He stopped in front of her. “You’re not welcome here. Leave, or I’ll have the police escort you from the property.”

“Go ahead, call them! Then I’ll tell them that you’re blackmailing me!” She shoved a large envelope toward him.

He glanced down at it. “What is this?”

“As if you didn’t know!”

Footsteps approached from behind him. Daniel glanced over his shoulder and noticed Tim and Holly hurry in his direction.

“So you got my package,” Tim said nonchalantly.

Audrey’s glare landed on Tim. “Who the fuck—”

“Oh, I forgot, we’ve never officially met. I’m Tim, Daniel’s best friend. And I look out for him and Sabrina.”

Next to him, Holly braced her hands at her hips. “We both do. And we don’t like people like you.”

“Daniel has nothing to do with this,” Tim claimed and gave Daniel a sideways look.

Daniel pointed to the envelope. “The stuff the PI found?”

Tim nodded. “All the gory details.” He grinned at Audrey. “Who would have thought that at the tender age of sixteen, our dear Audrey was screwing Kevin Boyd, who, if my calculations are correct, was twenty-seven at the time and already married to Linda.”

“I believe it’s called statutory rape,” Holly added. “Now wouldn’t that be a terrible thing if that got out in public and ruined Kevin’s life? I suppose your best friend Linda won’t take kindly to that revelation. Nor to her husband landing in prison. He’d be a registered sex-offender. What scandal!” She chuckled.

“Do you think this is funny?” Audrey snapped at Holly.

“Almost as funny as you feeding that ridiculous story about Sabrina being a call girl to the paper,” Holly retorted.

Audrey scowled and jabbed her index finger in Holly’s shoulder. “You bitch!”

Holly shrugged, smiling. “Call me what you must. But frankly, I don’t give a flying fuck about your opinion.” Then her smile vanished. “Now take your scrawny ass out of here! And if we ever hear a peep out of you again, a copy of these documents will go straight to the district attorney, and we’ll be taking Kevin Boyd down and drag you into the mud with him. See how you’ll like it then.”

Audrey’s facial expression changed. She knew she’d lost. With an angry huff, she turned and rushed into the dark.

Daniel turned to Holly and Tim, shaking his head at Tim. “I thought I told you that I didn’t need any revenge anymore. My best revenge is being happy with Sabrina.”

Tim grinned. “I know that. But I figured a little insurance policy for your happy future without any interference from Audrey ever again was in order. Though eventually she’ll figure out that the statute of limitations has already run out on the rape case, it won’t change anything about how Kevin’s wife or the community will react.”

Daniel gripped Tim’s shoulder and squeezed it, then hugged Holly. “Thank you, guys.”

“Hey, what’s going on?” Sabrina’s voice drifted to him as she approached.

Daniel released Holly and opened his arms to draw Sabrina against his body. “Holly and Tim just made sure that there will be no more bumps in the road.”

Sabrina chuckled and glanced at their two friends. “Why do I get the feeling that this has something to do with Audrey?”

“Because you’re a smart woman. I’ll tell you all about it later,” Daniel answered and kissed her.

28

Sabrina stood staring into the full length mirror, looking at her reflection, and could barely believe that she was the woman in the beautiful white bridal gown. She’d dreamed of this day for as long as she could remember, and now it had finally arrived.

“Oh, Sabrina, you look absolutely breathtaking.”

She turned to look at her mother. “Thank you.”

Holly and Raffaela walked in a moment later.

“Sabrina, dear, you are so beautiful.” Raffaela hugged her gingerly, careful not to crease her dress.

“Thank you.” Sabrina sniffed and drew a shaky breath.

“Don’t you dare cry,” Holly warned. “You’ll ruin your makeup and we don’t have time to fix it.”

Laughing, Sabrina said, “Don’t worry. I’ll save the tears for the ceremony.”

“Good,” Raffaela said. “I have something I’d like to give you.” She held out a rectangular black velvet box.

Sabrina opened it. Her eyes widened as she perceived the beautiful antique necklace with the brilliant emerald in its center. She looked up at Raffaela. “It’s beautiful.”