Her eyes open slowly, and I see desperation to match mine. She wants all of that too. “Come with me,” I beg. “I need you with me.” Walking away from her now just doesn’t feel like the right thing to do.

“Why?”

“I just do. Why won’t you come?”

“I don’t feel comfortable.”

With me? At The Manor? Is it Sarah? I need to know. “Why don’t you feel comfortable?”

“I just don’t.”

“Please, Ava.”

“I’m not coming.”

I inhale, willing myself to stop wasting my fucking time. “Promise me you’ll be here when I get home then,” I say. “We need to sort this shit out.”

“I’ll be here,” she whispers, and I see with perfect clarity that she’s being honest with me.

“Thank you.” Exhausted, I drop my head to hers and take a few moments of peace in our chaos. I then lift from the bed and walk out.

And still, even though she’s promised not to leave, something doesn’t feel right.

36

I look up at my rearview mirror as I approach the gates to The Manor, frowning when I see Sam’s Porsche in the distance, racing up behind me until his bumper is practically kissing the arse of my Aston. I hit the remote to open the gates and slow to a crawl as I rumble down the driveway, the trees lining the way perfectly still, not a leaf moving. It feels somehow eerie, leaving me with a sensation I’ve never felt before. Like I’m driving into an ambush.

I get out as Sam skids to a stop behind me, kicking up plumes of dust from the gravel. “What are you doing here?” I ask, concerned by his apparent urgency.

“Why haven’t you answered your phone?”

“I didn’t hear it,” I say quietly, almost to myself. I think back on my journey from Lusso to The Manor. I can’t remember a damn second of it. I feel unsettled. Completely out of sorts. It shouldn’t be a shocker after my showdown with Ava.

This time tomorrow, I’ll either be walking on air or drowning in the bottom of a bottle of vodka. My skin becomes clammy, my stomach knotting.

“What’s going on?” Sam asks, approaching, his laid-back persona lost somewhere on the way here. “Kate dashed over to your place. Said something about watching Ava. What’s wrong with her?”

I find my feet and take the steps up to the entrance. “We had a fight.”

“About?” he asks, walking on my heels. “Did you tell her?”