Page 113

“Sophie’s collecting powerful enemies like Fabergé eggs,” Dahlia says with a laugh that sounds both mocking yet appreciative. “She saw that Sardowski and Hurst are essentially blacklisted from half of Wall Street and she thought: that looks like the perfect career opportunity.”

Sophie listens to them, a slight smile playing on her face. She looks fucking phenomenal tonight: she’s wearing a sparkly little gold dress, her long hair loose, the emerald necklace I bought her our first summer together sparkling darkly at her throat.

“What’s the point in being a wolf if I’ve got nothing to sink my teeth into?” she asks, shrugging.

“Whatdid Mr Park say?” Alice Liu asks, shaking her head with a little laugh. “Bet he didn’t expect his little protégée to go so left field.”

Sophie sips her champagne. “He’s the one that put me in touch with Renata, actually.”

“Ugh.” Dahlia rolls her eyes. “You’re such a teacher’s pet.”

I catch myself laughing; she has no idea.

Inkspill turns up: Inésbrings Matt and Mina, who is over the moon to finally get to meet Sophie, and Patch brings his husband. Zachary and Theo gravitate towards them without being able to help themselves and talk turns deeply academic very quickly. Luckily for me, I have to leave the party for a while and this is as good a time as any.

On my way out, I catch Sophie by her waist, pulling her away from some animated chatter between her, Anaïs and Elle. She laces her arms around my neck and presses her mouth to my temple.

“You having fun?” she whispers. Her eyes are bright, her cheeks are flushed.

“Yes.” I wipe someone’s lipstick kiss off her cheek with a thumb. “You?”

“I didn’t think everyone would turn up.”

“Of course they’d turn up.”

I kiss her mouth and tell her I’m going to pick up Iakov from the airport. She lets me go reluctantly and says, “You better hurry back, Mr Knight.”

“I wouldn’t dare disobey you, Miss Sutton.”

I return about an hour later, but I don’t just have Iakov in tow. Audrey and Araminta, Sophie’s best friends from Spearcrest, sneak in after us. Audrey’s got her fiancé with her, and Araminta’s brought her girlfriend.

When Sophie spots Audrey and Araminta, she freezes for a moment, and then her eyes fill with tears. The three of them sink in an embrace and between exclamations and kisses and introductions, it takes almost fifteen minutes for Sophie to make her way back to me.

“How long did you plan this?”

It took months to coordinate flying them over; I shrug.

“I don’t see what you mean.”

“Thank you,” she says, standing on her toes to kiss my mouth.

“Anything for you, love. Always.”

I lace my arm around her waist and pull her to the kitchen, where a box rests on the counter.

She frowns at me. “What’s this?”

“I have no idea,” I answer honestly. “It was waiting downstairs at reception when I got back from the airport.”

She throws me a suspicious look, as if she doesn’t believe it, and I laugh, grabbing a beer and hopping on the edge of the counter.

“Well, go on, open it.”

Sophie opens it carefully, lifting the lid of the box to find a beautifully packaged leather-bound gold-embossed edition ofJane Eyre. She swallows hard, running her fingers over the cover before flipping it open.

Inside, on the first page, is a handwritten inscription.

For the girl who always had her nose in a book, it’s your turn to write your own story. We love you. We’re proud of you. Go do amazing things.