The joke about how much she owed Avery and how long it would take her to pay back was a usual one between both of them. Others might find it weird because of the difference in social status, thinking Stephanie might feel bad since she was of lower tier, but the best friends never seed to bother with it.
And now? eting for the first ti after thinking her best friend was dead for weeks, it wasn’t her fault that she couldn’t hold her tears back.
Avery stepped forward, rubbing her hand up and down her shoulders.
"If you continue crying like this, Steph, then we won’t be able to catch up on anything before I leave here, which I have to do, soon, in fact."
Stephanie nodded vigorously, imdiately using the sleeves of her clothes to wipe her eyes.
"Oh! That’s true. We have to catch up but..." she looked around, taking in the bins around the place they were in, and turned back to et Avery’s gaze, "You think this place is appropriate for us to catch up though."
Avery sighed, rolling her eyes.
"Tell , you haven’t watched TV, checked the news, or logged in on social dia for a while, have you?" she asked. "If you had, you’d know why."
Stephanie lowered her gaze. "Actually, no. I was just so busy..." she trailed off, rembering Archie’s warning not to ntion anything about Arthur to Avery. Quickly changing the topic of discussion, she continued, "I cried so much in the first few weeks that I couldn’t bring myself to check online and the trending news anymore. Then I got a job that kept occupied, barely giving ti to even look at my phone." Her eyes sparkled with curiosity as she leaned forward. "Enough about . We should be talking about you instead. How are you here? And Emma... Is she alive too?"
Avery’s expression remained unreadable. "I visited their graves a few days ago," she said, indirectly answering the question. "I was the only one Archie saved. He said he was out of the country when it happened... and that he’d had a fight with Arthur the night before. He wasn’t able to arrive in ti to save them. But he saved , the one who deserved it the least."
"That’s a lie," Stephanie said flatly. "If Archie had asked your grandfather, Arthur, and Emma to choose who he should save among them, who do you think they would have unanimously chosen? You."
"You’re the one lying," Avery muttered. "They wouldn’t have. Not after I went ahead and got involved with Brian... the devil who ended up being our downfall."
Stephanie’s hands clenched into fists at the ntion of his na. "You couldn’t have known," she murmured. "Not when you didn’t even like him in the first place."
Avery frowned. "What?"
Stephanie shrugged and repeated, "Brian. You never liked him. He was just... convenient." She rolled her eyes when Avery narrowed hers. "What? Everyone could see it at the ti. Okay, maybe you liked him, but you didn’t love him. You saw him as a suitable husband because you thought you both had the sa goal, ending the rivalry between your families and protecting the workers caught in between."
Avery blinked in confusion. "Wait. I really shouldn’t be arguing about how much I liked Brian Walker or not right now, but... you guys aren’t . How did you know I didn’t love him or have real romantic feelings for him?"
Stephanie’s eyes brightened, as if she had been waiting for this mont. "For one, how do you date soone for six years and never get intimate? All you two ever did was kiss each other on the forehead and cheeks. That’s sweet, but honestly? It always looked bland."
"We were intimate," Avery deadpanned.
Her friend’s head snapped toward her. "When?"
"Once. Three years ago," she said, voice devoid of emotion. "Didn’t get to ho base, but we almost did. It was one night during an event abroad. My family was there, his family was there... even Archie was there." She paused, then scoffed. "That mory would probably disgust if I rembered it vividly, seeing as Brian turned out to be gay and has been screwing Robert. Can you believe that?"
Stephanie barely reacted to that revelation. "That wasn’t in the news, but it’s no surprise." Then, as if sothing just clicked, she stiffened. "Wait... Did you just say Archie was there that night?"
Avery nodded. "Yeah, Archie. Why?"
Stephanie didn’t answer imdiately. A strange feeling settled in her chest, one she really didn’t want to examine. Because if she did, she’d have to consider the possibility that Avery had it all wrong—that she hadn’t, in fact, been intimate with Brian that night.
Maybe... Archie? Or soone else entirely?
But how could she think it was Brian?
Avery’s voice pulled her out of her thoughts. "And why did you say it’s no surprise that Brian is gay and has been screwing Robert? Don’t tell everyone else saw it except !"
Stephanie smirked slightly. "How could we? I was just making a guess based on how close they’ve seed lately. I see their faces plastered all over banners on my way ho, signing rgers after rgers, staring at each other like lovestruck fools." She exhaled, refocusing. "Anyway, back to what we were saying. There are so many reasons why you never loved Brian, but we don’t have ti to list them all. What I do want to know is how you managed to co out of hiding without the dia and reporters all over you. And how has life been with Archie?" She glanced around. "We’re staying here so no one sees us together, right?"
Avery followed her gaze, taking in the desolate surroundings. "Exactly. I have a new identity. If people see talking to soone closely tied to the ’murderer Avery McCallum,’ there’s a high chance my cover will be blown. I can’t let them use you against ."
"New identity?" Stephanie echoed. "What is it?"
"Before I say anything," Avery shook her head, her expression hardening, "tell what you were looking for in that place with Valentina. How did you et her? What caused the fight and the shouting? And most importantly, why didn’t you fight back?"
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