My (Not-So) Best Friend

My best friend, a fake heiress who'd married into old money, ruined my life.

No matter how ridiculous and unreasonable she behaved, she always said she did it for me.

In the end, her husband had me sent to state prison.

Then, I was murdered there by her lover, and the truth died with me.

When I opened my eyes again, I was back to the day her husband first confronted me about her whereabouts.

Every time Summer Sutton met her lover to plan their schemes, she told her husband she was out shopping with me.

Now, her husband, Ben Knight, had just texted me, demanding to know when I'd let his wife come home.

I stared at the message, frowned, and deleted the conversation entirely.

I'd just smoothed a sheet mask over my face when my phone rang, loud and sudden.

I fumbled to hit the answer button before I even registered the caller ID.

Ben's voice came through the line, thick with barely contained rage.

"Maya, when exactly do you plan to let my wife come home?"

He added furiously, "Our son has cried for her three times already. Do you not understand she's a mother? How selfish can you be? It was bad enough before, but she's even more out of control now.

"Get this through your head: I'm her husband. You're running up my credit cards, driving my cars, and every time, you make her block my number. What is wrong with you? I've put up with you for long enough. Don't you think you're overstaying your welcome in our lives?"

His words got sharper with every sentence.

His patience was clearly gone.

But my rage burned hotter than his.

In my past life, I'd ended up in prison because of his precious wife.

Because we'd grown up in the same small town and I was her only friend, I'd become the perfect scapegoat for every terrible thing she'd done.

Back then, I'd had no idea what she was really up to.

After she married Ben, we'd barely spoken.

But every time Ben called, furious and confused, I'd covered for her like an idiot.

Once, he'd called at 2 a.m., screaming into the phone while I was half-asleep.

"What the hell are you two doing this late? Getting your hair done for this long?"

I'd almost slipped up, but a text from Summer popped up on my screen at the last second:

[Tell him we're at the salon and we got a bestie massage package after. I sent him the photos already! Thanks, babe <3]

After that, I became the villain in Ben's eyes, the woman ruining his perfect marriage.

He'd sent me a scathing warning the next morning, and I'd slowly pulled away from Summer after that.

But it hadn't been enough.

She'd still thrown me to the wolves in the end.

Ben had hated me for years.

Sending me to prison had felt like ridding the world of a pest to him.

But not this time.

I'd never be her stepping stone again.

When I didn't answer, he lost his temper entirely.

"Is Summer with you? Put her on the phone. Our son misses his mom."

I raised an eyebrow, a sneer tugging at my lips.

I held the phone away from my mouth and called out into the empty room.

"Summer? Summer? Your husband's on the phone for you!"

No one answered, of course.

I pulled the phone back to my ear, feigning apology.

"Sorry, Mr. Knight. Summer's getting her hair washed, the water's too loud for her to hear. It's the same salon we went to last time, remember? She'll call you the second she's done!"

My voice turned icy as I spoke, and I hung up hard.

Five minutes later, I'd just peeled the mask off my face when furious banging shook my front door.

I wrenched it open, and the force of the blow on the other side nearly sent me sprawling onto the floor.

Ben stood on my doorstep, flanked by a team of bodyguards.

He'd tracked me to my apartment.

The bodyguards pinned me to the wall before I could react.

I could only watch as Ben stormed through my tiny apartment, tearing it apart in a rage.

He searched every corner, every closet, every cabinet.

There was no sign of Summer anywhere.

He finally turned back to me and stalked across the room.

"Where is she? Don't lie to me about shopping. I sat in the parking lot downstairs for half an hour. Your lights were on the whole time. You never left."

Looking at his unhinged, furious face, a cold rush of satisfaction flooded my veins.

As if Summer would ever tell me where she was.

I was nothing but a pre-planned scapegoat to her.

Ben had been poisoned against me by Summer's lies for years.

He'd never believe a word I said, no matter what.

When I stayed silent, he nodded at the bodyguards.

Their grip on my arms tightened until I could barely breathe.

