This Heart of Mine

Ch. 28: Ice Queen Gone Missing

Why the hell was Cassandra here? She was supposed to be in college, goofing around with friends and maintain a perfect GPA.

Naina thought about the summer months and assumed that the kid might be taking an actual break.

Ollie had a kid from a previous marriage. Gigi knew about Cassie and had met her partner's daughter multiple times. Heck, even Naina knew the kid who was a bubbly, kind person.

Which made this entire thing confusing.

So, was Ollie involved in this?

You're the only one with access to the files.

Gigi and Ollie also had access to the system that was used to create the events. They had the master password. Could Ollie or Gigi had gotten access to change it?

But that didn't explain why they'd done it.

Had they just wanted to get rid of her that badly? Her heart sank like a popped floatie in a pool. Instead of worrying herself sick, she took out the DVD, shut off her computer and went to bed.

Did the system track who logged in and from where? She hadn't thought into that as much as she should've. Maybe she could ask Dexter to look into it.

Until then...she'd have to bide her time.

Work, it seemed, was easier to get into that she'd thought. They hired a veterinary technician a few weeks in, to assist the Doctor in handling procedures. Naina was now the designated person to pick up the animals from the airport and transport them to the clinic. She also handled cleaning and was the face of the clinic when they asked for support from various charities.

Cassandra finally responded to Naina's text to meet up one day. They arranged it at a restaurant in the next town over, closer to Cassie's university. The last thing Naina wanted was running into Gigi or Ollie and have them know what was up.

The twenty-year-old's rainbow hair was now faded, slowly being replaced with bleached blonde. Still, she had a cheerful expression and gave Naina a hug. "Hey! It's been a while since I've seen you!"

Why's she being so nice?

Naina forced a laugh. "Well, been busy, you know! I just started at a new job—"

"Wait, seriously? I thought you were doing fine at Gigi's place?"

Naina forgot to take a bite of her sandwich and it awkwardly dangled in front of her. "No...I got fired."

Cassie, apparently, was so shocked she actually choked on a fry. It took several gulps of tea to get it down. "What?" she exclaimed. "Why would you get fired?"

"Well, at an event I was working, someone broke into the building, stole all of the goodie bags and let off a bunch of confetti cannons that decorated the entire room in neon colors. Plus, the food had been changed to everything the bride was allergic to. So naturally, they blamed the wedding planner and fired me."

Cassie froze. Like literally, it was as if she'd made eye contact with Medusa; her entire body went rigid and she stared at the tablecloth.

She knew. She knew Naina knew Cassie was involved.

"Naina—"

Naina cut her off. "I'm going to be straightforward with you. I've seen the security footage and I know you were at that event. All I want to know is why?"

Cassie's lip shook. Shakily, she took a breath and spoke. "Mom told me it was going to be a prank on Gigi. We gave her all the goodie bags right after doing that. Mom even paid us a little bit."