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of the candies and moaned. After swallowing that piece, she looked up at Sabrina, who still stood beside
the table. Why are you frowning?
I was thinking about something you said about the pictures. You said they were hard to look at.
Well yeah, they were. She finished off the candy by stuffing the rest of it in her mouth.
That s the thing, Sabrina said. How could they be hard for you to look at? I never showed
them to you.
Jewel finished chewing and swallowed before she responded. Of course you did. Why else would
I say that?
A horrible suspicion sprouted in Sabrina s mind, and pain swelled inside of her, spreading like
ripples in a lake. I never showed them to you.
Jewel swallowed and looked away.
Tell me you didn t have anything to do with this.
Jewel refused to look at her. Brina, I don t know what you re talking about.
Look at me. Jewel continued to stare down at the table. Look at me!
Jewel lifted her gaze, and Sabrina saw the guilt in her eyes. Sabrina shook her head. Jewel, no.
No. Her heart was breaking. They were practically sisters.
Jewel s lower lip trembled. I m sorry, Brina. It wasn t supposed to go so far.
Sabrina drew a shaky breath. What wasn t? Then Jewel explained.
Through a prison outreach program, Mateo got a job as a dishwasher at the same restaurant where
Jewel worked. They d become friends when they found out they were both addicts in recovery. She d
bragged about her cousin Sabrina on numerous occasions, talking about how smart she was and how she
was well off financially. When Mateo was fired from the restaurant, they remained friends. The
friendship evolved into a sexual relationship and eventually they both started using drugs again.
He asked Jewel why she was working as a waitress at a restaurant when her cousin was living the
good life, being chauffeured around town and living in a top floor penthouse apartment. Subsequently,
they formulated a plan. Mateo knew where he could get his hands on chloral hydrate.
You let him drug me?
Jewel remained silent and tears filled her eyes. She shook her head.
Sabrina s hand covered her mouth. Mateo had told the truth. You drugged me. You encouraged
me to have a drink, loosen up and stop moping because of the argument Renaldo and I had before he
left. You put the drug in the drinks.
Jewel nodded and wiped the tears from her cheeks. I slipped the mickey in the second one. Then
I went out on the dance floor and left you with Mateo. When the drug took effect, we took you out of
there. I used your key card to get into the penthouse.
Jewel had removed Sabrina s clothes while Mateo waited outside the bedroom. He kept on his
boxers and then slipped under the covers with her and took the photos on his camera phone. He took
them instead of Jewel to give the impression no one else was in the room with him and Sabrina.
We never had sex?
No. We wanted you to think you had, but I was there the whole time.
She d gone to Jewel s apartment after Renaldo had thrown her out. Jewel had acted as if she didn t
remember who Mateo was, but not only did she know, she d schemed with him to set up the entire plot.
Even to the point of leaving messages on Sabrina s phone and acting as if she had been worried and
looking for her after they left the club.
Nausea churned in Sabrina s guts. I don t feel good. She rushed to the side of the terrace and
emptied the contents of her stomach into a trashcan.
Jewel came to her side with a glass of water and rubbed her back. Here.
Sabrina shoved her hand away. Get away from me.
Take it. She pushed her hand back in Sabrina s face.
Sabrina straightened and reluctantly took the glass. She rinsed her mouth and spit into the can.
You have to go. I can t stand to look at you.
Brina, I m sorry. I-I didn t mean to hurt you. Everything got out of hand. It wasn t supposed to
get this far.
She d always forgiven Jewel for the wrongs she d done to her in the past, but she couldn t this
time. All these years she d been protecting her, and in return she d almost destroyed her life. She almost
lost her husband, tossed out like garbage because he thought she d betrayed him, and the whole episode
had been a set up.
You know how much I suffered with guilt, Sabrina said. You knew how much you made my
husband suffer because he thought I d cheated on him. All along you could ve told us the truth, but you
didn t.
If I said anything, you d have known I was involved. Besides, Renaldo was never supposed to
find out. We were only going to get money one time, but then& one time turned into a second time.
You ungrateful
Whack!
Sabrina slapped Jewel as hard as she could across her face, the blow landing so hard her palm
stung. Jewel cried out and stumbled backward, pressing her hand to her cheek. Shock filled her eyes.
Sabrina felt no remorse. It felt good. She wanted to beat her into the ground for what she d done and
the pain she d caused. Instead, she restrained herself from the natural inclination and took her cousin by
the shoulders and shook her until her head flopped back and forth on her neck.
Haven t I done enough for you? How could you? They were both crying. Why?
Jewel caught her wrists and squeezed. I m sorry. When Renaldo found out, I wanted to die. He
wasn t supposed to ever see those photos. I told Mateo to stop, and he did for a while, but then then
he got desperate. He needed the money, and that s why he called you the other day. Her face crumbled.
I didn t know what to do. I couldn t let you find out I had fallen back into my addiction. Brina, it s
really, really hard to-to stop. And I tried. I did. You ve always been there, and I didn t want you to be
disappointed in me.
So you almost destroyed my life? Sabrina wrenched her hands away from her cousin and stared
in disbelief. But why was she so surprised? Hadn t she seen worse growing up? Women offering to do
anything for drugs some even doing the unthinkable by offering their children in exchange for a hit. I
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