Eve Of A Thousand Wakes

009 Cornered

Ashley turned to the receptionist, whose name tag read Bella. "Could you tell me Tessa's room number?"

Bella hesitated—Tessa Grayson was too high-profile a guest to hand out details about. 

"Don't be alarmed," Ashley said, forcing a casual smile over the panic clawing at her throat. "We're soon to be sisters-in-law. My wedding's tomorrow, so I need to discuss a few things with her. But Tessa's phone is switched off."

"I'm sorry, ma'am… I still can't share that information with you—"

Ashley fished in her purse and pulled out a sealed envelope. "Here," she said, sliding it across the desk. "It's an invitation to my wedding."

Bella's eyes went wide. Nobody said no to a Palmer—not when they could buy the Marigold outright without blinking. And nobody, anywhere in Norwich, was turning down an invitation to the wedding of the decade.

It was only natural for a bride to barge into her future sister-in-law's room the day before the wedding—right?

"Miss Grayson is in Suite No. 4," Bella said, tucking the invitation away. "But she doesn't want to be disturbed…"

Ashley didn't wait to hear the rest. She was already moving, already inside the elevator, jabbing the button, her mind racing to piece together a plan that didn't exist yet.

The back panel was mirrored. She caught her own reflection and, for half a second, didn't recognize the woman looking back. She'd almost forgotten she used to look like that.

After the wedding, Jake had taken her health, her looks, her dignity, one inch at a time—locked her in a maid's room and fed her worse than a stray dog.

'If I break up with Jake, he'll find another way to steal my inheritance,' she mused. 'Scarlet might kill me anyway.'

'If I marry him, I'll be starved and tortured into sickness, made into a miserable housemaid. Scarlet might still kill me in the end. I'm damned if I do, damned if I don't. Which path do I take?'

Ashley sighed. In her past life, her looks and her money had spoiled her rotten—blinding her completely to the danger sitting across the dinner table and signing her wedding certificate.

The Palmer fortune had wrapped her in cotton wool her whole life. It had also, she could admit now, made her an idiot.

'Have I changed?' she wondered. 'Is this strange chance to return to the past meant only to undo my death—or also to redeem my life?'

The old Ashley had been vain, overconfident, aimless—spoiled rotten by her father, her fiancé, her entire glittering social circle.

This new Ashley needed something more than survival. She needed a reason. Why had the universe handed her a second chance at all?

The elevator doors hissed open onto a corridor that seemed to stretch forever. Floor-to-ceiling aquariums—five thousand gallons each—lined both walls, dollar fish and angelfish drifting through the soft blue light like the whole hallway was underwater.

Ashley reached Suite No. 4 and pressed the bell, her heart hammering against her ribs.

Tessa threw open the door—petite, eighteen, and very much alive—and broke into a grin. "Ashley?" she chirped. "Whassup, sis? How'd you find me?"

Ashley's eyes welled up before she could stop them. She crossed the threshold and pulled Tessa into a hug so tight it startled them both.

"Hey! Let go! You'll crumple my dress!"

When Ashley finally released her, Tessa made a face. "You're a crazy lady! I'm calling the guards!" she joked.

As future in-laws, they'd been close as sisters from the very first introduction. Half of what Tessa knew about fashion, she'd learned at Ashley's elbow. Mentor and mentee. Best friends besides.

They'd shopped Gucci, Hermès, and Chanel together. Ashley had brought her to the salon she swore by. She'd even helped Tessa land the eye of her school crush, once upon a time.

"Ashley, is everything all right?" Tessa asked, concerned.

"Tess… it would be best if you came with me," Ashley said, her voice grave. "Let's get out of this hotel. Now."

Tessa furrowed her brow. "Come with you? Leave the hotel? Why? What's going on?"

Ashley's mind raced for a version of the truth that wouldn't sound insane. There wasn't one. It didn't matter anyway—Tessa's life was on the line, and whoever was coming for her wouldn't wait for a good explanation.

"Your life is in danger, Tess. We need to leave—now. There's no time."

Tessa took a step back, unsettled. "Danger? What are you talking about?"

"I'm not sure myself. But I had a vision of your death in this hotel room, and I came running to stop it."

Tessa broke into laughter. "A vision? Are you drunk, sis? Wait—is this a prank? Your wedding's tomorrow! You should be resting, not chasing visions."

Footsteps echoed down the corridor. A man stepped out of the service elevator, dressed in the Marigold's staff uniform—except nothing about him fit the part.

He was too broad, too scarred, his face carved into something far too grim for room service.

Ashley's whole body went cold. No hotel on earth hired a man built like that for housekeeping.

There was only one reason someone who looked like him would be walking this corridor, dressed like staff, heading straight for Suite No. 4.

He was here for Tessa.