“What truth?” she asked, taking a slight step back.
“Your uncles stopped by yesterday as I was leaving, and they had some very interesting things to say.”
Westin froze, her eyes widening for just a moment before a blank mask settled over her face.
“Oh yeah?” she asked, her tone even.
“They said you have a pattern of making up health symptoms to manipulate people, especially alphas, to get your way. They showed me medical records proving there’snothingwrong with you.”
She looked up at me silently as she took deep, slow breaths. I wanted her to deny it, to tell me there had been some sort of misunderstanding, and she hadn’t been lying this whole time.
My anger grew when she said nothing.
“I have to admit, you were fucking convincing. What was your long game? Get me wrapped around your little finger to get my money? Or do you get some sort of sick enjoyment from lying to people?”
She blinked rapidly before breaking eye contact. “Yep. You got me. I guess that’s just who I am.”
My heart sank. Shit, I’d hoped…
Well, it didn’t matter. At least I’d found out now before I got sucked too far in.
“Are you leaving?” Westin asked, holding her arms across her body as if she were trying to protect herself. My alpha wanted me to pull her close, to be her protection always.
“Leaving?” I asked.
“Quitting,” she clarified.
“No. I stay true to my word, even if you don’t. Get in, princess, you’re late for work.” I snarled, gesturing at the still-open back door.
Westin said nothing as she slipped into the backseat, flinching when I slammed the door shut.
I turned my back on her and ran my hand down my face. Shit. I needed to get my emotions under control. I’d been a fucking idiot to let her get under my skin, but she was just a job. And that’s how I was going to treat her from now on.
28
HENRY
“He won’t stop staring at his phone.” Mom’s hushed voice reached me from across the table. She’d never gotten the art of whispering down.
“It has to be over a girl,” my sister responded. “He’s been attached to it all week.”
I rolled my eyes. “You know I can hear you?” But I put my phone down, feeling guilty that I was distracted at my sister’s rehearsal dinner.
“Oh, I know,” Rose said, a glint in her eyes. “But what I really want to know is who she is.”
I resisted the urge to pick up my phone again. Westin’s texts had grown increasingly sporadic over the past week and a half, and today she hadn’t responded at all. It made me much more antsy than I had any right to feel, but every hour that went by made that voice in my head grow stronger:she’s forgotten you.
“She’s no one.” The words felt wrong in my mouth. I had no reason to feel so strongly about Westin after one date, but being apart had done nothing to cool the intensity of my feelings. It was like I’d left part of my heart back in Luna, which wasabsurd.
“So itisa woman,” Rose squealed.
My mom’s eyes were laser-focused on me as an excited smile spread across her face. I sighed, running my fingers through my hair. “You’re getting married tomorrow,” I said to my sister. “Isn’t that more important than this?”
“No,” my mom and Rose said at the same time before turning to each other and high-fiving.
“You have to bring her home the next time you visit,” Mom said. “Which will besoon.”If she meant it as a question, it didn’t come out that way.
Rose rolled her eyes. “Yes, we all know how hard it is for your sweet first-born baby to be far away.”
