My stomach flips. I glance at Lucille.
She’s dimpling up at Eliza like nothing happened. Maya’s next to her, gently patting her head, asking if she’s in the mood for ice cream. Lucille nods, her blonde hair bouncing in pigtails, both her eyes and the bridge of her nose red–rimmed.
My heart cracks. She’s so young. So eager to be loved.
Too similar to how I was at sixteen.
I turn back to Liam and Julie. “Where’s Seth?” I ask. The name comes out before I can stop it – the brother Mar once saved from drowning. Just thinking about that story makes my chest tighten. “Isn’t he coming for dinner?”
The silence that followed was immediate. They both went still.
Kara’s voice nudges the back of my mind again. And once I’m past the noise, the weirdness, and the fact that they’re clearly hiding something, I finally answer her.
“He’s a bit Diana–biased,” I say, quieter now. “Always has been. He’s never been able to see her faults. But more importantly – my sister’s too smart for her own good. It won’t take her long to figure out someone’s digging around.”
“And remind me why we’re digging in the first place?”
I sit on the bed and start rubbing at my feet. “Because I’m sure she’s behind that threat. I just don’t know why Liam’s tied up in
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Kara sighs. That’s her way of saying she’s done trying to talk me out of it. She switches lanes instead. “Your Liam was right, by the way – Stone and Céline are in Dubai.”
I’d only asked out of mild curiosity last week. I mentioned it to Liam in passing – where would Céline have taken Stone?
He barely paused before answering. “If I were a social–climbing, money–laundering, husband–snatching thief who just walked off with fifteen million and a threat from my ex–best friend – who’s weirdly fluent in Russian roulette and has terrifyingly good aim – where else would I go but Dubai?”
The memory makes me smile.
It’s only been a little over an hour since Liam brought me to his room, said he had to talk to Lucille, and promised he’d be back. I already miss him.
I fight the urge to storm out and drag him back myself and do the next best thing: keep talking to Kara.
“Regular season’s around the corner. I’m sure he’ll be back soon.”
“Do we have to wait that long?”
My smile grows. “I’ll be damned if I ever see his sorry ass on ice again. A-”
The window rattles, Loud enough to cut through the chaos of two clashing songs blaring from opposite rooms. I freeze.
Kara must hear it too. “Wait- what was that?”
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I frown, standing slowly. There’s a strange déjà vu curling in my stomach. “No clue. I’ll call you back, okay?”
I hang up, eyes locked on the window as it rattles again insistent this time.
–
more
There’s a mop in the corner. I grab it, hands tightening around the handle just as the window slams open and someone hauls themselves in with a grunt.
I brace. I’m ready to go full Final Girl with this mopstick when the guy lands on his feet and straightens up.
—
And for a second – just one second – my heart stops.
“Liam?”
But it’s not. It can’t be. The face is almost identical, but the hair‘ s lighter, the jaw softer. There’s the faint glint of piercings in his ear, something dark inked beneath the edge of his sleeve. Liam doesn’t have tattoos.
He hasn’t noticed me yet. He mutters something under his breath, moves to shut the window behind him – and then he
turns.
He freezes.
So do I.
His eyes narrow. “Who the fuck are you?”
SETH
Ha.
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Fucking hell.
—
pretty,
I narrow my eyes at the girl standing in front of me wide–eyed, holding a mop like she actually thinks she could take
- me.
I already know who she is.
Hard not to, really.
She looks stunned. Probably thrown off by how much I look like Liam.
I smirk, bitter. Yeah, Jessica probably looked the same way right before she ended up in his bed.
—
I take a step closer and she snaps out of it, lifting the mop like she’s done this before. Her scowl’s cute, in a don’t–fuck–with–me kind of way. “Come any closer and I’ll shove this up your ass.”
I tilt my head, amused. “In my own house?”
She doesn’t flinch. “I don’t break in through windows at my own house. Just saying.”
“Maybe I didn’t want to wake anyone up.” I shrug. “It’s a school night.”
“Then you won’t mind going back out the way you came. I’ll get Julie to let you in properly – no alarms, no mop to the face.”
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