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Dane swallowed. “Look, I know that I haven’t always been friendly toward you—”
“Never. You have never been friendly toward the child sent to your home so that she could survive.” She batted her lashes and smiled at him.
“Uh, you seem... different.”
“I had a block placed on my mind by the Elite when they first interviewed me. I was too bitey for their liking, so they locked my mind to obey those in authority over me. You know. Uncles, older cousins, babysitters, bosses.”
He blinked. “The Elite did that to you? Why?”
She shrugged and went full pearl with glowing eyes and thick, long hair. “Why? Why would that be? Why would I need to hide so they didn’t stunt me into a pale beta? Wait... I think I know. I am an Elite omega, jackass.” She sipped at her coffee.
“I didn’t know Tanner would do that to you. Dad explained a bit of what happened.”
“You knew he was obsessive and controlling and that I was ridiculously passive. You probably thought it was hilarious that he would beat me down and keep me there.”
He winced. “I never thought it went that far. He was shockingly happy with you, and my company benefited from the introduction.”
“Right. I am also going to pay for an audit of the candy company to find out how much you stole from me.”
He swallowed. “What is your guess?”
“Somewhere between sixty and eighty-five thousand dollars, between summer and holiday work.”
“Why didn’t you fix that?”
“I tried. Mark didn’t believe you had changed it. You are such a nice and responsible person, after all.”
“Dad told me you wouldn’t work there if I owned it, so he scrapped the transfer paperwork.”
She smiled at the dazed server and ordered her waffles. Rayden ordered something with a lot of protein, and Marshall got a fruit-filled crepe.
Dane paused, and Ruby ordered, “He will have the short stack, eggs, and bacon. Warmed syrup on the side.”
Dane blinked. “How do you know that?”
“That’s what you always have, cousin.”
He nodded to the server, and the relieved woman left.
Dane looked at her. “She didn’t see you.”
“She did. She just thinks I am a pretty woman sitting with three alphas. It’s what I want her to see, so that is what she sees.” She looked at Rayden. “Watch the hand, Rayden.”
He chucked and squeezed her thigh, patting it before placing his hand on the table.
Dane sighed. “I am sorry. All right? I am sorry for the way I treated you.”
“Is that when I arrived? Or after?”
“The whole thing. Papa hauled me over and sat me and Dad down and explained exactly why he was so happy to have you after my sister died. He needed to take action and care for someone because the whole pack was treating him like glass. You just plowed in and hugged him, holding tight, and when he needed someone, you were the one he held. Not me, not Dad. He held you. Why?”
She snorted and lifted her phone, scrolling through the photos and bringing one up to show him. “This was Uncle Leon and my mother.”
His jaw dropped. “That’s... she’s... you look just like her.”
“Uncle Leon loves his sister, he misses her, so he would talk to her on the phone, and then he would hug me and ask me about my day the same way he had asked her when they were kids.”
Marshall asked, “Can I see?”
