Chapter 6 We are going out

Amelia POV

I opened the door before my nerves could talk me out of it.

Raymond stood in the hallway, jacket gone, shirt sleeves rolled to his forearms, tie loosened just enough to look like he'd fought it off the moment he walked through the door. He looked less like the man behind the massive desk and more like someone who might actually live in this beautiful, quiet apartment.

"You settled in," he said, glancing past me at the room.

"Maria's very kind."

"She is." Something almost fond crossed his face before it smoothed away. "I wanted to go over tonight before the driver comes back. There's a restaurant, The Grey Hart. My father insists on it whenever there's something to celebrate or something to fix."

"Which is this?"

His mouth curved, not quite a smile. "We'll find out."

I crossed my arms, mostly to keep my hands from fidgeting. "What should I know?"

"There will be people watching us. Pack elders, a few reporters who managed to buy their way onto the guest list, my father's oldest allies." He said it evenly, like reciting a weather report, but his eyes stayed on me the entire time, measuring. "They'll want to see the wild alpha daughter they've read about. Charming. A little reckless. That's the story they're expecting."

My stomach tightened. "And if I'm not that?"

"Then it'll be interesting to watch you disappoint them." He said it lightly, but there was an edge underneath, curiosity dressed up as amusement. "I'm not asking you to perform for a room full of strangers, Alyssa. I'm only telling you what they expect so you're not blindsided."

The kindness of it caught me off guard. I had expected instructions, maybe even a warning. Not consideration.

"Thank you," I said quietly.

He studied me a moment longer, something unreadable behind those storm gray eyes, and then he nodded once, like he'd decided something. "Wear whatever makes you feel like yourself. Not what you think they want to see."

He left before I could answer, footsteps fading down the hall, and I stood there holding the door frame, wondering how a stranger had just handed me the one thing my own father never had.

The permission to be myself.

Except I couldn't be. Not tonight. Not for weeks, maybe longer.

I closed the door and sank onto the edge of the bed, staring at the two open suitcases full of Alyssa's clothes. Silk, sequins, colors bold enough to be seen from across a room. My sister had never once dressed to disappear.

I picked through the racks until I found a deep emerald dress, fitted through the bodice, the color striking against pale skin. It felt like armor and confession all at once. If I had to be watched tonight, at least I could choose how.

Lucy arrived twenty minutes later to help with my hair, humming under her breath as she worked, and it was the first normal thing that had happened all day. She didn't ask questions. She never did. I loved her for it and hated it a little too, the way silence let both of us pretend everything was fine.

Once she stepped out to fetch my shoes, I locked the bathroom door, sat on the edge of the tub, and pulled out my phone with shaking fingers.

Joseph answered on the second ring.

"Amelia." His voice was rough with relief, like he'd been staring at his phone all day waiting for it to light up. "Are you all right? Has he figured anything out?"

"I don't think so." I kept my voice low, barely above a whisper, even though the door was locked and the water was running to cover the sound. "But Joseph, I don't know how long I can do this. Every hour feels like it's stretching thinner."

"I know." A pause, and I could picture him exactly, jaw tight, hand dragging through his hair the way he always did when he was frustrated with himself. "I have a lead. A friend of a friend saw someone matching Alyssa's description two towns over, staying with a pack that owes our family a favor. I'm leaving tonight to check it myself."

My chest ached with something too complicated to name. Relief, gratitude, and underneath it, a flicker of guilt I didn't want to examine too closely. "Joseph, you don't have to—"

"I do." His voice hardened, certain in a way that used to make me feel safe and now only made me feel worse. "I promised you I'd find her, and I meant it. I'm not letting you stay trapped in that man's world a single day longer than you have to."

"He's not..." I stopped myself before the sentence finished, before I said something I couldn't take back. He's not what I expected either. He's not cruel. He's not what you think.

"He's not what?" Joseph asked, quiet and careful, like he'd heard the words I swallowed anyway.

"Nothing," I said too quickly. "I just meant it's not as bad as it could be. He's been... reasonable."

Silence stretched on the line, heavy enough that I could feel him turning the word over, testing its weight.

"Reasonable," he repeated finally, flat.

"Joseph—"

"I'll call you the moment I know something." His voice had cooled, just slightly, just enough for me to notice. "Get through tonight. I'll get you home soon. I swear it."

The call ended before I could say anything else, before I could smooth over whatever crack had just opened between us. I sat there with the phone pressed to my chest, water still running, heart pounding for reasons that had nothing to do with fear of being caught.

Lucy knocked twice. "Almost ready in there? Car's waiting downstairs."

I shut off the tap, checked my reflection in the mirror, green eyes staring back sharper than I felt.

Somewhere below, Raymond Dantata was waiting to walk me into a room full of people who thought they already knew exactly who I was.

I only wished I were as certain as they were.