Chapter 79
ELODIE’S POV~
Over here, at the far end of the hall, I was trying to focus on what Mr. Tyler was saying. Something about drone technology. The new models. How the stabilization systems had improved.
I wasn’t really listening.
“Over there,” Mr. Tyler said suddenly. He nodded toward the other side of the hall. “The Brown family. I’m sure everyone knows by now, right p>
I didn’t want to look but I looked anyway.
Sienna. Logan and Aunt Lauren and That crowd around them that just kept growing.
“Miss Brown and Alpha Dante are close,” Mr. Tyler continued. His voice had this edge to it. Disdain, maybe. “Now everyone’s flocking over. Trying to get on their good side p>
Alpha Dante.
My chest hurt. That same ache that wouldn’t go away. That constant pressure right behind my ribs.
Johnny shifted beside me. I could feel him glance at me but I didn’t look back.
“Mr. Tyler,” Johnny said carefully. “Do you have some issue with the Brown family p>
Please stop talking about them. Please.
Mr. Tyler shook his head. “Not an issue, exactly. But… you know about last night, right? The charity gala? You heard about it, right p>
I didn’t want to know. Didn’t want to hear this. Not after I had seen the clip that Cara had showed me that left me devastated.
“That girl Xyla,” he continued. “The one who had the argument with Miss Brown, she’s the daughter of an old friend of mine. Known her since she was a child p>
My hands were shaking. I clasped them together. Focused on the exhibit in front of me like it was the most interesting thing I’d ever seen.
The exhibit was a robotic arm. It was Industrial and boring. And yet I couldn’t stop looking away.
“Xyla can be unpredictable,” Mr. Tyler was saying. “But she’s not unreasonable. Her fiancé, Lane, he was close to another girl a couple years back. They were about to break up. Then that girl got involved with Alpha Dante and suddenly p>
He trailed off.
But I understood. I understood perfectly.
Sienna had gotten close to someone’s boyfriend. Then she’d moved on. To Dante. And the boyfriend went crawling back to his fiancée because Sienna didn’t want him anymore.
Because she’d found someone better.
Someone like Dante.
The ache in my chest spread. Down to my stomach. Up to my throat.
“After Alpha Dante showed up at the gala last night,” Mr. Tyler continued, “it’s all over the internet. Photos and silly speculation. The netizens have been tearing into Xyla. She was so upset she couldn’t stop crying p>
I felt sick. Why? Because I knew what it means to break down, to cry, to pray for the ground to open up and swallow you. I know that ache. The ache that spreads through your bones, freezes you and wants to eat you alive and yet you don’t know how to stop it. Because you feel like you’re already dying.
Poor girl.
Xyla didn’t deserve that. She was just… she was just another person hurt by Sienna’s games. By Dante’s… By whatever they were.
“My friend and Xyla were supposed to come today,” Mr. Tyler said. “But after everything… They decided to stay home. They didn’t want to face people. Didn’t want to be the target p>
Because Dante had sided with Sienna.
Publicly and At that gala.
I’d seen the photos. Couldn’t help it. They were everywhere this morning that Cara had to send them to me. Dante’s hand was on Sienna’s waist. Both of them looked perfect. Powerful Together.
“Those old foxes found out about Miss Brown’s connection to Alpha Dante,” Mr. Tyler was saying. “Now they’re all rushing to form alliances with the Brown family. Pathetic, really p>
I looked back without meaning to.
The crowd around Sienna had doubled. Maybe tripled. People were pushing in. Smiling. Talking. All wanting a piece of whatever power she represented now.
Power she only had because of Dante.
Because he chose her.
Not me. Never me.
My throat was tight. Too tight.
“Elodie?” Johnny softly called.
“I’m fine,” I said automatically.
I wasn’t fine. Nothing was fine.
“The exhibition is really impressive this year,” I added. Forced my voice to sound normal. Interested. “The advancements in AI integration—” I said instead, trying to deviate the attention on me so Mr. Tyler doesn’t grow suspicious.
Mr. Tyler nodded. Started talking about the exhibits again. Something about machine learning and Neural networks.
The champagne continued to fe wrong in my hand.
I should’ve—
I don’t know. I should’ve stayed home.
Johnny’s elbow brushed mine, and I knew what was coming before he even opened his mouth. That shift in his posture, the way he angled himself just slightly to the left meant p>
“Elodie p>
God. Even his voice sounded like a warning.
I didn’t want to look. I really, really didn’t want to.
“He’s here p>
My chest did this stupid thing. This horrible, traitorous thing where it sort of… clenched. Like my wolf was trying to claw her way up through my ribcage, and I had to bite down on the inside of my cheek to keep me from screaming.
Dante. Of course he was here. Of course.
The Bellini Pack’s tech empire stretched across half of Europe, and Dante had always been good with technology. Too good. The kind of good that meant he could probably track my phone if he wanted to, could probably access the guest list for this exhibition before I’d even—
Stop it.
Stop thinking about what he could do.
He was standing near the back exhibition hall, and the crowd around him moved like water, like they were pulled by some invisible current. Alpha energy does that. Makes people orbit without realizing they’re doing it.
And next to him was Sienna.
She laughed at something someone said, her hand resting on his forearm. Casually and yet Possessive.
I looked away.
Too fast that Johnny noticed.
“Does he know you’re here?” His voice was careful. Too careful. As though he didn’t want to break me by raising his voice.
I shook my head, watching the bubbles rise in my champagne instead of watching… them. “Probably not p>
We didn’t talk anymore. Not really. Not about anything that mattered.
When we did, when circumstances forced us into the same room, usually because of Liora, it was always about her. About pickup times and allergies and whether she’d eaten her vegetables. Surface things. Safe things.
Things that didn’t require me to look at him too long or breathe in the scent of pine and winter that still made my wolf whine like a kicked dog.
So no. He wouldn’t know I was here. Wouldn’t know and wouldn’t care, probably, and that thought felt like swallowing glass.
Johnny made this noise in his throat. Disapproving. “You’re not going to go over there p>
I could hear what he wasn’t saying. You’re still his mate. Technically. Legally. The bond hasn’t been severed yet, and if you walked up there right now and made him acknowledge you in front of all these people, in front of her p>
“No need,” I said.
My voice came out steadier than I expected. I almost felt proud of it.
Johnny’s expression said he thought I was being a coward.
Maybe I was.
But I’d learned, moon goddess, I’d learned, that pushing Dante only made things worse. If I cornered him here, in public, surrounded by half the pack alphas in Europe… he’d push back. He’d bring up that night. The “deception.” The thing I didn’t do but could never prove I didn’t do, because how do you prove a negative? How do you prove you didn’t trick someone into—
My throat closed.
Simon was calling me from across the room, gesturing toward a cluster of investors who looked confused about something. Technical specs, probably. They always got confused about the encryption protocols.
I started to turn away, grateful for the excuse, for something to do with my hands that wasn’t shattering this champagne flute against the marble floor.
But my eyes… Traitor. My eyes dragged back one more time.
Dante was laughing now. His Head tilted back slightly, the line of his throat exposed in a way that used to make me want to press my lips there, right over his pulse. Sienna was saying something, animated, and his hand, his hand was on the small of her back.
That’s where he used to touch me. Before.
I forced myself to look away. To focus on Simon and the investors and the clean, clinical world of security systems and firewalls. Things that made sense. Things with clear problems and clearer solutions. Dante and Sienna were none of my concern.