Elena's POV
I watched from across the street, shaking my head as the cold metal of my coffee cup dug into my palm. The window of the flickering light cast a shadow on the shape of Hailey by the door.
She was so familiar and yet so different. I could tell from her slightly hunched shoulders that someone had laid an unbearable burden on them and she was just trying to find her balance again.
I had never liked Vickson. Not from the first day I met him. There was something in his charm, in his smile that never quite reached his eyes, that made my skin crawl.
If I were honest, though, he was a very good pretender. Impressive how effortlessly he had slipped back into Hailey's life and how precisely he had woven those words; almost admirable.
But it did not deceive me. I had been observing him. Observing both of them. For many months now.
This—this little game they were playing, acting as though the past was some forgotten chapter—it wouldn't hold. Not with Vickson around.
He wasn't the type to change. Ever. For anyone. He had already broken Hailey once, and he would do it again.
And as for me, I had my reasons for making sure Hailey kept her guard up around him.
I sipped my coffee but kept my eyes on the house. The kitchen light had gone out. Hailey must've gone to bed. Vickson, though... I knew exactly where he was.
My phone buzzed inside my pocket. Almost irritated by the interruption, I pulled it out. On the screen, a name appeared so I quickly answered the call.
"Did you do it?" Ava's voice was tight, woven with something sinister. She never called unless it was something important, and I knew she was as eager as I was to keep Hailey from getting too close to Vickson again.
"Not yet," I said softly, trying to steady my voice. "But I'm close. One more push I need. She is still on the fence."
Ava's laughter on the other end was sharp, almost too amused.
"You've always been just so good at getting inside people's heads Elena. You're gonna be great at this. She trusts you. More than she trusts anyone else"
That made me wince with some discomforting emotion. Trust. Trust from Hailey had always been fragile, but now it was impossible to hold on to. She knew exactly what I could do, and yet she wanted me close anyway. Naivety on her part or desperation I couldn't decide.
"I'll take care of it" I said, pushing my voice back to the cold detachment I was used to. "You'll get what you want. Hailey will never let Vickson back in. Not if I can help it"
Ava's tone also softened and I could almost hear the smile in her words. "I know far too well Elena. I've always known you will.
Just bear in mind that we do this for her- for Hailey. She needs us.
I almost scoffed, but managed to hold it in. Ava and I both knew that wasn't entirely true. This was about control. It always has been.
I ended the call without another word, my mind already calculating the next steps.
The following day, Hailey's POV
The sun had not yet fully risen when I heard a soft knocking at the door. I tightened the robe around me as my heart raced to reach downstairs. It had been a restless night with too many thoughts running over Vickson, about everything we had spoken and so much that we hadn't. I could not sleep at all and needed some space to think.
Yet all of a sudden there was a knock. A knock I did not expect though somehow deep inside me I knew it was coming.
I opened the door and my heart skipped a beat when I saw her standing there.
I murmured Elena, trying to hide the shock in my voice.
She smiled with her lips but not with her eyes. That kind of smile belonged to a person who meant business. "Can I come in? We need to talk."
I stepped aside, almost unable to control my nerves as she slipped past me. I closed the door quietly behind her but my head was already racing.
"How are you doing?" she inquired as she seated herself on the sofa looking straight at him "I've been thinking about you and all the stuff that Vickson is going through"
I froze not knowing where this conversation was going to go. Elena and I hadn't talked like that in a long time. Not since before... everything.
"It's alright" I responded apparently without a care in the world although his voice felt more like it was shaking him. "I've just... been doing some thinking."
Her smile faltered for a moment. "You mean him, don't you?" Elena leaned closer to me and her eyes sparkling with an emotion I couldn't identify. "You do know he's just using you right?"
I blinked, her words hitting harder than I expected. "What do you mean? Vickson's not using me"
"Oh, Hailey," she said quietly and shook her head. "He only just returned to you because he feels like he can suck you back in and rekindle the trust. His desire is to be in your life again but only because he feels desperate.
He knows you are the only thing that has ever been real to him and he will do whatever it takes to win it back. But you...you are just a pawn in his game."
The wall of anger and disbelief hit me suddenly. "You don't know that. You don't know even a bit of what is happening between us."
"I know him," Elena said, her voice low, almost too soothing. "I've watched him for years, Hailey. He doesn't change. He can't change. And you don't have to be another person he uses to fill the holes in his life."
My heart pounded painfully in my chest as her words started to seep in, curling around the edges of my thoughts. I wanted to believe it so badly. I couldn't.