"Mr. Delgado, today is Assistant Harding's birthday. Ms. Morton arranged a lawn party for him at the estate, and you—well, you're the special gift she's prepared."
"Ms. Morton says if you behave yourself and keep Assistant Harding happy, she'll consider throwing you that engagement banquet after all."
He jerked his chin toward the heavyset passenger beside me.
"Otherwise, we dump you right out that door. This is the highway. You probably won't even finish dialing before the cars behind us turn you into roadkill."
"So sit tight if you want to live. A pretty boy mooching off Ms. Morton's charity, and you actually thought you were the man of the house?"
Only then did I realize I'd been tricked.
I had no idea what Yolanda was playing at.
But no matter what, I wasn't about to gamble with my life. I put my phone away in silence.
The estate was decorated to perfection, even more lavish than the engagement banquet had been.
Yolanda had her arm looped through Nathan's, clinking glasses and exchanging pleasantries with the guests who'd come to celebrate.
Matching jade pendants hung around both their necks.
Anyone who didn't know better would have thought this was their wedding.
When she spotted me, Yolanda walked over, her gaze appraising.
"I hear you were trying to get to the airport. Where exactly were you planning to go?"
My voice was calm. "Home. Is that a problem?"
Something smug flickered in her eyes.
"So you've finally figured it out. Without me, you can't survive in Pearl City. Your only option is crawling back to whatever backwater you came from to till dirt."
"I'm not heartless, though. All you have to do is wear this and play Nathan's little pet for the day. Do that, and I'll let yesterday slide. We'll have the wedding next week."
It was a wooden sign, roughly the size of a laptop screen.
Five words were carved into it in bold, unmistakable letters.
Nathan Harding's Dog.
I stared at her in disbelief.
"You want me to be Nathan Harding's dog?!"
"In your dreams. He could drop dead and still wouldn't deserve it!"
Yolanda's expression went cold in an instant.
"Today is Nathan's birthday, and this is the one gift he wants more than anything. I promised him that whatever he asked for, I'd deliver."
"Besides, you nearly hurt him yesterday. You owe him."
She produced a small resin pendant and held it up like a threat.
"You care so much about sentimental value, don't you?"
"If you don't cooperate, I'll burn this. And then you won't even have a memory left."
The pendant itself was worthless. But sealed inside the resin were strands of my mother's hair.
She had died in an explosion. There was nothing left of her.
Those few strands were all I'd managed to gather, collecting them one by one from around the house.
Having them set in resin made it feel like she was still with me.
The moment I saw Yolanda raise the pendant toward the barbecue grill beside her, I clenched my jaw so hard my teeth ached.
Every word came out ground between them.
"I'll do it."
The crowd erupted in mocking laughter the second I put the sign around my neck. Phones shot up from every direction.
Yolanda smiled, satisfied.
"There we go. Now remember, whatever Nathan asks you to do, you do it. No fuss."
"Don't worry. Keep him happy, and once the party's over, I'll give the pendant back. And everything I promised you—I'll follow through."
I lifted my head, my face completely blank.
"Can I use the restroom?"
Yolanda didn't refuse, but she confiscated my phone.
She even posted two bodyguards at the door, terrified I might try to run.
What she didn't know was that I no longer wanted to leave.
Because leaving would be letting her off too easy.
I shut the stall door and pressed a button on my watch.
