Chapter 173

Lucas POV

"Security, really?" James asked with an eye-roll. He turned toward Shana, not deigning to even acknowledge Victoria and me any longer. "Come on, let's get the fuck out of here."

Mrs. Covington looked more than pleased with herself as Shana looked like she was on the verge of tears.

Suddenly, I regretted every single action I had taken. I regretted going to my father with the idea to get engaged to Victoria again, and I regretted keeping it all a secret from the two most important people in my life.

Seriously, what the hell had I been thinking? Clearly, I wasn't thinking because no one in their right mind would ever do such a thing, knowing that their friends could potentially get hurt.

I hated that Shana was looking to James for comfort instead of me right now. I should be the one to reassure her that everything would be okay, and I had just lost that privilege.

Neither of them said anything else to us as James steered the both of them out of the party.

I was fighting an internal battle on whether I should get up and say something, stop them, or stay seated.

I knew that this wasn't the place to talk about it, not with all these people around. And if my father was watching, I didn't want him to think I still had an interest in Shana.

I'd already come so far, I needed to go through with my plan fully... no matter how bad it made me look.

Things already looked bad for me anyway.

But having to watch Shana and James walk away in humiliation was not the way I had imagined all of this panning out. I didn't want our friends finding out about my engagement to Victoria like this.

This was probably the worse case scenario.

A painful sense of unease gnawed at me, and I knew that this would be hard for them to accept. I could only imagine the thoughts that were filtering through Shana's head right now.

She probably had no trust in me anymore, and I desperately wanted to change that for her. I still believed that she would understand once I explained everything to her, but at the moment, things wouldn't work in my favor.

Victoria, sat beside me and I could sense that she felt the same emotions I was feeling.

"Dear, did you invite those two nobodies here?" Mrs. Covington asked Victoria, snapping us out of our thoughts.

I felt my temperature rise at her rudeness.

"Mother," Victoria said through gritted teeth. "I really don't want to speak with you. Leave my sight before I make scene that will really make you ashamed."

Mrs. Covington looked appalled by her daughter's open threat. She looked at me to back her up, but when she noticed that I wasn't going to say anything, she let out a breath and walked off, her heels clacking loudly in her wake.

It was then that the crowds parted and my father made his appearance. I wasn't sure if he noticed Shana or James's entrance or exit, but based on the enthusiasm on his face, he just missed it.

He wore an air of control as he walked through the party goers, greeting people and nodding his head like a diplomat. It was odd seeing this side of my father when around me, he was always so uptight and serious. But in this room full of people, he was playing his role of the perfect man.

As much as I disliked this fake side to him, I was overjoyed that he hadn't witnessed what had just went down with Shana and Lucas. I hoped that nobody else would say anything, especially not Victoria's parents.

Thinking about my friends left me torn, and I felt awful about everything. I felt like the worst person in the world.

The situation had somehow spiraled out of control, and I knew there was no way to salvage it. At least, not right at this moment.

"Lucas?" Victoria asked, breaking me out of my thoughts.

I turned toward her with helpless eyes. "Yes?"

"I feel awful," she said, shaking her head from side to side. "I feel sick to my stomach. I don't know what to do. My hands won't stop shaking."

I looked down at her hands that were carefully rested in her lap. Sure enough, they were shaking.

"I feel awful, too," I said, trying to reassure her that she wasn't alone. "Let's just get through today and then we can explain everything to them."

She nodded, keeping her head trained on her lap.

Not only did i feel bad for hurting my friends, but I felt horrible for dragging Victoria into all this.

The party continued through out the night, and with every hour that passed, I only found myself more and more depressed. Guests continued to offer us their congratulations and blessings, but I couldn't shake the feeling that I had lost something truly valuable.

It didn't feel like a time for celebration at all.

Eventually, the engagement party drew to a close and guests started to depart one by one. Never in my life had I been more relieved for one of these Alpha events to finally be over.

The events from earlier hung heavily in my mind and I couldn't stop wondering about what my friends were up to. I just wanted to get the hell out of here and go make things right.

As the last of the guests had left, my father took the opportunity to pull me aside for a private conversation. The expression on his face was serious and expectant as he looked down at me.

Suddenly, I was worried that he had found out that Shana was here. What else would he need to talk to me about? In private?

"Yes, sir?" I asked my father, trying my best to hide my nerves.

"We made a deal, you and I," he started, shoving his hands into his suit pockets. "I allow follow through with my word, and I hope that's a trait that I've been able to pass down onto you."

I swallowed, unsure of where this conversation was going.

"I wanted to let you know that I paid off all of Shana's debts earlier this morning," my father said, pausing for dramatic effect.

My eyebrows shot up in surprise. As much as I wanted to believe my father wouldn't break his word, a small part of me doubted that he would actually go through with all this.

"Did you hear me?" he asked.

"You paid it off?" I asked, needing him to clarify. "How do I know you're not lying?"

"Lucas, don't be ridiculous, why would I lie?" My father looked disappointed in me for questioning him. "There's no more debt tied to her name. It's been cleared. Her record is squeaky clean again."

"What about Shana's father?" I questioned.

"What about him?" my father asked with a roll of his eyes. "He's an addicted gambler. There's hardly anything I can do to stop or help him. The only person who can help him is himself, and I don't see that happening any time soon. People like that should be avoided, which I why I want to remind you to stay away from Shana."

At the mention of Shana's name, I lost it.

A part of me snapped, built up from everything I had endured today.

"No, father," I said. "I'm not going to stay away from Shana."