Reckless Karma (Sinners & Saints #2) (6 page)

           
“Seriously.”
She looks me in the eye this time.

           
“Okay.”

           
“See
you at school tomorrow.”

           
“See
ya.”

           
I
wait for her to walk into her building before getting in the limo. Through the
ride home, Karlie Dale doesn’t leave from my mind. She’s interesting.
Intriguing and funny even. I don’t even think about how fun it’s going to be
when I destroy her anymore. I just think about how nice the travel to Queens
with her and her annoying little sister was. It felt kind of normal. Something
my life has lacked since… well always.

HUGO

“I
knew his intentions were not positive, but it was something about the way he looked
at me when I told him the truth. About how it must’ve sucked to be him. I just
knew that Gabriel had problems. Even before I met him.” She stares off as she
continues telling me about the effects of the subway car ride with Gabriel. “I
just knew he was gonna be trouble, and I think I wanted some trouble. I had
always done the right thing. Work hard. Get good grades. Be a good girl. Stay
on the right track. I wanted to have fun. Take more chances. More risks.”

           
“Too
bad it was the wrong chance.”

           
She
looks at me. Her brown eyes conflicted themselves, trying to see if they agree
with me or not. “It matters what point of view you see it from. As Karlie Dale…
I see it as a stupid and exciting and amazing. As Karlie Fairchild… I see it as
regardless… fate. It has to be.”

           
Karlie
is more trying to prove that to herself than to me.

4

SCARLETT

“So
Hugo’s getting off?” Chad’s frustrated tone hits me.

           
“It
looks like it. I mean there isn’t any evidence except the drugs you planted.”

           
“You
sure those drugs don’t have my prints on them?”

           
“If
you wore the gloves I told you to wear, then yes. And I did take care of the
camera footage from the building, so they’ll try to work the pills, but I guess
it is a waste of time.” I shrug as I stare at the black Givenchy dress I’m
trying on in my private dressing room at Saks. It’s divine yet similar to my
Armani… and my Dolce.

           
“So
basically this was all for nothing. That whole speech about the black heron?
That fucking bird from India.”

“Africa.”

“Whatever
that nabs its prey in a fucked up way. You didn’t want to destroy Hugo.”

           
“No,
I did. He had hope. Then it was ruined. Now he’s at home trying to figure out a
way to destroy me, and that means reverting back to who he was last week. He’ll
ruin his relationship with Juliet all on his own. She doesn’t have the stomach
to agree with the things he’s willing to do.”

`
          
“And
you’re not worried?”

           
I
almost laugh at that question. “Of course I’m not worried. It’s Hugo. Granted
he’s probably more clever at a revenge scheme than most of the people out to
get me, but no. Never worried. He’ll try, maybe even shake me up, but he will
fail.”

           
“Whatever.
You can give the grand speeches, but you left out one thing. You did it because
you were hurt and desperate.”

           
My
eyes cut through him through the mirror, but I forget what I was about to say
once I observe his fidgeting and sweating.

           
“What
the hell is wrong with you?”

           
He
sniffs. “I haven’t had a hit in a fucking day.”

           
“Why?”

           
“I
got a meeting with my dad and I’m trying to sober up.”

           
“Chad,
sweetie, you’re gonna need more than a day.”

           
“I
thought you were gonna get your fucking boyfriend to help me out? Put in a good
word for me. Tell him how I found his sister’s rapist.”

           
“You
and I both know that your dad isn’t believing that shit.”

           
“Yes,
he will,” he growls.

           
“Chad.”
I turn around and face him. “Patrick doesn’t know our history. Your father is
practically a part of it. He remembers the last time that vile term was
associated with us.”

           
The
crazy fucker laughs at that. “That was a good time.”

           
“I
bet it was for you.” I face the mirror again.

           
“And
justice for you. Your ultimate win. You broke the shit out of him. And her.” He
snickers. “Whatever happened to Karlie?”

           
I
toss the Givenchy dress away and pull out the Dior. “Who cares?”

