Page 47 (1/2)

“I don’t give a fuck” Pain and regret rode on her ragged tone “Get out of my apartment Get out of my life And never come back”

Chapter Eighteen

“Dress shabbily and they remember the dress; dress impeccably and they remember the woman”

—Coco Chanel

The idea of standing in line at the department ofa jellyfish held ht’s annual Fashion Fights Hunger fund-raising dinner at the Harbor City Museum of Modern Art

“You could stay home” Anya had cut short her honeymoon after Sylvie’s tearful phone call after the ordeal with Anders and Tony yesterday, and shown up at her front door after catching the first flight out of Tahiti Her little sister had come armed with three flavors of ice creaazines She’d proirl needed to revive her spirits after facing down a homicidal maniac and a total asshole of a fake boyfriend

Drea had shown up twentycross country from LA Good friends call Great friends catch the red-eye

Cuddling up for an Alfred Hitchoc

k ood Maybe she’d follow it up by watching every season of Downton Abbey for the fifth ti as hell, but she couldn’t do it “Haven’t I hidden away long enough? Anyway, they’re honoring our fathers for their charitable work How can I miss that?”

“But they already gave you a pass” Anya stroked Sylvie’s knotted hair

“Anyway, you kno these fashion shindigs are,” Drea said “It’ll be like being under a microscope” She finished off the pint of monster cookie ice cream with a flourish and tossed the container into the trash

“Yeah” Sylvie sighed “Everyone and their toy schnauzer ant every last detail about Anders”

She wouldn’t—couldn’t—spend the evening reliving the gory details of yesterday’s shooting over canapés and chane Fear licked down the back of her neck at the rip around her waist before Tony’s single shot took hiht to the ceiling And that was only the half of it

After Anya and Drea had arrived, Sylvie had poured out everything—including Tony’s betrayal That he’d been lying to her the entire time she’d known him Hell, even before she’d known hi as an Internet troll After she’d cried a swi pool’s worth of tears, an eer would hit later, no doubt

“Everyone’ll want to know all about you being the High-Heeled Wonder, too,” Drea said