Chapter Seventeen Estera Roberts’ POV (Present Time: A Few Hours Before)

A gentle knock on my door sometime later made me get up to dress up. I stood in front of the vanity mirror in my bathroom, carefully noting how snugly the mask fit against my face and the smoky eyeshadow disguising my regular look. But the problem with the black mask and eyeshadow was that it made the color of my eyes quite prominent, somewhat making it seem striking. A frown wrinkled the skin in between my eyebrows and I thought to wear contact lenses, but another insistent knock made me sigh in resignation. I took off the mask and picked a long fur-trimmed coat on my way out of my room.
“Well, we are sure going to turn heads!” Ameera said, giving Ashley a fist bump, then made an explosive sound. I chuckled. Ashley's phone rang and she answered it immediately.
“We are on our way… okay,” she said and ended the call. “The ride is here… and Bobby said the host insisted on no phones,” she added.
“Wait, what?” Ameera exclaimed.
“But why?” I interjected.
“Privacy…” Ashley answered with a concerned frown.
“I don't know, girls, this sounds like a red flag,” Ameera said and started to fidget with her handbag.
“But what if we need a ride out of there or need to contact someone or there is an emergency…” I couldn’t help panicking. I mean rich people are weird!
“What do we do?” Ashley asked. “I can’t let you risk yourselves for me like this.” And as soon as the word left her mouth our phones chimed with notifications at the same time like some cunning, irresistible twist in a horror movie. Ashley was the first to check her message then she gasped and raised a shocked gaze at me then Ameera.
“Check your phones!” she said in a trembling voice and we did. I lowered my gaze to check mine and saw my account has been credited with a large sum of money.
“Holy shit!” I muttered.
“Well… we can’t back down now. If we don’t want to look like some scammers, then they might send some bad guys after us to silence us forever,” Ameera said. Ashley and I raised our faces to meet her gaze and then we burst out laughing.
“What?! It could totally happen!” she protested.
“In that case, they didn’t say anything about not carrying protection,” I said.
“Way ahead of you sister,” Ameera replied, patting the pocket of her leather suit.
“Okay… I’m going to quickly scribble something down for James, just in case…” Ashley said as we headed out of the apartment. James was the head of security in our apartment complex. He was a scary-looking man but with a heart of gold.
When we got to the front of the building and saw that Bobby had sent a limousine to get us, right in plain sight, I relaxed a little.
The mode of transportation didn’t surprise me considering how much was sitting comfy in my account now. Anna and Tamika were already inside waiting for us and a bottle of champagne was already opened and half empty.
They passed us each a cup as soon as we settled down and I almost grinned when Ameera and Ashley held back, watching as the two other girls gulped down their drinks. We are doctors and have heard horror stories about drugged drinks at parties like this, drinking just anything handed to us would be inexcusable.
“What? Are you not drinking?” Tamika asked, darting us all a curious gaze.
“Trying to stay sharp,” Ameera replied calmly.
“What she said,” I reaffirmed.
“You might change your mind later. It’s going to be a shame not to take what is generously offered especially at this kind of party,” Anna said, generously pouring more of the bubbling wine into her cup.
“Well, if you are not going to drink it—” she said and Ameera passed her cup to her, Ashley and I imitated the act. Tamika drank it all and dropped the cups on the tray racks.
“What happened to your third roommate?” I blurted out, unable to stand the suspense a moment longer.
“Oh, you mean Kate?”
“Yeah—” I replied, feeling Ameera and Ashley’s gaze on me.
“She moved to Maryland,” Tamika replied. “Why did you ask?”
“No reason… Just wondering—”
“Why did she move?” Ameera asked.
“Personal stuff…” Anna replied, avoiding my gaze as she drank from her cup. I stared back at the two unwavering and it was easy since they were both on the opposite seat to ours.
“I hope you all got your pay?” Anna asked, a question I was certain was meant to channel our query elsewhere.
“Yes, thanks!” Ashley said. “We will send your share in the morning,” she added. “We could have done it now but—”
“Why do you think we were asked to not bring our phones?” I asked, directing the question at Anna.
“It means there might be important people at the party that wouldn’t want anybody to accidentally post their picture on social media or God forbid a video,” she replied and giggled. Tamika joined in. It appeared the two were already tipsy.
“Which means the tips are going to be crazy! Woohoo!” Tamika interjected, hooting loudly in obvious excitement. I exchanged a telling gaze with Ameera and Ashley.
“You girls should take it easy with the alcohol,” Ameera cautioned.
“Booo! You girls are no fun!” Tamika replied boisterously.
“You will appreciate it if anything happens and you need a doctor,” I said.
“It’s a party, girls. Relax a little, and try and enjoy yourselves,” Anna said.
We were taken to a helipad and lifted over Manhattan to a rooftop club. The thought that the host was some moneybag made me a tad apprehensive. Rich people often think they could get away with pretty much anything especially when money has exchanged hands. I laced my fingers together to prevent myself from shaking my legs in obvious agitation, silently praying nothing goes wrong.