JULIET

           
I
don’t think any of us are paying attention to the film Poppy picked out for us
to watch in the rec room. Well, all of us except Poppy, who is enjoying Reese
Witherspoon making out with some guy dressed in black. Cody looks like he’s
thinking about Anika. Jordana looks like she’s reading old text messages from
Margaret Jacobs and trying to figure out if she should respond or not. I’m
thinking about Karlie Dale. I’m thinking about what happened to her. How she
survived it and where has she been all these years?

           
The
doorbell rings and the butler, Thomas, gets it.

           
“Anika,”
Cody mutters once Thomas brings her in. “What are you doing here?”

           
“You’re
not answering my texts,” she says, fiddling with the straps of her leather teal
crossover bag.

           
Cody
crosses his arms over his chest and hardens his jaw. “Well then you should
already have your answer.”

           
“Cody,
can we please just talk? Just talk to me.”

           
He
stands up from the couch and stuffs his hands in his pockets.

           
“So
talk.”

           
Anika
looks around at us. “Alone?”

           
“No…
I’ve had enough of keeping secrets. Besides, you not only lied to me, you lied
to all of us. So talk.”

           
She
sighs and talks before talking herself into running away. “My sister… was a
good person. The best I ever knew. She could walk on clouds. She was smart,
pretty, kind… happy. And then she broke. She completely broke. I was just a kid
when it all happened, but I remember. I remember what she was like when she was
in love. She loved him so much and then… that bitch Scarlett ruined her. They
all ruined her, and I watched her go from broken to broken with rage. She left
and then… she came back rich as hell and with a plan. I know what I did was
wrong, but… she’s my sister. That’s my answer. She’s my sister. I love her and
I’ll do anything for her.” Still staring at Cody, she smiles. “Even deceiving
the one guy who actually makes sense to me and who led me to care about someone
just as much as I care about my family.”

           
Cody
is still stubborn and doesn’t respond, but what Anika just said does register
to him as the fury in his frown cools. He opens his mouth but doesn’t have a
chance to say anything as Hugo and Karlie walk into the rec room.

           
“Hope
we’re not intruding,” Hugo says twirling his door keys in his hands and Karlie
standing next to him wearing a sleeveless violet blouse and white skirt.

           
“No,
you’re not,” Anika says, looking defeated and she takes a seat in one of the
chairs.

           
“Anika,
you good?” Karlie asks. Her protective nature for a sister shows in her glare
aimed at Cody.

           
“Yeah,”
she lies.

           
I
get it. Anika has sacrificed a lot for her sister out of love, loyalty, and
obligation. I’m the same with Jess, the girl who’s paralyzed because of me.
Granted we’re not sisters, but if I can feel that way towards a girl who wasn’t
my friend to begin with, especially after what I did to her, then you could
understand why a sister would do it. She still holds that devoted support to
Karlie’s cause, but maybe for once she would like for her sister to put her
needs and her wants first above her vendetta.

           
“So
I assume this visit is to explain operation takedown evil bitch,” Jordana says
to Karlie.

           
“Yes,
it is,” Karlie answers and Hugo takes a seat next to me, grabbing my hand. My
heart just naturally clings to his touch now, and it’s funny and new to me. I
was never the girl who even looked forward to this feeling, but now I find
myself never wanting to live without it. I guess you really never know the
future until you are in the now, but don’t let the others know that because I’m
psychic, remember?

           
“Before
we get into this, I just want to know how you got with William Fairchild,”
Jordana asks what we’re all wondering. “Are the rumors true? He met you at a
bar?”

           
Karlie
sits on the edge of the coffee table and her dark eyes become more distant than
they already were.

           
“Yeah,
the rumors are true. After the assault my mother sent me away to Ohio to live
with my great uncle and his family.”

“Did
you overdose in Ohio or here?” Cody asks.

Karlie
laughs a little and shakes her head. “Overdose, not true.”

“Noel
Rochester said Gabriel tried to help you and you drifted off into despair,” I
say.

