Page 23 of Feral King

“Ly, please. Just hear me out.”

“I said no, Sophia.” I keep walking. The station entrance is just ahead. “Whatever you’re about to ask me, the answer is no.”

She grabs my arm, not roughly, but enough to stop me.

“Please, I need you to talk to Julian and get him to reverse the termination. I can’t get hired anywhere.”

“He only blacklisted you from Volkov businesses.”

“You think anyone wants to work with someone on a Volkov blacklist? He might as well have called every agency in the city and told them to stay away from me. My name is like freaking poison now.”

“Funny, you’re making it sound unfair, when it sounds more like just deserts to me.”

“It sounds like overkill. I screwed up, OKAY? I was rude to you, and I did things I shouldn’t have. But is he really willing to destroy my career over one comment at a party?”

“One comment?” I yank my arm free, anger boiling inside. “You humiliated me in front of the entire gala—on camera. You called me a charity case with stretch marks, and you did it because you thought there would be no consequences. We both know the only reason you’re standing here right now is because there were.”

Her eyes flash. “I was upset, OKAY? You showed up out of nowhere, you were talking with Julian like you were trying to pull some sort of stunt. Sorry, but you were acting like you owned the place.”

“Ibuiltthat place. That event was the last one I organized before your shithead boyfriend fired me. That wasmyevent. And not only did you take my job and my fiancé, but you also tried to take my dignity, just because you thought you could.”

Her face contorts. The mask is gone now. Whatever diplomacy she’d managed is fading by the second, leaving an awful mix of anger and desperation.

“So this is payback? You’re going to let Julian ruin my life because I was a little mean to you?”

“Julian makes his own decisions. I didn’t ask him to fire you.”

“But youcouldask him to undo it.” She steps closer, her voice dropping into a softer tone. “Please, Lyra, you owe me. I got you into that company, remember? I was the one who met Alexander first, who recommended you for the job. Everything you had there was because of me.”

“And I lost it all, because of you.”

Sophia flinches, a quick flash of regret in her eyes. She hesitates. Does she actually feel bad for what she did to me?

But that hesitation and regret are soon replaced by something ugly.

“Fine. Play house with the big brother. See how long it lasts. You’re clueless about Julian. He chews people up and spits them out, just ask anyone who’s worked for him. Hell, ask Alexander. The man tossed his own flesh and blood aside. You’re an idiot if you don’t think?—”

“Ms. Thibodeaux.”

The voice comes from behind me. It’s calm and even, tinged with authority.

Ethan steps between Sophia and me. He’s not aggressive or confrontational, filling the space where conflict is threatening to break out with such certainty that Sophia backs up out of pure instinct.

Ethan ignores her and turns his full attention to me.

“Come, I’ll walk you to the station.” Then he looks at Sophia, giving her a quick nod of acknowledgment. “Ms. Harrington, good evening.”

She stares at him for a second before looking at me, realizing she’s just been surgically removed from the situation.

“This isn’t over,” she says. “I came here to be nice, hoping that I could ask myfriendto make things right. Guess I was wrong about you.”

She backs away and melts into the crowd, leaving me standing there in awe. How could someone make their own bed, only to get mad at someone else for telling them to lie in it?

Ethan places his hand on my shoulder, bringing my attention back to the moment, my gaze moving away from where I’d last seen Sophia.

He falls into step beside me as we descend the station stairs. The familiar rush of warm underground air meets me.

“How long have you been following me?”