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“She’s not there to answer them.” Everleigh takes in a deep breath and releases it, steeling herself. “Is she dead?”
“I found no records to suggest she is. Are you sure she’s a beta and not—”
“A late-blooming omega like me that mymomsold to some other wealthy alpha?” Her smile is brittle. “I guess we’ll never know, will we?”
I take a step toward her, not only wanting to comfort her but needing to. “Everleigh…”
She smiles as she retreats. “Thank you for what you found out. Please let me know when you want your next lesson, and we can try something more suited for an intermediate dancer.”
And she turns and walks away.
Graceful. Perfect posture. No outward sign that anything is wrong, but I read the pain in her all the same.
Chapter19
Everleigh
I’m not sure how I make it back to my room, aka, omega territory, without shedding a single tear.
The tears are well and truly falling as I fight with the bedside table, wrestling to get it back into place. In the end, I give up because I can’t see and I can’t breathe. I’m sobbing too hard to concentrate on barricading myself in my room.
What does it matter when Della could be having her spirit broken by an alpha like Lawrence?
Crawling into my nest, I bury my face in Cian’s wrinkled white T-shirt, and I give myself permission to cry my eyes out.
All I can think about is Della. Of an alpha surprising her one ordinary day, triggering her heat and then caging her in his mansion.
The tears are endless. I think I will drown in this closet, and the alphas will only know it when they open the door days from now and an ocean of tears carries my body out.
Cian’s soothing citrus and sweet licorice scent dulls the pain, so it’s a little more bearable. Not much, but some.
Minutes or hours later, a faint knock on the bedroom door makes me freeze.
“I’ve left a plate out here for you, Everleigh.” Cian’s cool voice is a river of perfect calm that drifts under the door and into the closet.
I don’t respond.
Seconds later, his footsteps move away from my door, and I bury my face against crumpled cotton and return to my tears.
* * *
Blinking my eyes open, I lift my head and peer around the dark closet with no idea what time it is. My face is tight from all my crying, and my stomach is so empty, hours must have passed.
Tears still want to fall, but I’ve wasted enough time hiding in a closet when I could be doing something to find my sister.
So I get up, push the closet door open, and head for the bathroom to wash my face because I have questions.
What are the chances of a late-blooming omega living under the same roof as a beta mother?
Slim.
But the chances of two?
I briefly meet my reddened eyes in the mirror over the sink. Even if I could ignore my blotchy skin, the faint red scratches on my face from Lawrence’s hedges, and the fading bruise on my jaw from his fist, I’d still look terrible. “Impossible odds.”
Hali bought me makeup I could use to make myself more presentable. But I don’t care what I look like. I have questions and an alpha in this house has promised to get me answers.
As I head for the bedroom door, it’s hard to know what time it is from the dim light. Late evening, I think. Whatever it is, it’s time to get answers to questions that might help me find my sister.
