bad idea

Chapter 60

Ariana's Pov

Watching the woman leave, most of us were curious to see where she went. Shawn didn't seem to care though, handing his coat to one of the men there, and grabbing an hors d'oeuvre from a waiter.

As soon as Kai was out of earshot, he turned to the rest of us, "Well, I'm gonna go get a drink," Shawn announced, interrupting our short-lived silence.

Zayn put his arm out in front of Shawn to stop him from disappearing into the kitchen. "Don't think so, she told you to stay with Vic."

"And enjoy the party." Shawn reiterated with a sigh. "Ariana and Victoria will be fine for five minutes. And worst case scenario, we just boom, boom, and get the hell out of here."

"No, Shawn—" He started to say, but Victoria stopped him.

"Zayn, I know you wanna check out the scene anyway. We'll just stay here and wait, just in case Kai comes back." The doctor offered, a smirk growing on Shawn's face, while Zayn was turned away from him.

His eyes moved to me, before looking back at Victoria. "I can't, she would kill me if something happened to either of you because I didn't follow the one direction she gave me,"

"Then it'll be our secret," I added, his eyes falling on me once again.

"I sure as hell won't tell," Shawn said, chuckling.

Victoria stuck her pinky out at the man, to which he frowned in confusion. "Go on, pinky promise,"

After a few seconds, he finally agreed. "Twenty minutes...be back in twenty minutes. If anyone sees her, your excuse is we're in the bathroom."

"Sure, I'll see you three later," Shawn answered happily, walking away to the kitchen, where the drinks seemed to be the most prominent.

Victoria grabbed my hand, stepping away from Zayn as she pulled me further into the house, and I could see the regret all over his face, as we left.
I was too focused on everything else to even notice Victoria pulling me into one of the closed-off rooms and locking the door.

"Madison backed out at the last second," Victoria started to say, "Cole and Tommy said someone gave her an offer to be quiet, something she couldn't refuse."

"Did they say who?" I asked, letting out a sigh, and she shook her head no. "That makes no fucking sense, she was just fully on board."

"What if we try doubling the offer?"

"Won't work," I mumbled, staying quiet to think for a bit. "The offer wasn't money."

"How do you know?"

"My parents always told me that the only thing that shuts up the rich is blackmail and it's always been true."

"So what are we gonna do?" Victoria asked, folding her arms. "I believe you Ari, but with no proof that Lauren's it, there's nothing we can do. This isn't just an average person, she's calculated and precise with every move she makes, she'll rarely slip up... so if we have nothing, we should just leave it alone."

"I can't," I told her, thinking of my options. "She's dangerous Victoria, and you're right, she isn't average. She does more mental damage than she does physical, and if it is her, she'll try her best to get her way. Think about it, everyone who's been close to Kai has either died or been harmed in some way, we could be next."

"Well our parents died naturally but I get where you're going with that and you're right. Zayn and I have daughters, we can't risk not being able to watch them grow up," She explained, taking a breath to figure things out too. "Do you think someone's working on the inside? How else would Lauren know to go after Madison, when would she even find the time? She's been under Kai all week."