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“Lucie, what are you doing here?” I ask, glancing at the glass doors.
Lucie nods at a limo parked farther down the road. “Stasia scored an invitation to the party. I saw that big pink dress, and I thought to myself, that can’t possibly be Everleigh Wentworth, can it?”
Her lip curl tells me exactly what she thinks of my dress. Not much. Instead of making me feel ashamed or embarrassed, it actually makes me like the dress more.
I don’t know what her problem is with me, but I don’t have time for this. I need to get inside, and I need to find out whether she ripped my dress because I swear something tore when she yanked me back.
“Look, I don’t know what I’ve done, but I have to go,” I say, already turning away.
“Oh, I see. Lawrence tossed you aside, and you decide to pretty yourself up so you can get another bite of the alpha apple by trying to snag Pack Ashe?”
“That isn’t—”
I gasp as she shoves me. Fabric tears. I stumble back, wobble on my heels, and crash to the ground.
Laughter goes up around me, the loudest from Lucie. My cheeks are burning with shame as I struggle to get up.
Lucie laughs and turns away, pushing herself to the front of the crowd.
I slowly get to my feet, fighting back tears as Lucie pulls a card out of her bag and hands it to the woman with the clipboard, who steps aside to let her in, smiling.
Shecame to try her luck with Cian, Kylian, and Rune. Or she came to make sure her sister did.
I take in all the mud crusting the hem of my dress from people stepping on it. And then I spot the massive tear running down the side. I thought I heard something tear. Now I know something did.
Worst of all, when I try to cover it up, a gust of cool air hits the back of my thighs. I briefly close my eyes and hope I’m not flashing everyone standing behind me because I have another tear I’d rather not think about.
Even if I could find some other way to get inside, there’s no way I would want Rune, Cian, or Kylian to see me like this.
Not now.
So much for my Cinderella moment.
I walk away from the hotel, head down, hoping I won’t have to go far to find a cab to take me home as I try desperately not to cry.
* * *
When the cab drops me off, it’s almost completely dark.
It took me nearly an hour to get into the city, but after spending forever trying to track down a cab, it took nearly two hours to get back home. I could have called Devin, the driver Rune, Cian, and Kylian said I could use, but I was too embarrassed.
I hadn’t wanted to call Devin to take me to the party, thinking that Cian, Rune, and Kylian would need him tonight. And after what happened in the crowd with Lucie? There was no way I was calling anyone at all to see me like this.
Della has probably left to go home. I hope. I’m looking forward to slipping inside the house, taking off this dress, and spending the rest of the night in my nest crying myself to sleep. Maybe I’ll stop long enough to grab a bar of chocolate.
After thanking the cab driver, I pay and climb out, clutching my heels in one hand and the hem of my ripped skirt in the other.
My hair is a mess. Della’s beautiful dress is likewise, and I couldn’t stop myself from crying in the cab, so I probably have mascara running down my cheeks.
But I don’t care about any of that.
I was so sure that all I would have to do was turn up at the party and I’d tell Cian, Kylian, and Rune I wanted to be with them, and everything would work out.
Maybe it wasn’t supposed to work out.
Maybe—
“Little omega?”
