In Love, Never Say Never (Ashton Fuller and Scarlett Stovall) novel Chapter 1028

Hannah rolled her eyes dramatically, then wailed, “You’re not serious, are you? My wedding’s happening in a couple of days! What if I can’t fit into my dress? I can’t possibly ask his mother to alter it on the spot, can I? The dress was custom-made and embroidered by hand! It cost an absolute fortune! I’m on the verge of moving out. I have to lose weight, or there’ll definitely be a problem.”

Hannah’s noisy complaining could not hide the traces of a smile hovering over her lips. I grinned at that. If a little weight gain was all that Hannah had to worry about for the rest of her marriage, she’d have many blissful years ahead of her.

Hannah’s endless rambling was finally put to a stop by an incoming call from Chandler. She answered the phone only to redirect her flood of words into the mouthpiece. On the other end, Chandler just absorbed everything patiently.

I suddenly found myself very much an outsider in this romantic display of affection. I surveyed around the cafe casually. Abruptly, a familiar face popped up within the field of my vision. I froze.

I was slightly myopic, so I couldn’t be certain that the figure was indeed who I’d taken it to be. I squinted as hard as I could in that direction, but to no avail. I thus reached out and tugged on Hannah’s sleeve, gesturing subtly in that direction.

Hannah paused and looked over. She was similarly taken aback. Hannah quickly mumbled into the phone, “Chandler, I just saw someone I know. I’m hanging up!”

After she’d ended the call, Hannah hauled me out of the cafe. When we’d gotten outside, she immediately shrieked, “That woman was Rebecca, wasn’t she?”

I wavered, unable to say for sure.

We didn’t approach her, however, but merely continued observing from a distance.

K City was a bustling, modern city. Life here was fast-paced, and it was common to see people dashing from place to place. Nobody paid any heed to the sight of a woman pulling on a man and shamelessly begging him for money.

Hannah glanced at her watch, then looked at me with a horrified expression. “It’s only seven in the evening! It’s not even midnight yet. Is she doing what I think she’s doing?”

I bit my lip and continued gazing in Rebecca’s direction. She had on a thick layer of makeup and wore a revealing dress that exposed various areas of her body with utter disregard for the winter cold. She looked as indecent as she was legally permitted to be.

Rebecca had a gorgeous face and a lovely figure. It was usually sufficient for attracting stares anywhere she went. If the scene unfolding before our eyes had played out anywhere else, I would never have given it a second thought.

Where we were presently standing was K City’s most notorious red-light district. Vice oozed out of every pore of her. Rebecca’s scantily-clad self, placed against this surrounding, made our suspicions perfectly reasonable.

Hannah dragged me closer to take a better look. We could hear the sound of Rebecca’s cries now, clear as a bell. “Mr. Tuffin, you promised that as long as I agreed, you’d give me the money! Now that I’ve done it, how can you go back on your word? You can’t do that!”

The incident at the Imperial Hotel had left me with a lingering uneasiness. I hesitated, then shook my head. “I don’t really want to. It’s too chaotic over there and isn’t safe.”

Hannah was insistent, however. She pouted, then wheedled, “It’s not. I’m going in with you. Don’t worry. As long as we don’t cause any trouble, nothing will happen to us. Don’t worry!”

Without waiting for my consent, Hannah dragged me across. Upon entry, the dance floor rose to meet us, packed with teenagers wearing the barest slips of clothing. The DJ’s hollers were deafening over the speakers, and the drunk partygoers gyrated to the pulsing music without a care in the world.

Hannah burst out, “What’s wrong with all of these people? Have they gone insane?”

She tightened her grip on my arm as we move through the crowd, searching for Rebecca. But, she seemed to have vanished off the face of the earth. Hannah puzzled, “Why isn’t Rebecca on the dance floor?”

I pondered this, then realized, “She’s in terrible need of money, isn’t she? She should be hard at work right now.”

Hannah smacked her forehead exaggeratedly. “That’s right! Why didn’t I think of it?”