𝐏𝐔𝐙𝐙𝐋𝐄𝐒 🝮 𝒳𝒶𝓃𝒹ℯ𝓇 ℋ𝒶𝓌𝓉𝒽ℴ𝓇𝓃ℯ

SIX

[y/n]
—————

I woke up late the next morning.

I had my own room in the suite, which was a nice break from always sharing a room with Avery. As soon as I woke up, I slipped out of the bedroom and down the hallway to the suite's kitchen, trying to rub the sleep from my eyes.

Alisa sat at the table in front of a computer, clicking through who knows what.

"Where are Avery and Libby?" I asked, not bothering to greet her.

Alisa looked up at me. "Libby is en route to New Castle to retrieve your Avery's things, as well as her own. Avery retreated to her bedroom a few minutes ago."

"When did Libby leave?"

"About eight hours ago."

I groaned internally, wishing Libby had just stayed. Drake definitely wasn't letting her come back and leave so suddenly.

God, Drake was a pain in the ass- and I had no doubt that Libby wasn't coming home unscathed.

𖦷⁂𖦷

When we went to pick up Libby, her right eye was bruised and swollen. Clearly Drake's doing.

I'm going to murder him.

"Libby," Avery said, sounding almost violent. I was speechless.

Libby swallowed. "If you say 'I told you so,' I will make butterscotch cupcakes and guilt you into eating them every day."

"Is there a problem I should know about?" Alisa asked Libby, her voice deceptively calm
as she eyed the bruise.

"Avery hates butterscotch," Libby said, as if that was the issue.

"Alisa," Avery gritted out, "does your law firm have a hit man on retainer?"

"No. But I'm very resourceful. I could make some inquiries."

"I legitimately cannot tell if you are joking," Libby said, turning to Avery. "I don't want to talk about it. And I'm fine."

"But-"

"I'm fine."

Avery kept her mouth shut, and we all managed to make it back to the hotel. The plan was for Avery to finish up a few final arrangements and leave for Hawthorne House, but, as always, things didn't go accordingly.

"We have a problem," Oren said, nodding towards the suite's balcony. I shoved past Avery, stepping out and looking down. Alisa followed, cursing.

Paparazzi.

There was a mob of people, holding cameras and mics. And just like that, they were all pointed towards us.

"I thought you said your firm had this locked down." Oren gave Alisa a look. She scowled back at him, hastily made three phone calls-two of which were in Spanish- and then turned back to Avery's head of security. "The leak didn't come from us." Her eyes darted toward Libby. "It came from your boyfriend."

"My ex," Libby corrected, her voice barely above a whisper.

𖦷⁂𖦷

When Libby went back to New Castle, she told Drake everything. The will, all the legal stuff, where we were staying.

He hit her. She left him. He went to the press.