He stepped forward, his fingers digging hard into my jaw, his gaze sharp as a blade.

"I'll give you one last chance. Where is Summer?"

I couldn't help but laugh, sharp and bitter.

"You know she's a mother. A grown woman with a mind of her own. How the hell am I supposed to control where she goes? Even her own mother couldn't keep her on a leash."

His grip on my jaw loosened for a split second.

Then his hand reared back, and he slapped me hard across the face.

The crack of the blow echoed through the small room.

Rage burned in my veins, my vision turning red.

But the more frantic he got, the more ridiculous I found him.

He bent down, snatched my phone off the floor where it had fallen, and pressed my thumb to the lock screen to unlock it.

He tapped the phone against my cheek, slow and threatening, with every word.

"You think staying quiet will protect you? I can ruin you.

"I got you that job at the marketing firm. I can make sure you're blacklisted from every agency in the state.

"What do you think your boss will do when he finds out every campaign you've ever written is plagiarized?"

He stared at me with murder in his eyes, his thumb hovering over my boss' contact. The threat was clear.

I kept my mouth shut.

His anger exploded.

He hit the call button, then paused, and switched it to a video call instead.

The line connected.

My boss was still at the office, working late.

He frowned at the screen, then his eyes went wide when he recognized Ben.

"M-Mr. Knight? What can I do for you?"

Ben's voice was ice cold.

"It's me. Do you know this woman?"

He turned the phone to show my face to the camera.

My boss nodded quickly.

"I do, sir. Is there a problem?"

"Does your company tolerate employees who plagiarize their entire body of work from our firm? Do you have any idea where her so-called original campaigns came from?"

His gaze locked onto me, cold and threatening.

He mouthed the words "last chance".

I didn't make a sound.

My indifference pushed him over the edge.

So Ben roared into the phone.

"Every single one of Maya Bennett's campaigns is stolen from Knight Group. If you don't fire her today, my legal team will be in touch with you before the sun comes up.

"I've already got lawyers on standby. Looks like you're still at the office. They can be there in ten minutes."

He crossed his arms over his chest, leaving no room for argument.

That was all it took to wipe the look of defense off my boss' face.

He couldn't afford to cross Knight Group.

I laughed, cold and sharp.

"Mr. Knight. You're demanding my company fire me with zero proof. That's defamation. I can sue you for this."

Ben scoffed as if I'd told a joke.

"This is too much for you? I've got worse. Tell me where Summer is, and I'll call it off. One last chance. You stole ten million from me. Sold my car. And now you're hiding my wife. I've been too nice to you, Maya."

The bodyguards tightened their grip on me again until my lungs burned.

My boss confirmed he'd fire me immediately, and Ben hung up with a sneer.

He went back to scrolling through my contacts, his thumb moving fast.

I saw the dark look in his eye, and a prickle of warning ran down my spine.

"You're trespassing in my home. Aren't you worried I'll call the police?"

I said through gritted teeth.

He didn't look up.

He laughed, like the idea was absurd.

"Call the police? Want me to dial 911 for you? You kidnapped my wife, the mother of my child. Who do you think they'll arrest?

"The last text Summer sent me said she was spending the night with you."

His eyes lit up suddenly, like he'd found what he was looking for.

"Got it."

I watched, helpless, as he called my landlord.

A plan started to form in my head.

Ben told my landlord he was terminating my lease, right in front of me.

I opened my mouth to scream into the phone, but a bodyguard's hand clamped over my mouth, muffling every sound.

Tears burned my eyes from anger and frustration.

Ben was dumber than I'd thought.

If I'd really gotten a house from his wife's stolen money, why would I still be living in this tiny apartment?

He hung up the phone and turned back to me, fire in his eyes.

"Still not talking?"

The bodyguard let go of my mouth.

I smiled, cold and bitter.

"Why don't you ask your assistant? He probably knows exactly where she is."

Ben's gaze flickered, uncertainty flashing across his face for the first time.

He stared at me for a long, tense moment, then pulled out his phone and called his assistant, Liam Ford.

