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“I know my sister’s death wasn’t an accident,” she says quietly.
Adrian’s arm goes around her shoulder protectively. But she wipes her eyes, looking up at me.
“It’s okay, Ella, I want to talk about this. It needs to be talked about. Look, I know why it was wrapped up so fast before. I needed—I mean Ineededclosure with all of that. And I know Noel knew that, and that’s why he dropped it all to let the authorities call it an accident. So that I could move on and heal.”
She closes her eyes, taking a shaky breath before opening them again.
“I know it wasn’t an accident,” she says tightly. “Iknowmy sister was killed.”
She leans forward across the table between us, taking my hands in hers and squeezing. Her tear-rimmed eyes hold mine fiercely.
“But I know in my heart it wasn’t Noel. I know that without a single flicker of doubt,” she hisses.
“I’m sorry,” I mumble.
She sniffs, shaking her head as her lips pull into a wry smile.
“Don’t be. When you lose someone…” she smiles sadly at me. “Your mother was a beautiful soul, Ella. And I can’t imagine how it must have felt to you after Thomas passed, with Noel suddenly being there, taking over in that very Noel way of his. But no matter what Oliver Prince or anyone tells you, he isnota murderer.”
My face caves.
“The report—” I choke back a sob. “Why would he cover that—”
“Because Noel Ransom is a stubborn asshole who hates the spotlight. Because he had his own reasons.”
“But… the burns? How—?”
“He got the burns, Ella,” Adrian growls. “Because he wasthere, at the fire.”
My heart sinks, my eyes wide as they stab across the room into Adrian’s.
“No—”
“Saving you.”
The world glitches. My heart skips, my vision tunneling onto his words as I slowly shake my head.
“He was there pulling yououtof the fire, Ella,” Adrian says quietly. “Noel saved your life that night.”
“No,” I shake my head slowly in a daze. “No… there was a firefighter—”
Adrian shakes his head.
“This can’t be true,” I choke, my breath coming faster and faster. I lunge to my feet suddenly, ignoring Celeste’s worried look as I whirl, pacing the room.
“No, why would he have kept that—”
“Because he’sNoel bloody Ransom,” Adrian growls. “Because he’s the most stubborn, secretive bastard I’ve ever met.”
Celeste stands quickly, moving towards me and suddenly catching me in her arms. I sob into her chest, gripping her tightly as she just holds me close, stroking my back.
Centering me, shaking the tremors from my limbs and pushing back the crushing wave of anxiety as she soothes me.
“The scars on your chest,” she says gently. “The words, and that shoe?”
She pulls back, cupping my face and smiling wryly at me.
“Look beneath the ink on his arm,” she says quietly. “Because if you’re looking for the other glass slipper, Cinderella, that’s where you’ll find it.”
I’m barelycognizant of mumbling a goodbye before I stagger from the room. I shuffle down the stairs in a daze, my entire body numb and throbbing as I stumble through the pub. Gus and Jack instantly rush to me, but I brush them away, muttering something about being fine, and that I just need to go home.
They follow anyway, but outside, I suddenly come face-to-face with a furious looking Liam.
“That’s the lastfucking timeyou pull that shit with—”
“Just take me home to him,” I choke, my eyes pleading up into his.
“Please, just take me home.”
