Filthy rich werewolves novel Chapter 66

GRACE

I purse my lips. Sean’s offer is absurd. He…what exactly? Wants to assuage his guilt by getting me a job? It was his fault I’d been unemployable everywhere else in the city in the first place.

I start to walk away from him.

“Don’t walk away from me,” Sean growls. He grabs my arm. I stare pointedly at his hand on me. “I’m still talking to you. Seriously, Grace. I'm already taking a risk by offering to help you!"

"Did anyone ever ask you to take that risk?" I ask flatly. “Did you ever hear of ‘too little, too late,’ Sean? When I needed you most, you abandoned me.” I shake my head.”There is no need for this. Moreover, aren't you afraid that your fiancee will hear?"

“Hear about what?” a sharp voice asks. Sean’s eyes widen. "What is it that you're keeping from me?"

Sean freezes. He released his grip on Grace's arm immediately and turned to look at Lily, who was walking toward him.

“It’s nothing,” he says quietly.

Lily arches a brow. “Hmm.” She loops her arm through his. "Sean, darling, why did you stop to talk to this kind of person? Aren't you afraid that Alpha Reed will hear about it? You know my sister is the only woman he ever loved. Although my sister has been dead for three years, he has never had another woman..."

Although Lily does not complete her sentence, it’s plain to see where she is going with this.

Sean's face pales.

There are far-reaching effects of angering Alpha Reed. Effects neither he nor his pack can afford.

I’m pretty sure that’s why he deserted me the first time around.

And I guess, to hear Lily tell it, Alpha Reed still wants his pound of flesh from me too.

Well, one battle at a time.

"Grace, you're only fit to be a sanitation worker.” Lily smiles cruelly. “And you’re so good at it!”

My eyes narrow. I’m furious.

Lily’s eyes flash to her wolf, and I realize she is purposely baiting me. She wants me to lunge for her so she can either finish what she started and kill me herself or she’s got some other scheme up her sleeve.

“Do you think Alpha Reed knows that you're already out of prison?” She taps her chin with her free hand. “He made your life a living hell in there, didn’t he?”

I shudder.

“Funny, if he doesn’t know it already, he just might recognize you on the news from our interviews today. Maybe you should think about relocating. I believe that before long, you will no longer be able to survive in this city," Lily says. She leans in to whisper. “You might think you’re safe in these neutral territories. But a lone human female all alone, with no pack or wolf to help protect her…” she tsks.

With that, she walks away with Sean, holding him by the arm.

I watch them leave.

I take my tools and head toward a section of the highway, riding on the bicycle provided by the Sanitation Service Center.

I already buried the feelings that I’d had for Sean. Any emotions I felt, died long ago. They died along with my baby.

Seeing him again, while a bit of a surprise, didn’t stir anything in my heart. It didn’t even raise much amity. He was just…dead to me.

He deserved Lily.

After a while, he finds a piece of news that had been reported three years ago. A picture of the woman who had received the gift from Lily. Only she looked beautiful, vibrant in a way that he was shocked it was the same woman.

"This is too much of a coincidence!" Brian exclaims.

Three years ago, that woman had been Sean's girlfriend. Fast forward to today, and the successful attorney was sweeping the streets? That was a hell of a tumble. And this woman just so happened to be receiving a gift from Sean's current girlfriend as an apology?

Brian rubs his hands together. If he’d had a mustache, he would give it a twirl. He laughs to himself as his excitement grows.

There is a story here.

A juicy one.

Where others had missed this one integral detail, he’d seen it. And he was going toast on it.

He dug into forming his story and drafting it.

Although there were more salacious ways to capitalize on the direction of his thoughts, he kept to the facts. With a story like this… it wouldn’t matter. He was fine to let the public speculate. That would just encourage more people to read.

When he handed his work to the editor, the editor rejected it and told him to rewrite it.

"Why must I re-write it?" Brian asked unhappily. To be frank, he was offended. He’d done a damn good job catching this anomaly and building out the story around it. “Seriously, why do you want it rewritten? This is a slam dunk. You have to see that this is headline-worthy.”

“It’s not the story itself… it’s the woman.”