It’s dark, and I’ve had to get up to turn on the lights by the time we’ve finished talking.
“I tried so hard to find you, but no one knew where you were,” River says.
“How did you find me?”
“Kylian—he’s an alpha mated to Della’s sister Everleigh—got in touch with Della while she was in Paris, and she called me andsaid you were trying to find me. Kylian got your address from Torin, and here I am.”
Thisis what I meant when I told Lucia that a mansion is nothing to me. My sister.That’swhat I wanted. And somehow, Torin reunited us when he didn’t even know I was looking for her.
I shake my head. “I can’t believe Mom and Dad want nothing to do with us.”
“But not unexpected,” she says, making a face. “You know Mom would have lost her mind when it got out that the Harringtons aren’t as perfect as she wants us to be.”
“So, you work with a pack of alphas, huh?”
“And a beta. Yeah.” Her cheeks turn pink, and she shrugs, avoiding my gaze. “I like the job more than I thought I would, and I like learning about cars. It’s more useful than learning how to ballroom dance, and it’s more fun.”
“They’re alphas, River,” I warn her. “And you are a beautiful omega. Are you sure…”
She shakes her head once, a violent motion. “They don’t see me like that. I’m just the hired help. That’s all.”
I raise my eyebrow at that, choosing not to comment on my sister's pink cheeks or the way she’s suddenly dodging my gaze. “Okay. As long as you’re happy working in a greasy auto repair shop and they’re not being rough with you.”
“They’re notrough,” she blurts out, her eyes widening in surprise that I’d even assume they were. “They’re… sweet. Sweeter than I thought mechanics would be. I like them.”
“Hmm.”
She clears her throat. “As work colleagues. Anyway, enough about me. What are you going to do about Callum, Torin, and Archer?” River asks. “Obviously, I hate them for the way they treated you, but it sounds like you don’t anymore.”
With a groan, I slump onto the back of the couch. “I don’t know.”
She snorts. “Yeah, you do. I recognize that look, June, and I know what it means.”
Because she’s my sister, I don’t even deny it. “Whatdoesit mean?”
She wraps an arm around my shoulder and rests her head on mine. “Means you’re procrastinating. You’re dragging your ass waiting for someone to prod you to do something you should already be doing. You used to get that same look when Mom made you practice the piano.”
I let out a loud groan. “Ihatedpracticing the piano.”
“Me too, but a cultured omega knows how to play the piano,” she says in Mom’s voice.
We look at each other and dissolve into giggles, laughing until we’re wiping tears from our eyes.
“I missed this so much,” I say, hugging her and never wanting to let her go.
“Do you miss them?”
“Mom and Dad?” I shake my head. “Sometimes a little, but not as much as I thought I would. I’d miss them more if they hadn’t thrown you out. Me, I don’t care about, but you? That’s not cool.”
“Yeah, well, throwing you out is a line they crossed that I’m not sure I will ever forgive,” she says. Sadness fills her eyes. “You were in the hospital all that time, and they never visited even once. I can’t believe they did that to you. How can reputation mean more to them than their own kids?”
“I don’t know, River. I really don’t.”
“That life never felt like mine,” she says quietly.
I turn to look at her.
She’s frowning as she eyes the first edition ofThe Secret Gardenon the coffee table. “I was good at pretending, but Ialways felt like I was just going through the motions. Then I met Della, and I realized how sick I was of pretending.”
