, Ariana thought. Now.

She scrambled to her feet and turned around. The car. The car was still there. And there appeared to be some kind of note shoved between the window and door. Pressing her lips together, Ariana grabbed the

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piece of paper, torn from one of the notebooks she had bought for her new school year.

Be seeing you soon! Kaitlynn had written. She had even drawn a smiley face next to it. Ariana balled the page up and threw it on the ground. Kaitlynn had probably realized the car would be too easy to trace. Smart girl. Evil girl.

Ariana's fingers curled at the very thought of what Kaitlynn had done to her. She was going to kill that bitch. She looked down at her Calvin Klein dress, stained with dirt and blood, and her jaw clenched. She was going to murder that bitch the first chance she got.

Grabbing the keys from the ground, Ariana raced to the back of the car and popped the trunk. Empty. Kaitlynn had taken everything. The clothes, the laptop, the jewelry, the cash--even the toiletries and towels and makeup. The yawning void of the trunk stared up at Ariana, mocking her. Heart in her throat, she slammed it closed and got behind the wheel.

Please. Please, just this one thing... She unlocked the glove compartment and reached into the back. Her fingers found her purse and the velvet bag she had stashed there the night before. Instantly, her pulse relaxed. Kaitlynn hadn't thought to check it. The Osgood paranoia had paid off this time.

Just to reassure herself, Ariana overturned the velvet bag. Dozens of priceless jewelry pieces tumbled into her palm, all lifted from Grandma Covington's bedroom the night before she and Briana Leigh had left. Ariana grinned. Hocking these would pay for a new wardrobe and computer. Her heart tingled with pride as she congratulated

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herself for thinking ahead. She opened the wallet and looked over her Briana Leigh Covington IDs, then looked for the twenty-four hundred dollars from Briana Leigh's checking account, which she had stashed in there, as well as the credit cards Briana Leigh had given her. All present and accounted for.

Kaitlynn hadn't seen any of this. Which meant she still didn't know exactly what Ariana's plan was. Ariana hadn't had a chance to tell her. Thank goodness. And unless Kaitlynn had realized that Ariana's new hair was supposed to serve some purpose, she was clueless. The thought that she knew more than Kaitlynn on at least one score soothed Ariana even further.

She turned the rearview mirror toward her to look herself in the eye and caught a glimpse of tan leather in the backseat. Her heart skipped a happy beat. Kaitlynn hadn't seen the jacket either. That was definitely going to come in handy for covering up her bloodstains until she could buy some new clothes.

Popping her green contacts out of her eyes, Ariana looked at herself in the mirror again.

"Briana Leigh Covington," she whispered to herself. "Hi. I'm Briana Leigh Covington."

She still couldn't get comfortable with the sound of it, but, in the words of Briana Leigh herself, beggars couldn't be choosers.

Ariana's heart squeezed suddenly. Briana Leigh had hidden feelings of loss and guilt and loneliness behind her bitchy veil. She had been so trusting. So generous. Yes, Ariana had been doing her a favor, but she had been so quick to give up control of her whole

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identity, just so that "Emma Walsh" could go to a good school. Could have a life.

And now she was dead. Needlessly dead. All because of Kaitlynn Nottingham.

"I'm so sorry for what happened, Briana Leigh," Ariana said, gazing out at the lake. "But don't worry. I'll take care of her. Sooner or later, she'll pay for this. I promise."

Then she started up the car, threw it in reverse, and turned around, speeding away from the lake and all the demons it held.

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SOME CRAZY

Ariana stepped inside the lobby of the Philmore Hotel and Spa and breathed in deeply. Breathed in the scents of opulence. The fresh lilies bursting from crystal vases. The pungent wax on the gleaming marble floor. The clean leather and velvet furniture. The Chanel No. 5 of the distinguished-looking middle-aged woman at the concierge desk. She took in that breath and tried to calm her terrified excitement.

This was where she belonged. This was the life she deserved.

But would these people recognize her? If anyone had seen her photo ten million times, it was the staff of the Philmore. Just standing inside the gold-trimmed door was risky. But Ariana simply could not stay anywhere else. She had to be near the lake. Had to keep her eye on the proceedings. It was the only way.

She lifted her head and strode toward the registration desk, her brand-new Louis Vuitton trunk--filled with neatly folded designer

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items, thanks to Grandma C's jewels--zipping along behind her.

The thirtysomething man behind the counter looked up at the auburn-haired girl in D&G sunglasses approaching him. Ariana saw his eyes flick over her outfit, sizing her up with one glance. He took in the Miss Sixty jeans, the Donna Karan blouse, the leather jacket, the diamond studs (the one item of Grandma Covington's she had kept). He smiled, not a trace of recognition in his eyes. There was nothing but approval.

"Good afternoon, miss. Welcome to the Philmore," the man said. "How may I help you?"

Ariana placed her Calvin Klein clutch on the desk and smiled apologetically. "I know it's last minute, but I was hoping you might have a room available," she said with a slight Texan accent.

"Absolutely, Miss... ?"

"Covington," Ariana said with a smile. "Briana Leigh Covington."

"Y Miss Covington. And what type of room would you like?" he asked, typing away on his keyboard. "We have several levels. Luxury, luxury

es, suite, deluxe luxury suite with lake view--"

"Lake view? Really?" Ariana's heart skipped in excitement. "I assumed those would all be booked at the height of summer."

The man glanced around, then lowered his voice. "Haven't you heard?" he whispered.

"Are you talking about that girl who went and drowned herself?" Ariana leaned in, the picture of curiosity.

"Yes," he said, leaning toward her. He clucked his tongue in distaste. "I'm not supposed to tell the guests, but personally, I think our

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clientele should be given all the facts and allowed to make an informed decision."

Ariana nodded seriously, even though inside she was laughing. Little did this guy know he was talking to the very ghost of Lake Page.

He stood up straight again, with an amused smile on his lips. "So. Still want a lake view?"

Ariana slapped a credit card down on the desk. "Book it."

The clerk's eyebrows raised in surprise, but he was also clearly impressed.

Ariana grinned. "Now where can I make a spa appointment?"

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THE BODY

Every morning for two weeks, Ariana sat on her private veranda overlooking the lake as she ate a gorgeous breakfast of fresh fruit and eggs. Every morning she sat, filling a notebook with practiced handwriting, and watched as FBI agents and their crews searched the lake, their dredging boats moving slowly across the placid surface. A few private cruisers launched half a dozen divers every morning as well, and Ariana could only assume these were paid for by her father. She tried not to think of him sitting in his office at the house in Atlanta, receiving the daily three-word reports: No body found.

Around noon, when the crews took their lunch break, Ariana would indulge in a spa treatment or a massage. But she would be back on the veranda by midafternoon, watching. Always watching.

She had been a resident of the Philmore for exactly fifteen days when her cell beeped. It had been silent for so long, the sudden noise

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startled her. Only one person had the number. Fingers trembling, she picked up the phone and read the text from Hudson.

3 wks. Figured u'd b busting down my door by now from missing me so much, but nada. Went to BL's but ur not there.Where r u? I need to see u. I'll come to u. Just tell me where you are.--H

Ariana's heart skipped around like a bouncing ball inside her chest. Her fingers itched to text back, but she forced herself to turn off the phone. She could not make contact with Hudson. He was the only person who could threaten her new life. He and Teo, who had not only met Emma Walsh but knew that Briana Leigh was enrolled at Atherton-Pryce. But she had a plan to deal with Teo. A plan she would put into play as soon as she knew she was safe.