The second the line connected, the breathy sounds in the background cut off abruptly.

"What's up, Mr. Knight?"

Liam's voice was casual as if nothing was amiss.

"Track Summer's location. Now. I need to find her; it's urgent."

There was a long pause on the other end.

Then Liam spoke, his voice carefully apologetic.

"Every time I drive Mrs. Knight and her friend shopping, she yanks her away the second they get out of the car. Won't even let me get a word in. I tried to ask once, and she screamed at me to mind my own business. I don't know where she is, sir. I'm sorry."

Ben's face darkened with every word.

I almost laughed out loud.

Summer's lover really was a master at shifting the blame.

Just like her.

Ben hung up the phone, about to speak, when his phone rang again.

It was the nanny from his house.

She told him the baby wouldn't stop crying.

He was screaming for his mom, and nothing would calm him down.

Ben's jaw tightened until I thought the muscle would snap.

He lost the last of his patience.

He hung up and nodded at the bodyguards.

"Put her in the car. We're driving to every salon on the Buckhead strip. We'll find her, one way or another."

When we pulled up to the luxury beauty district, he grabbed the collar of my shirt and threw me to the ground outside the first salon.

The bodyguards formed a circle around us. Within minutes, a crowd had gathered, phones out, filming.

They heard Ben yell that his wife had been kidnapped by her best friend, and the crowd erupted into whispers.

People shouted about toxic best friends, about women who lured married women away from their families, and girls who befriended rich women just to steal from them.

They stared at me, in my cheap, plain clothes, and called me a monster.

Ben's face was black with rage.

He dragged me into the first salon by my hair.

The owner said they'd never seen me before.

Never seen Summer, either.

This was the same salon Summer had used as an excuse dozens of times.

Ben's grip on my hair tightened until my scalp burned.

He wrenched my head back, forcing me to look up at him.

"You've been playing me this whole time, haven't you, Maya?"

He stormed back out onto the street and snapped at the bodyguards.

"Call the police. And call the press. We're going to make sure everyone in this city knows what she's done."

My eyes flashed.

I finally spoke.

"Call the press? Why not? Nail me to the cross for everyone to see. That's what you want, right?"

He narrowed his eyes at the bodyguards.

"You heard her. Give her what she wants."

A slow, triumphant smile spread across my face.

Let him make a scene.

Let the whole world know.

I was going to make sure Summer never crawled her way out of this.

The bodyguards dragged me up and down the street, into every salon.

Every single owner said the same thing: they'd never seen me before.

This part of town was way out of my budget.

I'd never set foot in any of these places.

When we circled back to the car, Ben was on a video call with his son.

The bodyguards told him we'd found nothing.

He nearly crushed his phone in his hand.

He said goodbye to his son, hung up, and threw the phone straight at my head.

The thousand-dollar phone bounced off my forehead.

A lump swelled up instantly, throbbing.

The crowd grew bigger.

They'd heard the baby crying for his mom on the call, and their stares turned even more hostile.

They started calling me a heartless homewrecker.

Then the police showed up, and the press was right behind them.

And behind them, three more people stepped out of a black SUV.

My blood ran cold when I saw who it was.

Ben had flown my parents in from our small town.

They'd heard the lies about me kidnapping Summer, and they were frantic with shame and rage.

The bodyguards let go of me on Ben's signal.

My parents ran straight for me.

I thought of the look of utter disappointment on my mom's face when I'd been sent to prison in my past life.

Tears burned my eyes.

I reached out to hug her, but she slapped me hard across the face.

I held my stinging cheek, staring at her in disbelief.

Her eyes were red with rage and disappointment.

"I thought you were working hard, making a life for yourself in the city. What have you done?"

She swayed on her feet, about to collapse.

I reached out to steady her, and she slapped my hand away.

"Mom!"

I cried out, shocked.

My dad caught her and turned on me, roaring with anger.

"Shut up! You're not our daughter. You'll even sell US to the highest bidder before we know it!"