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“My sister loved me,” Everleigh whispers. Her eyes return to mine. “Iknowshe loved me. She couldn’t have done this to me. Shewouldn’t. I have to believe that.”
My eyes go to the bruise on her jaw and the scratches from her trying and failing to climb the hedge.
Whatever it takes to convince her she’s safe with us, that no one in this house will ever put a hand on her, that we want nothing more than to make her happy, I’ll do it.
I straighten from the wall and nod at the plate I left on the floor beside her door. “You didn’t finish your breakfast.”
“I’m not hungry.” Her response is automatic. Her stomach grumbles, calling her a liar.
Lawrence must have been controlling her—or abusing her—in terms of what she put in her body.
“Then leave it.” I make my voice casual as if I don’t care what she does with it. “Nancy will throw it out later. I’ll let you know when I have something about Dellaney.”
Because I don’t think you care to know about Anna Jackson.
“And the fake Rolex?” she calls after me. “What about that?”
Her open curiosity surprises me. Is curiosity a facet of her personality that Lawrence smothered? I pause in the hallway, think about my response, and angle my head back to face her. “My answer comes with a condition.”
Her face shutters. “You won’t let me go.”
“A dance,” I say on the fly.
I’d have told her why I wear a fake Rolex with no conditions. If I can give her a reason to not be afraid of me, then that’s an opportunity I refuse to let slide.
She blinks in surprise. “A dance?”
“When Ky, Rune, and I came up in the world, I didn’t think to learn how to dance. But I think I want to now. When I saw you on the dance floor, I figured you have a knack for it. I want you to teach me.”
“I won’t be staying,” she reminds me, in case I’ve forgotten.
I don’t like it, but I hear you loud and clear, Everleigh. You don’t like alphas, don’t trust them, and have no intention of staying in a house full of them.
I get it.
“I’m a fast learner. Two lessons should do it,” I say.
Her mouth gapes open. “Two?”
She’s eyeing me doubtfully, but there’s a spark of interest there. And a challenge. There’s more to Everleigh than the perfect omega she let us see at the Wentworth mansion.
“Two,” I confirm. “And if Anna Jackson isn’t your real mom, maybe I can find out if your real one is alive.”
Her hand tightens around the door handle, desperate hope filling her eyes. “You can do that?”
I nod. “I can do that.”
“Why would you want to do that when I’ll be leaving soon?”
There it is, yet another reminder she’s not staying.
“I used to like to gamble,” I explain. “I once found it fun. Not so much now. I won’t deny I don’t miss winning. Even losing was an opportunity to learn something valuable. If not about tactics, then about my opponent. There is one thing I never gambled with. Do you know what that is?”
She shakes her head.
“People. I’ve met those who have, and they soured the game for me.” I give her a long look. “It looks like someone was playing around with your life. Buying. Selling… Sounds like no game I would ever want to play.”
She doesn’t respond. Her brow furrows with a hint of a frown and she chews on her lip as if debating what to tell me. Nothing apparently, because she doesn’t say a word. Just watches me with a wariness that says I’m not even close to being on a list of people she trusts.
