Page 30 of Sinful Empire (Mount Trilogy 3)
I want to tell my best friend to go screw herself, because I hate how satisfied she sounds. Then again, she sees the truth too clearly.
“I shouldn’t even tell you.”
Magnolia’s laugh, harsh but clear, comes through the speaker. “Get over your fucking self, Ke-ke, because I will never apologize for what I did. You’re right where you need to be. Sitting on a throne next to the man who rules this city. I don’t have to hear you say it, because I heard how he swept you away to Dublin. That man is gone for you. I may be getting my information from the outside looking in, but I know I was right.”
“And the ends justify the means? Is that what you’re saying?”
“Fucking right they do.”
A violent torrent of emotions swirls through me at her certainty and lack of remorse. I don’t know why I expected anything else from Magnolia. She’s unapologetic about who she is, what she is, and what she always has been. But there’s more. There’s always more when it comes to her. I want to believe Magnolia’s motives are as pure as she claims, but I know her better than I know my own sisters.
“So, tell me, Mags, tell me you did this only for me and there was nothing in it for you.”
That shuts her down for a solid three seconds.
“You really want to go there, Ke-ke?”
“We’re already there, Mags. No more lies. No more hidden motives. The only way we survive this with some scrap of our friendship intact is if you tell me everything right now.”
“Can’t you just be happy that you’ve got a real man like you’ve always wanted?”
That’s when I know I’m right. There’s more she’s not telling me.
“Now, Mags. Or I hang up this phone and never speak to you again.” Even voicing the threat eviscerates me. It would be like cutting off a limb to lose her, even now.
“Fine. But don’t you dare get all high-and-mighty on me. I put you first. So what if having Mount fall in love with my best friend made my life a little easier?”
And there it is. My brain spins at her confession. Even though I suspected an ulterior motive, hearing it packs the force of a Hulk-like blow.
“What the hell do you mean by that?”
“Use your brain, girl. Say your sister marries the prince of goddamned England. You don’t think you’ve just hit the jackpot right along with her?”
I laugh, or at least that’s what the harsh sound coming from my lips should be.
Now it’s all clear. Crystal, like the award that shattered and stabbed into my side. “You just tried to justify it as being all about me. You setting me up for life. But this was about you from day one. I was a pawn in your little game.”
“You don’t think I deserve a little easier time in life? I’ve seen and done things that would have you blowin’ your brains out in seconds. You want to begrudge me the little bit of slack I’d get by association if you’re with him?”
Guilt—slippery, slimy guilt—snakes through me. “You told me yourself you have no remorse for what you did, for the chances you took with my life, so don’t you dare play on my sympathies after everything you’ve said and done.”
“Don’t be a bitch, Ke-ke. We both know I’m better at it than you.”
“You’re right. You are.”
Magnolia muffles the phone and I hear her yell, “Hold on, I’m coming!” before she returns to me. “My appointment’s here. I gotta go handle some business because that’s how I make my livin’. You wanna hate me for what I did? Go right ahead. But don’t you dare think I didn’t have your best interest at heart. You’re where you were meant to be, with the man you were meant to be with, and it’s because of me. Now, I gotta go.”
“Mags—”
“No, Ke-ke. I ain’t got no more time to hear you throw your shit at me. I’m busy.”
The call ends and I lower my phone, staring at it like it just grew limbs. My lungs heave and my blood races as all of Magnolia’s confessions replay in my head.
How is it that the ones we think we know the best are sometimes the ones we truly know the least?
I can’t deny that her instincts were right, though.
Either way, Magnolia and I are not done with this conversation.
