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I gave him a brief hug then backed away from him because I was almost certain I still smelled like sex, but he kept his hands cradling my face.
“I’m fine, Dad. We got in late, so I spent the night with Lyric.”Lie.But there was no way I was telling him a truth that would start a war.
The muscles in his jaw ticked as he dropped his hands and took a step back. His gaze burned through me like fire, searing me all the way to my bones. He never looked at me like that, like he was furious and heartbroken at the same time.
He knew.
But how?
No one talked about what happened at The Chamber, so no one would have told him I left with Caspian. I’d left my phone in my car, so the Life360 app didn’t give me away.
Life360.
Shit.
My phone was in my car, and my car was at Caspian’s, even though I would’ve sworn I didn’t drive it there. One click, and my dad would’ve known exactly where I was.
This was it. I was caught. That was why the police were here. He was going to press charges—sex with a minor. Every heated discussion I’d ever heard my father have, every promise I’d ever heard him make, years of resentment and animosity—it all boiled down to this moment. I would be the weapon to make our empire fall. All because I gave myself to the enemy.
It was too late. The lie was already out. There was no taking it back now.
My mother bolted up from the sofa and rushed over to where we stood. She pulled her soft yellow cardigan closed around her petite frame, wrapping her arms around herself. I saw then that she’d been crying. Her eyes were red and puffy, and she wasn’t wearing makeup—a first for her.
One of the police officers made his way across the room, stopping a few feet from us. “You said you spent the night with Lyric?” His voice was level, but the look in his eye said he was holding something back.
I nodded. “Yes, sir. So, you can leave now. Close up your missing person’s report. I’ve been found.” I looked over at Mom, then smiled and attempted a joke, trying to lighten the tension in the room. “Tell me you at least used a good picture of me for the Amber alert.” This was about as awkward as that time my dad sent me to school with a bodyguard because someone had just murdered one of his lobbyists.
Mom closed her eyes and inhaled a deep breath.
The cop cut his gaze from me to my dad. Dad blinked and nodded. Oh God. Here it came.
Dad stuffed his hands into his pockets and smirked. The worry was gone, replaced by an expression I’d never seen on his face before. It was almost as though he were challenging me. “You’re going to have to try harder than that, sweetheart.”
I looked around the room for my brother, Lincoln, but all I saw was the other cop saying something into the device clipped to his shoulder. Why was he talking so quietly? Adrenaline pumped through my veins, and my legs felt weak.
Determined to stay strong, I met my father’s stare. “What are you talking about? I’m not trying anything.”
I would make up an excuse about my phone later, say I left it at a party and Caspian picked it up. After all, the app tracked my phone. It didn’t trackme.
“Honey,” my mom said as she wrapped her arms around me and nuzzled her face into my hair. Her voice was quiet when she spoke her next words. “Lyric is dead.”