“Gabriel
tried to help me by breaking up with me.” Her attitude comes out. “Me drifting
off into despair was because of that too. Noel Rochester doesn’t know shit and
he never will because he has always been what Gabriel referred to most of
Scarlett’s followers as
—
sheep.”

 
After weeks of staying there, I found out
about…” The hint of pain is still in her voice. Like she can’t bear to say it.
“Gabriel’s death. You can imagine the usual effects of losing someone. Denial,
sadness, rage. My mom and I wanted justice, but of course they shut that down
quick. Rochesters, Michelsons, Braysons, and Mandrakes. They threatened our
jobs, our livelihood. Manipulated footage and pictures of me and Chad and Noel,
which were to prove that I enjoyed it. That I was some drunk girl looking for a
good time. I begged my mom to let it go and soon she did. I stayed in Ohio.
Went to school. I had this fake ID Gabriel had gotten me, so I used it to get a
job at a bar. I was doing everything I could to get by the rough days. To
survive for…” She looks at us and uncertainty registers in her eyes. Hard to
spill your feelings in a room of people you barely know. “For what I had left.
My family, my dignity, my life. I was working at a bar when I met a very drunk
older man in a suit. He was so sad. He looked almost sadder than me, and as I
was bringing him drinks, he was giving me answers.”

           
“To
what?” Poppy asks.

           
“To
how I was going to get revenge. Once I found out that he was
the
William Fairchild, I told him how I
was from New York and how I went to school with the sons and daughters of his
fellow elites. When I was off the clock, I found myself telling him everything.
Gabriel, Scarlett, Chad, Noel, everyone who had a hand in the reason I was in
that bar with him in that moment. The next day he came back to the bar and told
me he had cancer. He said he had no one he could trust and for some reason he
felt that he could trust me. We just connected, and a week later he asked me to
run away with him. Travel the world. To marry him.”

           
“That’s
it? But why?” Hugo asks next.

           
“His
words, if I can remember correctly…” She smiles to herself. Unshed tears
forming in her brown eyes. “I want… I want to give back what they took and
more. I want to do something right for the first time with my life, and I don’t
want to be alone when I die.”

           
We
all continue staring at her as she wipes her face.

           
“So
we traveled and made a home in Monaco. It was nice. Wonderful. I was with him
when he died peacefully on our beach. As you already found out, he left
everything to me. Everything. Kept my identity under wraps from his family and
here. Gave his nephew instructions to run the New York office and wait for me
to return.”

           
“Which
is now,” I say.

           
“Yes,
which is now.”

           
“So
what is the plan?”

           
Her
smile is cunning, and with her legs crossed she leans back, one arm behind her,
palm flat on the table, and the other over her lap.

“Well
to take over each family, I had to find out their secrets, their problems,
their fears. Of course NeoLock is down when it comes to Johnathan Mandrake. As
for the Rochesters, well their empire is in a bit of a pickle.”

“What
are they known for?” I ask.

“Their
family made their fortune building one of the first railroad and shipping
companies,” Hugo answers.

“Yes,
and the company is losing money. Of course Gale Rochester wants to keep that
under wraps. She’s been secretly seeking someone to buy the company. This is
giving someone new ownership over her family’s legacy.”

“And
that’s you.”

“Yes.
The contract is being written up as we speak. I will own her ass. As for Noel,
he’s weak. Once he sees my face, he’ll self-destruct all on his own.”

The
look on her face makes it seem like she wants him to kill himself… maybe she
does.

“I
believe that. When we made him tell us about what happened, he almost had a
stroke,” Jordana says.

“I
bet he did,” Karlie scoffs. “Now the Michelsons. It turns out Wayne Michelson
is laundering money and stealing from his clients. He’s one of the highest paid
stock traders on Wall Street. Originally from the Bronx, tough up-bringing,
self-made billionaire, but too bad he doesn’t know how to keep up with his
offshore accounts. He has three banks. One in the Cayman Islands, Switzerland,
and France. Each holds his unmarked money. I may or may not have leaked this
information to the authorities.”