bad idea

Chapter 42

Third Person's Pov

Ariana returned to her fiancé later that night, seducing him into losing any suspicions he had about her going out. Once he was finally asleep, Ariana snuck her way through her house, looking for something— anything, that could potentially be useful to Kai, against her soon-to-be husband.

Ariana was well aware Otto was smart about every move he made. There was no way he'd just leave something like that in his pants pocket or something, she'd have to be smarter. He had to have some kind of burner phone or something.

She almost gave up after she heard footsteps making their way downstairs, but she remembered that Otto always got up to use the bathroom before returning to bed. It was dark and he was half asleep, so he would never notice his wife was out of bed unless he rolled over, and even then it was still a rare chance he wouldn't realize.

As soon as he turned the corner, coming down the third flight of stairs, Ariana carefully rushed up to the stairs leading to her bedroom. There would be nothing inside of his nightstand, but she noticed a card sticking out under his side of the bed, peering through their sheets. She grabbed it carefully, slipping it into her sock, and quickly sliding into bed, moments before Otto returned to the room.

Otto wrapped his arm around her, trapping her so she couldn't get up. Luckily, she spotted his phone on the sheets between them. It was still worth checking right?

Carefully but smoothly, she slipped out of his arms, whispering she needed to go to the bathroom like she always did. There, Otto wouldn't raise any suspicion or feel the need to go see where his wife was.

She grabbed the phone, rushing to the garage since if her fiancé did get up, it would be the last place he'd find her.

Scrolling through the phone, everything seemed normal, except one group chat and his conversation with someone named P.

The group chat included both Frankie and Ryder, and one conversation caught her eye particularly.

Frankie: I did what you asked years ago, this time should be no different

Ryder: She's back in town now though, we have to be careful or she might fall into the wrong arms

Otto: Not if she's dead. You both just need to handle it like I asked and everything will go to plan

Ryder: If anyone finds out anything, we're done. Everything we worked for

Otto: Which is why you won't fail

Otto: If anyone finds out, don't hesitate to get rid of them

Frankie: We should just let this go, you're throwing anyway your relationship with Ariana

Otto: She won't find out

Otto: Besides, you threw that away when you started dating Max's brother and helped her get kidnapped. You were lucky we didn't kill you for helping them find her

Ryder: We'll do what you need. Just watch yourself.

Now to figure out who P. was.

P: You still haven't sent the money, what's taking so long?

Otto: I know I'm trying

P: Your wife is pretty

Otto: I did everything you told me to, leave her out of it

P: Ariana or Camila?

Lauren knew she shouldn't be where she was, but she had no choice, no one else listened to her. Lauren couldn't let this happen.

"I thought they always told you not to make deals with a Bieber," Justin smirked, eyeing the green-eyed woman.

She shrugged, displaying her infamous poker face. "Last resort,"

"What can I do for you?"

"How do you feel about the Grande's?"

Justin only smiled bigger, leaning forward on the table. He was interested. "They're okay, but if you're talking Ariana... what do you need?"

Before the Cuban could say anything, Justin shot up as if he'd just figured something out. "Y—you with the Greys! You fucking want Kai, don't you?"

"How would you know that?"

This time, he shrugged. "People say things, besides, you aren't the first who came to me about her."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Stay on topic." He chuckled. "Ariana and Kai must be close again, you don't want that, so you're coming to me because you know I want Ariana. I have a wife, Lauren."

"When has that ever stopped you?"

In a lot of ways, the two were alike.

"I like you, Lauren." He smiled, walking over to the girl. "I happen to be on good terms with both the Grey's and the Grande's, this should be easy. So what's the situation?" Lauren sent him a weird look. "The least you can do is tell me... you came to me for help."

"It's not like I need you, I just wanted to do you a favor." She said, "But I don't trust her, she's getting too close to Kai."

Justin thought for a second. "Remember Normani's party all those years ago?"

"Who doesn't?"

"I happen to know Ariana played a big part in that night."

Kai on the other hand was busy looking to her parents for guidance. Whenever something big was about to happen to her, she would always have the worst headaches. That's what happened this morning.

So the first trip she took was to the graveyard.

She was alone, Victoria was with Hazel, her niece so she didn't bother asking her to come. She would go see them next anyways.

She was worried about Ariana, what if she got caught? What would Otto do to her?

Everyone suspected she was the calmest of all, but no, she was scared as fuck. She knew she couldn't lose her shit now, that would be the worst time of all. She was alone, regardless of Victoria, Zayn, Lauren, or even Ariana being there.

Life had programmed her to think she would always be alone, everyone would always leave. Ariana solidified that years ago.

Kai figured her parents would be telling her to persevere through everything going on, but no. They were screaming through their graves, she needed to be careful before she ended up like them. She out of all people should know good endings are rare, and from what they could see, if she didn't move correctly, she would be next to them. Not just her, everyone around her as well, all because of her.

Everyone always compared her to her father, and they were right, she was just like him. But certain things she got from her mother, like her heart disease. Well, the results hadn't come back yet but this was something her parents always feared.

Kai told no one though, she didn't need everyone making decisions based on what was better for her condition, she needed them to still see her the same. If only Matt knew why Kai was so adamant about stopping this whole mafia thing, he would give it all up in a heartbeat. Willow and Matt couldn't watch Hazel's death unfold in front of them again. Kai always hoped that if this was the way she'd die, Ariana wouldn't do what her Dad did. She missed him every day, she loved her Mom, yes, but he died for no reason.