Guilty

Juliette

"Ivy, hi," I say, walking over to one of the few females I know at the wedding. Zane and I told everyone the wedding wasn't going forward but they were welcome to stay and eat the food. Half of the people left but some people have stayed, mostly because they probably half expect Emery to come back. 

She's long gone, talk about a literal getaway car. I don't know where she'll go or what she's going to do now. I guess I should have paid more attention to her when she said she was anxious and worried about the wedding. 

Ivy turns around to look at me, she smiles as she hugs me with her free hand. The other holds a glass of champagne. I also should probably be turning to alcohol to deal with all of this. 

"Hi Juliette, sucks about the wedding. The bride looked so beautiful," She says mournfully. I nod with her, trying not to think about Emery or Josh. Whose location was also currently unknown. 

"Yeah I know, tragic for the both of them, I really didn't see it coming," I tell her, with a sad smile. Nikolai walks over to the two of us, holding a small white box with a slice of cake inside. 

"I did see it coming, and I am now a thousand dollars richer," He says, patting his trouser pocket which looks stuffed with, what I now know is money. I stare at him blankly, slightly taken aback by his bluntness and Ivy rolls her eyes. 

"That isn't something to be proud of Nikolai, don't go around announcing that," Ivy tells him sternly, Nikolai glances at her and the air of violence and danger around him disappears briefly. 

"Sure you aren't bitter you didn't join in on the bet?" He asks her. 

Ivy gives him a withering look, though he remains unaffected, "Bitter that I bought this dress for what I was told was a wedding when you didn't even believe it was going to happen." 

"Sorry, do you two know each other?" I ask, confused. 

"Everyone in New York knows each other in one way or another," Ivy tells me, offering a small smile. 

Nikolai purses his lips, clearly holding back commentary as he hands Ivy the white box without saying a word. She accepts it and scans around her briefly before Nikolai also hands her a silver fork. Watching the two of them interact was interesting, the tension between them was almost uncomfortable to watch and yet I couldn't quite look away. 

"I'm going to find Zane now," I say to the two of them. Ivy nods, smiling at me as Nikolai just fixes me with a stare.

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"Juliette you're from London, you should be on my side," Zane says, exasperated as he takes a sip of his wine. 

I laugh at him as I shake my head, "It's New York, Zane, it's the better place come on now." 

"Work at my firm and then your opinion will change, trust that," He says, and I throw one of my breadsticks at him. This is our second date and he's taking me out to a rooftop dinner that I'd wanted to go to since I first moved to New York.

The waiting list is about a decade long so I had no idea how he managed to get us in but I wasn't willing to ruin the mystery and ask. Besides, there was always a small chance with Zane his methods weren't orthodox. 

Our first date was my idea, an escape room to build trust and I made it horror-themed for pure enjoyment. Except, when you put two highly competitive and intelligent people in a room with no way out they become the scariest thing inside said room. We got out half an hour later and I may or may not have thrown some fake blood at Zane in a justified fit of rage.