"Screw your cousin!" Briana Leigh blurted, her expression incredulous. "All she wanted out of you was free day care. Skip the bitch and come stay with me. Seriously. I have this tremendous house all to myself and I am so bored."
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"Really? You live alone?" Ariana asked, even though she knew this already.
"Well, there's my grandmother. But she lives in the guesthouse, so I'm practically alone," Briana Leigh said, swinging her legs over the side of her chair. "Come on! We will have so much fun!"
Ariana bit her lip, pretending to agonize over the decision--pretending that she hadn't been looking forward to this exact moment for months on end. It was all she could do to keep from grinning. Part one of her plan had gone perfectly, but it was just the beginning. She couldn't get ahead of herself.
"Well, if you insist," she said finally.
"I absolutely insist," Briana Leigh said with a nod. Then her whole face lit up with the first genuine smile Ariana had seen since they had met. "I'm so glad I bumped into you! This is going to be so much fun. I haven't had a friend stay over since..." Briana Leigh paused and put her hand over her mouth, swallowing with some effort. As if some bile had just risen up in her throat and needed to be put back in its place. "Well, it's been a long time," she finished quickly.
Ariana narrowed her eyes as Briana Leigh sat back again. She had been about to mention Kaitlynn. Ariana was sure of it. What had stopped her? For a moment the girl looked genuinely upset, but then she downed the rest of her drink and the indifferent expression returned.
"Your lunches, ladies."
The waiter placed two heaping plates of sandwiches down on the table and Ariana's mouth watered. She thanked the waiter and forced
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herself to count to ten Mississippis before she reached for her club sandwich. She took a slightly larger than polite-size bite and tried not to groan in ecstasy as she chewed.
Food. Real food. For as long as she lived, Ariana would never take it for granted again.
"I can't believe you eat roast beef," Briana Leigh said, biting into her own grilled chicken wrap. "I thought you were all about self-control."
"Well, I'll admit I haven't had it in a long time," Ariana mused.
"So why start now? Aren't you worried about regaining the weight?" Briana Leigh asked.
Ariana smiled. "Not at all," she said. "Roast beef has always been good to me."
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SLUMMING
Saturday morning Ariana sat in the backseat of the black town car Briana Leigh had sent for her and stared at the thick trees outside the window. The driver had turned off the main road and onto Briana Leigh's driveway at least ten minutes ago. Ten minutes of winding drive through a forest of evergreens. The private road had to be at least a couple of miles long. Briana Leigh owned a lot of property."Are you a friend of the family, miss?" the middle-aged driver asked, glancing in the rearview mirror.
"A new friend," Ariana replied.
She wondered if he was the type of servant who would tip Briana Leigh off to the fact that he had picked Ariana up on the side of the road, rather than at the door of the huge under-construction ranch home she'd been standing in front of. She had found the house the day before, after she parted ways with Briana Leigh, knowing she would need to look authentic. At the end of the day at the country club, she
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had told Briana Leigh that she should at least go back to her cousin's to thank her and say good-bye to the kids--all so that she wouldn't look too eager. She didn't want to go straight home with the girl, lest she start suspecting that Ariana had planned to take advantage of her all along. Living above Briana Leigh's suspicion was key.
Ariana shuddered just thinking about the motel she'd stayed in--the motel she'd stiffed on the bill. She was sick and tired of slinking around, stealing, dodging checks. It was so distasteful. She was an Osgood, for goodness' sake. She shouldn't have to slum around like some kind of homeless person.
The car eased its way around one last curve and Briana Leigh's home came into view. Ariana nearly gasped in delight. Clearly, her slumming days were over. The modern ranch home sprawled out in front of her like a presidential compound, with huge plate-glass windows and slanted rooftops jutting toward the sky. There were three outer buildings and a stable surrounded by a huge paddock where a ranch hand was tending to half a dozen horses. Off to the right Ariana spotted two tennis courts and a huge swimming pool. To the left of the house, the property stretched out toward the horizon--fields full of wildflowers and stately trees.
In all Ariana's travels she had never seen such a beautiful private home. Not even Noe
lle's Upper East Side mansion compared. It looked more like a resort than a house. Briana Leigh clearly had money to burn. For the second time that day Ariana found herself salivating. Somewhere inside this ridiculously huge home was the information she needed to get her hands on Briana Leigh's millions.
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Somewhere inside this house was the answer to all of her prayers. To her freedom.