Chapter 266
apter 267
Amber’s POV
“Julian’s not here,” I said. Normally, I would be on guard with Tony, and while I still felt that way in a sense, I was more concerned with everything else going on at the moment.
“Do you know where he is? After I heard the news, well, I was worried… ” Tony said. His eyes came back to me and he looked at me with some uncertainty, like he was trying to discern how much about everything I knew.
“Yes, I’ve seen the news, too,” I told him. “The enforcers are even in my living room at the moment, looking for that recording device p>
“They… are…?” he said somewhat haltingly, his brow pulling together in a troubled expression. “Yes, I suppose that would make sense, given the leaked audio p>
“If you want to speak with Julian, he’s at his office,” I said, ready to close the door and end this conversation
once and for all.
Immediately he leaned forward, placing himself over the threshold of the doorway, making it impossible for me
to close the door without either shoving him or hitting him.
“While I’m here,” he said. “I’d like to talk to you, Amber, and make sure you are okay p>
“I’m fine,” I told him, but he gave me a curious look.
“Is that true?” he asked. “With everything going on, I’m sure you could use a friendly ear. I’d be happy to listen
to you p>
“That’s not necessary,” I said. Yes, I was eager to talk to someone about this, but not him. I barely knew him at
all, and I didn’t trust him. Even now, looking at him gave me that same uncomfortable feeling I had the last
time I saw him.
“ I understand, ” he said. “I just thought you might want to talk to someone that has the inside knowledge of how terrible this news is going to be for the family and for the pack. There is going to be such a huge fallout. I had thought, perhaps together, we could work together to try to take some of the weight of Julian p>
He could have been manipulating me, I knew that. Yet, those were the exact words that I needed to hear to allow myself to be manipulated. I had to take that chance, no matter what else happened.
So with a subtle grimace, I stepped back into the foyer, opening the door more fully to allow for him to step
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Chapter 207
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inside. As he did, after I closed the door behind him, I led him back to the den where the television as still on. Again, they were replaying the audio. I picked up the remote and muted the television.
I felt so responsible. Julian had only said those things to comfort me. He had thought, as I did, that they had been spoken in private and wouldn’t be repeated outside the walls of this house.
Instead, someone had callously taped our conversation and released it for the whole pack to hear. It felt
violating, and that person could only be someone vile.
I placed down the remote a bit too harshly, making a loud clatter.
Tony walked closer to me, concern in his face. “Everything’s alright, Amber. It’s bad, but it’s going to be okay p>
I didn’t believe him, but I didn’t want to snap at him. After all, he had saved Julian’s life and Julian trusted him.
That meant that I should have been able to as well.
Yet, no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t get my skin to stop crawling in his presence. It was unfair to him. Other than his lashing out at Alice, who I knew was still sleeping upstairs at the moment, thank the Gods, I had no reason to hate him. And he had already apologized for his behavior to Alice.
He’d even saved Julian since then. If that didn’t make up for everything, nothing would.
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