Chapter 59 Mia

• After a lot of back and forth, Tracy eventually dragged me back to the dance floor—this time for the so-called surprise. The draw began soon after, and Tracy, who was standing next to me, nervously clutched Hannah’s hand, hoping she’d be picked. She had her name on Nathan’s bang list, but the man wasn’t even there. Still, Tracy looked flustered, like being chosen would somehow make all the difference. Hannah, on the other hand, remarked that she’d rather have Tracy or her brother’s companion for the night than some other “slizzy girl,” and I couldn’t help but respect her for speaking her mind like that. It was clear she spoke from experience.
• Josh, standing to my left, seemed to be in his own world. Every so often, he’d fidget, but aside from that, he had the air of an older brother who’d been dragged to a concert by his little sisters. He didn’t want to be there but was attending out of some sense of responsibility to protect them. Meanwhile, I wasn’t bothered at all. My name had been scratched off that list, so I was only there for the so-called “surprise.” Once that was over, I planned to slip away.
• I had already figured out my exit strategy. It wasn’t the cleanest plan, but it was the best one I could come up with. After the countdown, once the chaos erupted, I’d slip out of the party and follow Derek and his lucky winner. I wasn’t a peeping Tom, but in this case, following them would give me the opportunity to see where they went. I might or might not witness them in the act, but that didn’t matter. What mattered was that it would be the perfect moment to plant a tracker on Derek, which would let me find out what his family was involved in outside of running a production company. If I could uncover their illegal activities, I was certain I’d find the scumbags they employed—and among them, my killers.