Ariana Intervention

“What do you know?” Ariana asked. 

Her hands fisted in the pocket of her coat. “How it started, your attempts to get help, and it’s escalation.”

“How?” Ariana rasped. 

“Roth.”

Ariana stopped in her tracks, her expression horrified. “Roth? How? Why?”

“He has a vested interest in Hennessy & Co. You think he wouldn’t do his research on the executives to see why the company’s in the state it is now?” 

It was a low blow, but she saw she made her point when Ariana’s face drained of all color. She shuffled to the side as a woman passed with three dogs. When Ariana stayed in place, eyes glassy with shock, she grabbed her sisters arm and forced her down on a bench. They sat side by side, staring out at the pond. Mo leaned against a tree, seemingly taking in the tranquil setting while the other guards blended in with those strolling along the walking paths. 

“Who knows?” Ariana whispered.

“I was going to ask you the same question.”

Ariana clutched her purse with both hands as she shook her head. “No one.”

“Not even Rami?”

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Ariana’s face crumple before she turned away, holding up a gloved hand to shield her face. She stared straight ahead and listened to the sounds of Ariana struggling to compose herself. 

“You haven’t told Colette?” Ariana asked in a husky monotone. 

“Not yet.”

“What is Roth going to do?”

“I don’t know,” she said honestly. 

“I tried to get help. I was clean for a couple months and then Dad…”

The anguish in her sister’s voice made her throat thicken.

“I know it’s wrong. I tried to stop, but…”

“You relapsed half a dozen times this year.”

She wasn’t sure her sister was breathing. Ariana was as stiff as a statue and her breath wasn’t coming out in a white gust like hers was. 

“You can’t let this go on,” she said quietly. “There’s too much at stake. Not just for yourself, but for Kye and Bailey as well.”

Ariana blinked rapidly and finally let out a long breath before she nodded. “I know.”

She examined her sister, trying to decipher what was going on behind that blank mask, but she had no clue. “Is it work? With Colette out is it…?”

“I don’t need help.” 

Ariana’s curt tone made her tone just as sharp. 

“Then, what do you need?”

Ariana surged up from the bench and faced her. “I’ve been managing just fine on my own.”

She rose and went toe to toe with her sister. “You haven’t been managing. The evidence of that is in your purse.”

Ariana jerked as if she’d been struck. Jasmine raked her brain for a more diplomatic way to handle this, but that had never been her strong suit. It hadn’t been her father’s either, so Ariana wouldn’t crumble at her bluntness. Maybe this confrontation was what she needed to bring her back to reality. 

“I haven’t told Colette or Rami because I believe you can do this on your own. Am I wrong?”

“No!”

Her forceful outburst made a bundled up passersby pause. When Ariana glanced at him, he blinked before giving her an admiring smile. Even distraught, the looks Ariana inherited from her supermodel mother short-circuited ninety percent of the male population. 

“What are you going to do?” she demanded. 

“I-I’ll go back to my therapist.”

“Maybe you should go to Narcotics Anonymous.” 

Ariana went rigid. 

“Maybe you need to be around others who—” 

“I can do this on my own.”

“I think Rami has a right to know,” she admitted.

Ariana’s hands balled into fists and she took a step toward her. She looked up at her older sister’s beautiful, enraged face, and silently dared her to lay hands on her. If Ariana crossed the line, she wouldn’t hesitate to deck her sister and let Ariana out herself to the rest of the family when she tried to explain her black eye or a shattered cheekbone. Her sister was outraged, but she was pissed. Pissed that she had to deal with this situation in the first place, pissed that all of them were constantly casting judgment on others when they had their own dark secrets they were hiding. There were such bigger things at stake and her sister was trying to intimidate her into shutting up when she defied their father and stood up to her husband on a daily basis. 

“Colette deserves to be informed, too.” Ariana opened her mouth to argue, but she overrode her. “And Lyle. They have a right to know, to prepare for the worst if you can’t get this under control.”

When Ariana turned away, she gripped her sister’s arm to hold her in place. 

“I’m not trying to humiliate you. I want to help. Whatever you need to get past this… If you need someone to go with you to appointments, someone to call at two in the morning, to watch the kids for you… whatever, you tell me and I’ll do it.” Her eyes stung with furious tears. “Damn it, Ari, you’ve let this go on too long. Doing this on your own isn’t going to work or else you would have kicked this habit. Let me help you.”

A tear slid down Ariana’s cheek. “I can do this.”

She sighed, but relented. “You’ll tell me if you can’t do this on your own?” 

Ariana gave a militant nod. 

“It’s a miracle he let me talk to you. I don’t know if that will be the case next time.”

Ariana swallowed hard. “I understand.”

**This is a raw draft of Bitter Confessions. Please do not share or distribute.

This is one of the drafts I have of Ariana's intervention. Not sure if everything will stay as it is, but this is what I have at the moment.