Chapter 12

I’m uncertain about whether to approach him. But then I remember the recording in my bag. I duck into a nearby alcove and turn it off, then hit replay. Listening, I can tell that it’s definitely picked up my conversation with Charles.

I have proof.

That settles it for me: I need to find a way to bury my past, once and for all. But before I can even think long enough to move toward approaching Kent, I hear hushed voices and rushed footsteps coming down the hallway.

Oh, my god. It’s Charles again, and he’s practically dragging my father by the arm in the direction of the private little room where he and I had just had our talk. Darlene and Becki follow behind them, glancing around as if they’re worried about being followed.

Once they’ve passed me, I peer around the corner of my alcove and look at Kent. He’s watching me. I raise my eyebrows at him, and he nods, subtly gesturing toward the blacks of my family as they skitter down the hallway.

Got it: follow them.

I wait until they turn the corner, so that they won’t see me if they look behind them. Then I creep out of my alcove and hurry back to the room I’d just left.

I approach the door cautiously, grateful that I wore these ballet shoes. The soles make only the faintest whisper over the grand tiled floors. I glide noiselessly up to the door, pause and glance around to see if anyone is watching me. I’m alone.

I lean in toward the keyhole and listen. I can just make out their voices.

“…can’t believe you’ve let this happen!” Charles is barking furiously. “Do you know what a risk this is? One word to the wrong person, and we all go down for this.”

“Keep your voice down, for god’s sake,” Darlene spits. “You’re going to announce it to everyone yourself if you can’t get a grip on yourself. And I told you, we tried. We did everything we could to keep her away from here. The little bitch went around us and went straight to the Alpha’s son. What the hell was I supposed to do about that?”

“You were supposed to be watching her!” Charles has lowered his voice, as instructed, enough that I have to strain to hear. But he’s still clearly enraged. “You should have had someone watching her at all times, keeping her away from the Alphas at the very least.”

“How was I supposed to know she’d met Marcus at the hospital once, almost half a decade ago, or that he’d even remember her?” Darlene retorts. “Nobody could have predicted this, Charles.”

“I don’t care if you couldn’t have predicted it. What if she’d changed her mind and went to the police, or called her lawyer? You should have been watching her!”

“We have been watching her! For three years, we’ve been watching her, telling her what she wants to hear, keeping her away from you. What more do you want? We did everything we could, short of locking her in the basement and throwing away the key.”

“Maybe you should have done that, then, instead of half-assing the job,” Charles says, sounding sullen now.

Darlene gives a bitter laugh. “Right, and go to prison myself for keeping a grown adult chained in my basement, like I’m some sort of — serial killer that you see on the nightly news. You’re not being reasonable, Charles.”

Charles starts to respond, but Darlene cuts him off again.

“Also, might I remind you that this is your mess that we’re cleaning up in the first place? Those were your drugs, and we all know it. We’ve been taking an enormous risk for you for years. Don’t lay this all at our feet when it was your screw up that got us here in the first place.”

Charles laughs wildly. “Oh, yes, and doing it out of the goodness of your hearts, aren’t you? No perks in it for you, Darlene, just pure altruism.”

“Don’t be childish,” Darlene sounds cold. “Of course we’re not doing it for nothing — what fool would? But don’t sit here and pretend that this is all on us when none of us would even be here if you hadn’t been so stupid as to keep your drug supply under your mattress like it was leftover Halloween candy.”

There’s a silence.

“Look,” Charles says more calmly. “Let’s take a deep breath. What’s done is done. But Nicole is getting close to Marcus, and that cannot happen. I’ve tried to put her off him, but if they get too cuddly, it’s going to spell problems for us. Just imagine if she becomes the Alpha’s daughter-in-law! We’d be finished.”

“That’s not going to happen,” my father finally speaks up.

“No, it’s not,” Charles says. “Because we’re not going to let it happen. We’re going to cut this whole mess off before it can get out of hand.”

“How are we going to do that?” Becki asks. I jump; I’ve almost forgotten she was in there. Usually, Becki never shuts up long enough to let you forget she’s around.

“We’re going to frame her,” Charles says. “Again.”

Another silence.

“How?” Darlene asks after a few moments. “She’s not going to willingly go along with this one, Charles. That boat has sailed.”

“No shit,” Charles says. “Which is why we’re going to frame her this time. No false confessions. We’re going to plant a huge amount of cocaine in her hotel room and call in an anonymous tip.”

“With her previous record, there’s no chance she’s wiggling out of that one,” my father says. He sounds thoughtful. “And if she tries to tell the truth, everyone will assume she’s just making it up to try to save her own skin.”

“Exactly.” Charles sounds triumphant. “She’ll go away for a long, long time as a second offender. She’ll be separated from Marcus, and we’ll never have to see her again. She’ll effectively disappear.”

I can hear the smile in Darlene’s voice when she says, “It’s a brilliant plan, Charles.”

I feel like I’m going to faint, or throw up, or maybe both. I cannot believe this is happening to me. It’s bad enough that these people set me up once, but to do it again is unimaginable. I’ll never survive prison a second time. I won’t.

I stagger down the hallway. I have no idea what to do now. And then I remember: Kent.

I rush back to the ballroom doors as fast I can, praying that Kent is still there. He is: tall and broad-shouldered in his black suit with the crisp yellow shirt underneath, his black braids framing a dark face graced with bold rectangular glasses. He’s pretty cute, in a sort of bodybuilder-meets-nerd way.

I sidle up to him as inconspicuously as I can. He nods at me, then puts a hand on the small of my back to lead me to a quiet corner so that we can talk without being overheard.

“What did you hear?” he asks me in a low voice. I tell him.

Kent whistles between his teeth. “Damn, that’s low. Even for these people.”

I couldn’t agree more. “Kent, what am I going to do?” I ask in a whisper, tears trembling in my words.

“Don’t worry, Nick,” Kent a reassuring hand on my shoulder and gives it a squeeze. “Give me your phone number, hon. We’re gonna work this out.”

He hands me his phone, and I shakily enter my contact information. As I hand back the phone, Kent’s warm fingers brush over mine. I look up, and he’s smiling at me fondly — a little too fondly for someone who has only met me a couple of times, I think.

I don’t have time to remark on this, though, because Marcus unexpectedly appears behind me.

“Nicole,” he says, his voice sounding a little flat. “There you are. I’ve been looking for you everywhere.”

“Marcus!” I look up at him and smile, genuinely glad to see him. On his own, too, not surrounded by his gaggle of tittering admirers. “This is an old friend of mine, Kent. Kent, this is Marcus, although I guess you probably already know that!” I laugh.

Marcus doesn’t smile. He just nods at Kent and then takes my elbow, tucking it under his arm.

“Nicole, it’s getting pretty late,” he says. “Why don’t my driver and I take you home now?”

He pulls me into his side gently as he adds, “After all, it’s past midnight — past the bedtime of a princess like yourself.”