Chapter 6

Spencer came out just in time to catch the tail end of the argument. "Dayana, why are you picking on Natasha again? Seriously, do you have to keep rubbing salt in her wounds? This piece of junk isn't even worth much. From now on, it belongs to Natasha."

Dayana clenched her fists. As she and Spencer shoved each other, the ruby pendant slipped from her hand and shattered into pieces on the floor. Dayana dropped to her knees, her eyes went blank with shock.

Her mother's keepsake, the only thing that ever comforted her when she was hurting, was gone in an instant.

"There's a murderer running loose in Natasha's neighborhood, so she'll be staying with us for a while. This place is half mine, so I'm sure you don't mind, right?" Spencer said, sounding almost smug.

Dayana's mind was completely consumed by the shattered ruby; nothing else even registered to her.

Spencer had a last-minute business dinner, so after making sure Natasha was settled in, he left. The quiet night was broken by music. Natasha played it all night long, making it impossible for Dayana to get any sleep.

Dayana barely slept, and her tinnitus flared up again. When she was a kid, her parents were always fighting, so she'd turn on the lights and cover her ears. Over time, that habit left her with this problem.

She frantically searched for her hearing aids. Not being able to hear made her feel uneasy. Finally, she found them in a drawer and put them on right away.

"I'm going to help Natasha move her stuff. You're coming too. Natasha can't really carry much herself," Spencer said.

Dayana really didn't want to go, but Spencer happened to know a master in the restoration world, and he threatened to use that against her. She couldn't say no.

Instead of moving during the nice, sunny daytime, they just had to pick a night when the wind was howling and the whole place was pitch dark. With no streetlights at all, you couldn't even see your own hand. Everything felt downright spooky.

Spencer waited in the car while Dayana and Natasha hauled the boxes. Natasha practically sped ahead, not even bothering to look back, leaving Dayana struggling to keep up in the dark.

"Don't move!" a voice yelled from behind her.

But Dayana suddenly couldn't hear a thing. She had no clue what was going on behind her.

It wasn't until the cold tip of a knife pressed against her lower back that her mind started racing. She tried to figure out a way to negotiate, but with her hearing shot, she could only gamble on her next move.

Dayana tossed the box back, stomped hard on the attacker's foot, and bolted straight for Spencer's car while they were still howling in pain.

"Why are you so slow? And where's the stuff?" Spencer looked at her, clearly annoyed.

Dayana had to rely on lip-reading to figure out what he was saying.

"My hearing aids died, so I can't hear a word you're saying. I just ran into a killer. I nearly got myself killed," Dayana said, keeping her voice steady.

Spencer didn't push her any further. He just pulled her into the car and drove off.

Back at home, Dayana found a new pair of hearing aids and quickly put them on. Just then, she overheard Spencer muttering to himself as he looked at the dead ones in his hand.

"How could they be dead? I swear Natasha said she charged them yesterday," he muttered.

Dayana let out a cold, bitter laugh. 'So it was all a setup from the start. Natasha really wanted me dead,' she thought, her eyes narrowing.

"But no matter what, you can't just toss her stuff out like that. I heard her say those boxes were full of books her mom left behind. Who knows if we'll ever get them back?" Spencer said, his tone sharp with reproach.

'So Natasha's mom's things are precious, but mine are just worthless junk? I nearly got myself killed tonight, and Spencer's still hung up on her stuff,' Dayana thought, her heart burning with resentment.

Natasha pulled the classic villain-moves-first trick, telling Spencer she was just trying to write him a song to thank him for taking care of her, and that's why Dayana's condition flared up. She even put on a guilty act.

Dayana turned her head away, rolling her eyes. 'A finance major writing a song? Where's her musical talent supposed to come from? Might as well be burning paper for the dead. Who's she trying to fool? And Spencer actually fell for it,' she thought, her disbelief growing.

That night, Dayana was in her room, tending to her wounds. It wasn't until after her shower that she realized how bad her back was hurting.

She couldn't really see the damage, so she had to awkwardly use the mirror, dabbing at it little by little. Suddenly, Spencer barged in without knocking, holding a small bag of first aid stuff.

"I'm here to apologize for Natasha. Honestly, she just wanted to cheer me up. We grabbed this from the pharmacy downstairs. The doctor said it works wonders," Spencer said.

Spencer left right after. Dayana peeked inside the bag. Two giant bottles of rubbing alcohol. 'Is Spencer actually this dumb, or is he just messing with me? Pouring alcohol on a huge open wound? Is he trying to kill me with pain?' she thought, rolling her eyes.

With her departure coming up fast, Dayana started packing her stuff, getting everything ready to send out.

"You're shipping something overseas? Who's it for?" Spencer messaged her.

Dayana blinked in confusion. 'How did he even know?' She checked the app and realized the system had auto-logged in with Spencer's account, so he got the message instead of her.

Spencer was always such a diva. Back when they were close, Dayana used to handle all his travel plans, like booking flights, sorting out hotels, everything. But since things got awkward between them, she hadn't touched that app in forever. It had totally slipped her mind.

"Just sending some stuff to a friend," Dayana replied.

Spencer didn't reply, probably didn't think much of it. When Dayana got home that night, he immediately noticed all her award-winning pieces were gone from the display stand. The empty shelves made him feel like something was missing inside.

"Where did all the things from the display stand go? Did you put them away?" Spencer asked.

"Oh, I hired someone to clean the place out. It was all just useless stuff, just cluttering up the place, so I had it all thrown away," Dayana replied, sounding completely unfazed.