Andrew’s voice swirled in her head. Don’t you think you’re moving a little fast? I don’t want you to get hurt.
No. The tenant book hadn’t been recently updated—Olivia and Morgan had just moved in. And Olivia’s phone wasn’t ringing because she was out of the country. And Michael Hutchins’s number was out of order because he’d unexpectedly changed it. Spencer’s apartment did exist. She was going to move into an apartment on Perry Street, the best block in the Village, next week, to live happily ever after within a few blocks from her honest-to-God biological mom. This wasn’t too good to be true.
Was it?
Spencer’s skin felt braised. Either give Long-Lost Mommy a rest and keep searching for what really happened…or pay my price, A had said. Beyond halfheartedly telling the others that A had sent her a second note, Spencer hadn’t searched for Ali’s true killer at all. What if this was A’s price? A knew she was looking for her birth mother. Perhaps A had a team of people under his or her control. A woman called Olivia. A man who posed as a Realtor, inventing an apartment at 223 Perry Street without looking at a map for accuracy. A had known Spencer wanted a family who loved her badly enough to risk everything, even her college education.
She turned away from the front desk in the lobby, fumbling for her Sidekick. In a few clicks, she was logging into the account she’d found on her dad’s computer. It felt as if she couldn’t get a deep breath. Please, she whispered under her breath. This can’t be happening.
A statement popped onto the screen. There was Spencer’s name, address, and account number. The balance was in red font at the bottom. When she saw it, Spencer’s stomach heaved. Her vision narrowed until all she saw was the figure before her. It wasn’t many zeros…just one.
The account had been cleared out, down to the very last penny.
25 AND THE WINNER IS…
Saturday night, Hanna sat at her dressing table, sweeping the last touches of bronzer across her cheeks. The black, lace-lined Rachel Roy sheath dress she’d bought for the Radley party fit her perfectly, snug but not too snug around her waist and hips. She’d been way too busy competing for Mike this week to succumb to her usual Cheez-It binges. If only the Mike Montgomery diet came in a bottle.
There was a knock on her door, and Hanna jumped. Her dad stood in the doorway to her bedroom, dressed in a black V-neck sweater and jeans. “Going somewhere?” he asked.
Hanna swallowed hard, gazing at her made-up reflection in the mirror. She doubted her dad would buy that she was spending a quiet night in. “There’s an opening for this big hotel outside town,” she admitted.
“Is that why Kate’s door is shut too? You’re both going together?”
Hanna set down her makeup brush, resisting the urge to smile. They weren’t going together, because Hanna had won Mike all to herself. Ha. “Not exactly,” she said instead, reining her feelings in.
Mr. Marin perched on the edge of her bed. Dot tried to jump on his lap, but he swished him away. “Hanna…”
Hanna looked at him pleadingly. He was going to enforce the punishment now? “I have a date. It would be weird if she came with us. I’ve learned my lesson, I swear.”
Mr. Marin cracked his knuckles, a habit Hanna had always hated. “Who’s the guy?”
“Just…” She sighed. “Actually, he’s Aria’s younger brother.”
“Aria Montgomery?” Mr. Marin squinted, thinking. The only time Hanna recalled her dad meeting Mike was when he’d taken Hanna, Aria, and the others to a music festival at Penn’s Landing—Aria had had to drag Mike along because Mr. and Mrs. Montgomery were out of town. While they were watching one of the acts, Mike vanished. They frantically searched for him all over the grounds, finally tracking him down at the snack bar. He was hitting on one of the Pennsylvania Dutch girls who made the funnel cake.
“Does Kate have a date?” Mr. Marin asked.
Hanna shrugged. Earlier today, she’d told Mike to get out of his date with Kate by telling her he’d promised to go with the lax boys in their rented Hummer. If he’d said he was going with Hanna, Kate would have immediately told Daddy and ruined the whole thing.
Her father sighed and stood up. “Okay. You can go on your own.”
“Thank you.” Hanna breathed out.
He patted her back. “I just want Kate to feel welcome here. She’s having a really hard time at Rosewood Day. As I remember, you didn’t always have it easy there either.”
Hanna felt her cheeks redden. Back in fifth and sixth grade, when Hanna and her dad used to be close, she used to moan to him about school. I feel like a big nothing, she confessed. Her dad always assured her that things would turn around. Hanna never believed him, but he’d ended up being right. Becoming friends with Ali had changed everything for good.
Hanna glanced at her dad suspiciously. “Kate seems really happy at Rosewood Day. She’s best friends with Naomi and Riley.”
Mr. Marin stood up. “If you talked to her, you’d know the truth. What she wants most is to be friends with you, Hanna. But you seem to be making that as difficult as possible.”
Then he left the room, padding softly down the hall. Hanna remained on her bed, feeling both puzzled and annoyed. As if all Kate really wanted was to be friends! She’d obviously told Hanna’s dad that to get him even more on her side.
Hanna ground her fist into her mattress. It wasn’t like too many people had broken down her doors desperately wanting to be her BFF. In fact, only two people came to mind: Ali, who had chosen Hanna among many other eligible sixth-grade girls, and Mona, who had sat down next to Hanna at eighth-grade cheerleading tryouts, struck up a conversation, and then invited Hanna to a sleepover at her house. At the time, Hanna had thought both girls chose her for specific reasons—Mona because Hanna had been Ali’s friend and was therefore someone with a bit of status, and Ali because she saw a potential in Hanna that no one else had yet noticed. Now, Hanna knew different. From the very start, Mona had been probably plotting to bring Hanna down. Maybe Ali had had more sinister motives for choosing Hanna too—perhaps she saw how insecure Hanna was. Perhaps she realized how easily Hanna could be manipulated.
Deep down, a part of Hanna wanted to believe that what her dad said was true—that despite everything, Kate honestly wanted Hanna as a friend. But after all Hanna had suffered through, it was hard to trust that Kate’s aims could be pure.
As she strode out of her bedroom, she heard water running in the hall bathroom. Kate was loudly belting out a recent song from American Idol, using up all the hot water. Hanna paused by the door, feeling wholly unsettled. Then, as a truck rumbled past outside, she turned away and marched down the stairs.
The Radley Hotel was bustling with guests, photographers, and staff. Hanna and Mike pulled into the driveway, parked, and handed the car over to the valet. As she got out, Hanna took in the charming brick walkways, the ice-crusted lake in the back meadow, and the grand stone steps leading to the stately wooden door.
When she and Mike walked into the main ballroom, Hanna’s jaw dropped even farther. The party’s theme was Palace of Versailles, and the Radley lobby was draped with silk tapestries and filled with crystal chandeliers, gold-framed paintings, and ornate chaises. There was a huge fresco of some mythological scene on the far wall, and Hanna could see a Hall of Mirrors at the back, just like in the real Versailles outside Paris. To her right was a throne room, complete with a tall, royal chair with a burgundy velvet cushion. A bunch of guests were gathered near the bar and standing in clumps near the tables. A complete orchestra was set up at the back, and off to the left were the lobby desk, the elevators, and a discreet sign to the spa and the bathrooms.