Princess of Hollywood (The Glitterati Files #2) - Maggie Dallen Page 0,43
head quickly. “The timing of the payments, some comments he’s made in the past whenever he was angry.” She glanced around, and her face seemed to lose all color. “The way he gets angry with her. It’s so much more…”
“What?” I asked, my gut churning again as my blood pounded through my veins. “How does he get angry with her?”
She gave her head a shake. “I think we need to drop it, Jack. The payments, her mom. We need to drop it. Or else…”
I leaned in closer. “Or else what?”
“Or else…” She exhaled sharply. “I’m afraid it will be Lila who gets hurt.”
Something dark and toxic spewed from the most primal part of my brain and just like that, I was tensed for battle. “How?” My voice was sharper than intended. “Tess, how would she be hurt? How is Lila tied up in this?”
“I…” She cleared her throat. “I don’t know.”
I stared at her for a long moment. “I don’t believe you.”
She didn’t try to deny it.
I shoved away from the table and took in the crowd. “Where is she?” I muttered. I’d lost sight of her a little while ago, and now the fact that I didn’t have eyes on her felt like torture.
I had no idea what I was worried about. I mean, she was at her own home. Surrounded by family and friends.
Exactly. The sarcastic voice in the back of my head was not exactly reassuring. Even more disturbing, it sounded a lot like Lila’s voice.
I saw Brandon, but Lila wasn’t at his side as he talked to Siobhan and Evie and a few others. Amber was on the far edge of the pool—when she’d shown up, I had no idea. But Lila…
“Maybe she went inside,” Tess said beside me.
I wasn’t certain, but I was pretty sure she sounded just as worried as I felt.
We were being paranoid. I knew that. All this talk of secrets and spying, it was getting to my head. Making me see threats where there weren’t any.
Welcome to my life. There was Lila’s voice again. At what point had she’d gotten into my head as well as my heart? That was anyone’s guess. Sometime back in Pinedale, I supposed. Maybe that very first day I’d met her.
But right now, the meaning was clear. As I eyed her “friends” and discussed how she might inexplicably get hurt by her own family…
This was a whole new insight into Lila’s world. How she’d lived her entire life.
My chest was freakin’ aching with this need to pull her into my arms and hold her tight. Better yet, I wanted to take her away from all this. Maybe Tess was right, maybe I could take her home, at least for the holidays. If Brandon went too, it would even make sense that she’d go home for Thanksgiving with him and—
“Where do you think you’re going?” Tess was hopping beside me as she tried to keep up with me and put on her shoes at the same time.
“I need to find her.” I was already heading toward the main house. I’d never been inside so I had no idea where I was going—a fact that Tess seemed to be aware of because she sighed beside me.
“I’ll go with you. If my father catches you and Lila together…” She sighed again. “Just don’t get caught, okay?”
I wasn’t nearly as worried about getting caught as I was finding Lila, but I didn’t respond. I let her take the lead, angling away from the main entrance where partygoers were going in and out to use the restrooms or just check out the ornate craziness that was this Hollywood mansion.
She led us down a path that wasn’t as well lit as the others. “Back entrance,” she whispered.
“Why are we whispering?” I asked.
She gave a little snort of amusement. “I don’t know.” She shook her head and turned back with a laugh. “I don’t know why I feel like I’m sneaking into my own house.”
It did feel like we were being extra sneaky, but at this point, I would break in through a window if it meant finding Lila.
“I rarely go in this way anymore,” Tess said as she opened a door to what seemed to be a servants’ entrance. “But if Lila wanted to get to her room…”
She shot me a meaningful look that had me smirking at her. Was Lila waiting for me in her room? God, I hoped so. But then, why hadn’t she just texted?