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Then Adam caught my arm in a bruising grip.
“I’m coming,” I told him.
“I’m just making sure you are.”
Aggravation spiked through me. The last thing I needed was his help. Adam half-hauled me with him as he strode through the crowd that parted for us. I wanted to look back to see if Lainey was following with Hardigan.
I wanted to talk to her. Not to them.
I hoped she’d come. Especially if we were all leaving, I didn’t want her left behind.
Even if this was the last conversation I wanted to have with her.
Or them.
I grabbed another glass of champagne and downed it. The alcohol stung in my mouth, and the flavor was tainted by the blood. It really needed to be a whiskey or three.
Up the stairs, we passed all the speculative gazes and the gossiping mouths. Those tongues would be wagging soon enough. We didn’t have long at all before everyone knew.
Everyone that wasn’t already here.
I wasn’t sure who I was more angry with—them or myself.
ChapterTwenty-Four
LAINEY
Awareness of the audience observing us lingered even as we left the ballroom. Adam strode down the hall ahead of us and he kept Ezra with him while Milo and I followed. I wanted to argue against the necessity of this conversation, but I didn’t. Despite everything that happened, Milo asked very little. He didn’t ask for apologies or for me to swear to never again have sex with Ezra.
He only asked that I speak to him about it first.
If he wanted to talk to Ezra, then I wouldn’t intervene. I didn’t expect whatever came next to be comfortable, but I wasn’t leaving him to face off with Adam and Ezra alone. Flashbacks to my first encounter with Pretty Boy danced through my head. Then, he’d been watching over Em and me before we had a single idea of who he was. Ezra and Adam had also picked a fight with him.
He’d held his own.
I had no doubt he could now. While the three had worked together, a begrudging truce of the enemy of my enemies could be my ally. I didn’t want to risk the danger all three posed to each other.
Not now.
Karagiani moved with us. I caught sight of him in the mirrors lining the hall Adam had turned down. We weren’t heading toward the family side of the house. He was taking us to the older wing. They used it more for guests and storage. After the renovations, I’d often ventured over here to hide when I’d had to visit Mother and she was here.
Mother’s suite had been here too. A place she could stay while Adam’s mother still lived and had rooms in the other part of the house. Privacy could be found here—privacy for all the things the Reeds wanted to keep in the shadows.
I supposed this was appropriate. Adam opened two pocket doors, sliding them apart before he nodded Ezra inside. It was a quiet, dark library smelling of lemon polish and old books. He waited for Milo and me to step in but held up a hand to Karagiani.
“You can wait out here.”
The bodyguard paused, his head tilted. The masks we were all still sporting hid his reaction. “Room security?”
“More than adequate,” Adam informed him in a chill tone. He really didn’t like to be questioned.
“I’m with her,” Milo said. “So is he and your employer. We won’t let anything happen.”
The silence stretched for a moment, then Karagiani nodded. “Other access points to the hall?”
“The main house can access from that way—though the entrance is locked.” Adam gestured further up the hall, then pointed to the way we’d come. “The ballroom from that direction. If you want to ensure our privacy, guard that direction.”
With that, he stepped inside and slid the doors shut with a distinctive click.
