Ella’s mouth formed a little o of surprise. “They beat you?” she asked, her voice horrified, and more than that, enraged. “How dare they!”
My heart twisted in my chest, touched by her concern for me, for all of us. “We’re okay,” I assured her. “Really. But after we left, there was a fire at the Ball. Valentina thinks I set it to distract her while I made my getaway. That’s why they beat us; they thought we set fire to the Ball to escape my debt. But Ella,” I took her hands in mine and prayed that she would believe me. I didn’t think I could bear it if she doubted me. “I swear to you, I had nothing to do with it. I would never do anything like that, especially after Bernadette—” My voice broke. I felt the comforting weight of Saul’s hand on my shoulder. “I didn’t set that fire, but it’s my fault Bernadette died. We were high, we couldn’t get out. I tried—”
But Ella was shaking her head. “It’s not your fault,” she said adamantly. “None of it. Thank you for telling me—I can’t tell you how much it means to me that you trust me with that—but there’s something I have to tell you now.”
The seven of us listened, wide-eyed and amazed, as Ella told us what she had learned.
“I went back to the Ball,” she said. “I wanted to find you, to tell you . . . Well, never mind. You know how I feel. But when I got there, the fire had already started.” Tears gathered in her eyes at the memory. “I was so scared. I thought that maybe you all were inside. But then I found Valentina, and she told me that you had left already. I can’t tell you how relieved I was.”
My heart clenched. She had come back for us? All that time I had spent looking for her, and it turned out she was out there, looking for me.
Ella continued. “I needed money for a bus ticket; my band had left already, and they’d taken my purse and my phone with them.”
“Bitches,” Chris murmured, encapsulating my thoughts as well.
“Valentina offered to let me stay with her, and she would give me money for my ticket if I would help her clean up the Ball a little.” Ella’s voice grew quiet. “I overheard her while I was cleaning. She was telling someone that she had sent people out to look for you, that because of your debt, it would be easy to convince the authorities that you had set the fire.” Ella’s eyes met mine. “She set the fire herself, Grant. For the insurance money. It wasn’t your fault, Grant, any of it. It was Valentina. All Valentina.”
A stunned silence descended on the group. Valentina? Valentina had set fire to her own club, her livelihood? The place that meant so much to so many people?
Bernadette. Suddenly, I felt sick. Faulty pyrotechnics, the official investigation had concluded. A tragic accident. Now I wasn’t so sure. If Valentina was capable of this, who’s to say she hadn’t done it before?
Saul was the first to break the silence. “You’re sure?” he asked. Ella nodded.
“Absolutely sure,” she said. “I know what I heard.”
Saul’s eyes met mine, and I knew he was thinking exactly what I was: Valentina may well have murdered Bernadette.
“Well, this changes things, doesn’t it,” Howie said wryly. The others glanced around at each other.
“What do we do now?” Jason asked finally.
“We’re not going to do anything,” I said. “I’m going to kill her.”
“Grant—” Saul began, at the same time Ella cried, “No!”
To my horror, her eyes filled with tears. “Don’t do anything stupid,” she begged. “Promise me.”
Looking down into her teary face, my heart did a little flop, and I relented. “I promise,” I said. “But we have to do something.”
Chris nodded in agreement. “She can’t get away with it,” he said. “Especially after she sent her goons after us to beat us up.”
“So that’s it,” Darren said. “We’ll all head back to DC, and we’ll expose her as the criminal she is.” He looked at Ella. “You may need to testify to what you heard. Do you think you can do that?” Eyes wide, Ella nodded. I felt my heart swell with pride for her, but still I was adamant.
“No,” I said. “I’ll go. You all stay here, with Ella.” Valentina was dangerous; I wasn’t about to let her near anyone else I loved.
Saul rolled his eyes. “God damn it, Grant. I thought we were past this,” he said.
“What are you talking about?”
“I thought you were through pushing us away, not letting anyone close enough to help you.” The others nodded in agreement, even Ella.
“This is different,” I argued. “This is dangerous.”
“And we’re all adults, and can determine for ourselves what we’re willing to do,” Lester said. “None of us are letting you go into this alone.”