And then, without waiting for a reply, he spins on his heel and makes his way over to Lilia.
He reaches past me, grabs Lilia’s wrist, and pulls her toward the open space near the dance floor.
“What are you—” she starts.
“Dance with me,” Will says. “I promise to behave terribly.”
Lilia groans. “This is going to end badly.”
“Even better.”
And just like that, they’re gone too, swallowed by the music and the gold of the room.
Bea’s stares at them. “Did I just see Lilia willingly dance with Will Carson?”
“You did,” I say, half-smiling. “And I think she might even be enjoying it.”
She hums. “That’s deeply concerning.”
But even as I watch them, my gaze keeps drifting back, across the room, through the crowd, to the boy who hasn’t looked my way again.
Kai still stands where I last saw him, though the girls around him are different now. New faces. Same smile.
And maybe Will’s right.
Maybe Kai Oren Steele has never been okay a day in his life.
But god—he’s good at pretending.
I suppose it must come naturally by now. After so long. After all the headlines and spotlights and stories written by strangers who never really knew him.
But behind the photos and red carpets, there was a kid. Not a star. Not a brand. Just a little kid who didn’t get to be little for very long.
And even when I’ve been furious with him—truly, heartbreakingly furious—I think a small part of me always felt sorry for that version of him.
The one nobody saw.
The one who got left behind.
He’s laughing again now. Or at least, he’s doing something that looks like laughing. One of the girls touches his arm. He lets her.
I look away.
“Come on,” Bea says beside me, nudging gently. “Let’s go find Kym before Liam convinces her to marry him or something.”
But I don’t even get the chance to nod.
A voice that’s low and quiet and unmistakably his, speaks from just behind my shoulder.
“Dance with me.”
I turn. Kai stands there, hands in his pockets, looking somehow even more tired than before up close. Pale. Bruised under the eyes. He looks almost… unwell.
I glance at Bea. Then Christian.
Bea lifts her brows and gives me a single, smug nod, but Christian, on the other hand, watches Kai closely. Warily. He doesn’t say a word, but his gaze shifts to mine.
I swallow and turn back to Kai. “Why?”
