Chapter 2

"Harper, have you lost your mind?"

Chloe’s voice was trembling, but her eyes weren’t.

I had known her for twelve years. I knew exactly when her tears were real and when they were fake.

Right now, her eyes were welling up and her lips were bitten white, but the look in her eyes was freezing cold.

She violently pushed my phone away.

"You stalked me?"

"You actually investigated me?"

"I treated you like my own sister, and you went behind my back to spy on me?"

She switched to the victim card so fast. Three seconds ago, she was kneeling on the floor begging for money. Now, she was standing, pointing right at my face.

"Wyatt's mom gave us the money for that down payment! What does that have to do with you?"

I kept quiet.

"I was telling the truth about breaking up with him!"

She grabbed my wrist. Her grip was surprisingly tight.

"Harper, I didn't put a single penny into that house. His mom forced my name onto the deed to tie me down..."

"A $70,000 down payment."

I swiped to the next screenshot on my phone.

It was a post from her real estate agent’s page, congratulating Chloe on her new home. The picture showed Chloe and Wyatt holding the keys together.

She was smiling radiantly. There wasn't a single bruise on her face.

The post was uploaded three days ago.

And she was kneeling at my door—today.

Chloe’s face went pale for a second.

It wasn't the paleness of guilt.

It was the feral look of a beast backed into a corner.

"Harper, what the hell do you want?"

"My money back. Thirty-eight thousand dollars. Every single cent."

She laughed. She laughed so hard tears actually ran down her face.

"Do you have any idea how disgusting you’re being right now? Wyatt beat me so badly my face is swollen, and I come to you for help, and you’re trying to do math with me?"

"Your face was swollen last time you begged me, too."

I crouched down and pulled a legal folder from beneath the shoe rack.

Four promissory notes. $7,000, $11,000, $20,000, and a blank one—which I had prepared before she arrived.

"The first time, $7,000. You said you needed to rent a place. You checked out after three days, got your deposit back, but where did the money go?"

"The second time, $11,000. You said you were moving out of state. You didn’t even buy a plane ticket."

"The third time, $20,000. You said you were hiring a lawyer to sue Wyatt. The law firm’s receptionist had never even heard of your name."

Chloe’s face cracked, piece by piece.

"I checked every single one."

Out of that $20,000, my parents had pulled $5,000 out of their high-yield savings.

My mom had said, "Chloe is a good girl, Harper. She’s in an emergency. We should help."

My dad had said, "Money comes and goes, but your friend is like our own daughter."

That CD had been maturing for six years. They lost all the accrued interest just to pull it out early.

Chloe stared at me for ten long seconds.

Then, she did something I never could have anticipated.

She snatched the folder, pulled out the four promissory notes, and with lightning speed—before I could even react—crumpled two of them and stuffed them straight into her mouth.

I froze.

I was completely dumbfounded.

She chewed like a maniac, swallowing hard, her eyes locked onto me like a cornered wildcat.

I lunged forward to grab them back. I only managed to save two. The $7,000 one and the $20,000 one.

The $11,000 note and the blank one were already down her throat.

She wiped the paper crumbs from her mouth and suddenly smiled.

"Harper, without the notes, how are you going to sue me?"

The door was still open. The hallway light flickered, broken for a long time without anyone fixing it.

Chloe stood up and brushed the dust off her skirt. It was as if the girl who had just been crying on her knees never existed.

"If you know what's good for you, we’ll let this go."

She walked to the door, looked back at me, and tapped her phone screen.

"If you don't—I have way more friends than you do."

The door slammed shut.

I sat on the floor, clutching the two crumpled pieces of paper.

My phone rang. It was Mom.

"Harper, honey, is everything sorted out with Chloe? That poor girl has such a hard life..."

I opened my mouth.

But in the end, all I could say was: "Mom, I’ll pay you guys back that $5,000."

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