NICOLE

"She's with me," is truly all Esmeralda has to say to the security guards at the door before taking me inside the venue where Carmen Lowett's party is being held.

The word opulence isn't grand enough to describe the display of wealth all around me. Though I have bigger things to worry about, I look around, taking everything in. Almost like I'm committing everything to memory.

I think it's my way of not dealing with what's happening right now, which is confronting the possibility that ...