001: Betrayed And Killed
Camille's POV
"You look stunning." Nancy's voice came from the doorway, warm and easy, the voice she'd used on me a thousand times before. Her red heels clicked across the floor as she crossed to where I stood. I turned and gave her the same smile I'd been practicing all morning. "The soon-to-be Mrs. Lancaster," she said, stopping in front of me, her eyes on mine.Mrs. Lancaster.I still couldn't believe it. In one hour I'd be married to Leo Lancaster, and every girl who'd ever looked down on me growing up would have to choke on it."Thank you for coming," I said, pulling her into a hug. "I was so nervous you'd be running late.""I wouldn't miss this for anything." She moved behind me and started working on my shoulders, her thumb pressing into the knots there like she always knew exactly where I held my tension."Leo's going to lose it when he sees you walk down that aisle," she said, her voice low near my ear. "Those dimples of his are going to come out in full force."Something in her tone made me glance back at her. "Nancy?""Relax. I'm kidding." She laughed it off, light and easy, and moved on to the tiara. I let it go."I'm really glad you said yes to being my bridesmaid," I told her. "After everything, you're still the closest thing I have to a sister."She didn't answer that. She just kept adjusting the veil, her hands a little too firm against my scalp."Sit still, baby doll. Your makeup needs touching up." She reached for the mascara wand, and the brush dragged hard against my lashes, hard enough that my eyes started to water."Ow — Nancy, that hurts."Nothing."Nancy!"She kept going, like she hadn't heard me at all, and there was something in the set of her jaw that didn't look like a mistake. I grabbed her wrist and shoved her back, harder than I meant to. She stumbled, caught herself on the vanity."What the hell is wrong with you?""Sorry, baby doll. Guess I got a little excited." Her voice was flat. No apology in it anywhere.I turned to the mirror to check the damage and that's when I heard the lock click. By the time I spun around, she was already at the door, the key spinning around one finger, a smile on her face that I'd never seen before and would never forget."Nancy, what are you doing? Open the door.""You really still don't get it, do you." She said it like she felt sorry for me. "You think I'm joking around. I'm not joking, Camille. I want you gone.""Gone where? What are you talking about?""I want you dead." She said it the way other people ordered coffee. "You took Leo from me. You walked around playing house with my man for two years like I wasn't even real. And now I'm done watching it.""You're insane. This is insane, Nancy, you need to—""I need to what?" She picked up the crystal trophy off my dresser — the one from my college pageant, the one thing I'd actually been proud of — and turned it over in her hands like she was deciding something. "Show you how insane I can get?"I backed toward the window. There was nowhere to go and we both knew it."You don't have to do this. We can talk about this.""Rot in hell, you slut."The trophy caught me across the temple before I even saw her move. I went down hard, the floor cold against my cheek, my mother's gown soaking up blood I didn't know yet was mine. I crawled for the door on instinct, screaming for anyone, slamming my fist against the wood until Nancy's hand fisted in my hair and yanked me back."I loved you," I said, and even through the pain it came out as more disbelief than anything. "You were my sister.""Love." She laughed right against my ear, low and ugly. "Did you really think he'd pick you over me? We've been together for months, Camille. His bed. His office. Every single time you thought he was 'working late.'" She said it like a gift she was finally letting me unwrap.Then I saw the knife.I didn't even have time to beg before it went in. The pain was so total it didn't feel real, like my body belonged to someone else entirely. I felt the second stab. The third. I stopped counting after that."Nancy — please —"She wasn't listening. She stepped on my fingers when I tried to drag myself toward my phone, her heel grinding down until I screamed."Naughty girls don't get to run from their punishment."My vision was going soft at the edges when the door finally opened and Leo walked in, dressed for his own wedding, and for one stupid second I thought I was saved.He looked at me on the floor. He looked at Nancy standing over me with the knife still in her hand.And then he kissed her."You did good, baby," he said, like I wasn't even in the room. Like I was already gone. "She had it coming."I tried to say something. Nothing came out but blood."What do we do about the body?" Nancy's voice cracked, finally, but not for me. For herself."I'll handle it," Leo said, kneeling beside me, patting my cheek almost gently, like he was putting a dog down. "You've done enough tonight.""You're a monster," I managed, barely a whisper.He didn't even flinch. He stood, already pulling out his phone. "Make sure nobody finds her," he said to someone on the other end, and then the line went dead, and so, slowly, did the room around me.Mom, I thought, if you can hear me anywhere, give me one more chance. Just one. I'll make it count.And somewhere far away, I heard her voice answer — soft, certain, like she'd been waiting fifteen years just to say it.You are not lost, my love. Rise. Take back everything they stole from you.Then there was nothing at all.
