Page 146 of Pretty When She Breaks

“Besides, I wanted to meet you.”

“Really?” I raised an eyebrow.

“Call it curiosity. Laurel must really like you, you know.” He grinned, inviting me to reply.

I kept my mouth shut, not taking the bait.

Soren’s attention was stolen momentarily by a beautiful young woman in a bright pink dress who was making eyes at him from across the room. He winked at her before turning back to me.

“I knew she’d ask me for a favour sooner or later. She just had to work up the courage. But imagine my surprise when she asks for a cover for you. I thought she’d be itching to dig around in her father’s dirty laundry, especially after what happened to her brother.”

He paused, leaning back in his chair a little as he arched an eyebrow. He’d caught my attention. When Laurel had told me she didn’t want to run away, she’d said it was because she wanted to free Ocean and find out the truth about her brother. It was obviously important to her, and now was my chance to find out what she had meant.

“What do you mean?” I asked Soren.

“Oh, a tragedy, really. Suicide, if you believe the story.” He gave a smug little tilt of his head, his smile widening.

“And you don’t believe it?”

Soren laughed and leaned closer, lowering his voice. “See, I knew you were smart. I’d bet my fortune—which is an obscene amount, by the way—that Thaddeus was behind it. They put on a happy public face, but behind closed doors,there was a lot of tension. I thought Laurel might ask me to dig a little deeper to see if things really added up. If Thaddeus might have been up on that rooftop with Julius the night he jumped. But no, we get Daniel Song instead. How boring.”

He looked away, distracted again by the woman in the pink dress, who was making her way over to our table. Coincidentally, her cleavage seemed much more pronounced than a second ago.

“Well, this has been fun,” he said, patting my shoulder. “Now that Thaddeus thinks we’re pals, he’ll be bending over backward for you and hating every minute of it. Tell Laurel to send me updates, so I can enjoy torturing him from afar.”

He waved his hand at me in a shoo gesture as the woman arrived. “Now, what’s your name, darling?” he said, pulling out a chair for her.

I stood up, annoyed. He hadn’t given me anything helpful about Julius, and now I was being curtly dismissed. Not that I wanted to stick around and watch him flirt with this young woman. I shot a sympathetic look at his bodyguard before I walked away.

Laurel was still sitting at the front table with her fake pack. I stepped out onto one of the balconies. There was nothing much more to do other than chew on Soren’s words. Maybe I could start making it up to her by helping her find out the truth about her brother.

I shot off a text to Kaos, then looked miserably down at the rose gardens below.

EIGHTY

LAUREL

It was late when Jade found me spacing out in the bathroom, staring at my face in the mirror. She pursed her lips and put her hands on her hips. “You don’t look so good. Come on.”

She dragged me through the lobby, and to my surprise, Janna hurried over, pulling me into a hug. “You okay, hun?”

I swallowed, not sure what to say. “It’s just…a lot.”

She frowned at the claim collar around my neck. “Your makeup is smudged. Do you have any more down here?”

I shook my head, and she frowned again, rooting around in her bag.

“She’s got more in the Duchess Suite,” Jade offered.

“I was worried about you,” Janna said.

My heart tightened. She was?

I wasn’t sure what to make of it. We met up once a month for a duke/duchess social, a dinner somewhere fancy with just us omegas. My father had insisted I attend to maintain connections, though I didn’t speak much. I couldn’t reallyopen up without spilling dangerous secrets, so I’d kept Janna and the others at arm’s length.

Even still, did she consider us…friends?

But now I was starting to believe in a future where I was free. Where I could actually make friends with this duchess. A future without my father or the Lucas pack. A future with Ocean and Kaos, and even Finch.