him, surprised and pleased.
“Thank you.” I gave him a tentative smile. “I’ll save it for the day, I think. Especially since we just got our Christmas gifts. Thanks again for mine, by the way.”
Arlo had given me, Caiden, and Weston the exact same gift—equal amounts of shares in some tech start-up he’d invested in, and I’d been honestly shocked. And touched, actually. I hadn’t been expecting to be treated the same as his own sons, and from the matching look of shock on my mother’s face, neither had she.
He waved my thanks away, then indicated towards the door. “Just a token. Now, go and enjoy yourself.”
With another smile I left his office, taking a detour to put the gift with the others in the bag waiting by the front door ready to take back home, then rejoined everyone else in the conservatory, or orangery, as my mother insisted on calling it. Whatever. It was glass and full of Arlo’s bloody plants that seemed to love tickling me wherever I walked. My mother was having a small gathering since she and Arlo had been away for New Year’s Eve, so consequently I and the rest of the Four were in attendance. Lena had managed to get out of it, but other than that, all the founding families were here, plus a select group of her and Arlo’s closest friends.
“We must go shopping to find you some more appropriate clothing. Maybe I’ll see if we can go with Arlo on his next business trip to London, if it doesn’t interfere with your studies.” My mother raked her gaze over me with a frown, pursing her lips.
I stared down at myself. What was wrong with what I was wearing? I knew how particular she was with clothing, so I’d worn a black, knee-length dress with an A-line skirt and heels. Demure, classy, and totally not an outfit I would have chosen for myself, but I was still working on the whole “keep her happy, don’t make her suspicious” thing.
She must’ve noticed my confusion, because she added, “Your outfit is acceptable. I’m more concerned with your day-to-day attire. Jeans and hoodies are so uncouth.”
Seriously? I rolled my eyes internally, and then a thought struck me. How was this even featuring on her radar? Every time I was in her presence I tried to dress as smartly as I could, unlike Cade, who still gave zero fucks. She was never around me when I was dressed down in my normal clothes. So how and when would she have seen me?
Making a mental note to mention this to Caiden, I just nodded, rather than replying. In return, she gave me a brittle smile that didn’t reach her eyes, then excused herself to speak to Cassius’ mother.
Making my way over to Weston, I dropped into the chair next to him, accepting the glass of wine Allan handed to me. We both sat in silence for the most part, lost in our own thoughts. There was a weird, unsettled feeling in the air, which had been there ever since New Year’s Eve. It seemed like everyone was on edge, waiting for the other shoe to drop.
We were all wary of Joseph, unsure of his game plan—but he seemed to have stayed quiet for the most part. Weston was constantly tracking my mother’s and Arlo’s cars. Frustratingly, there was still nothing out of the ordinary, not that they’d been back long from their ski trip.
What I couldn’t work out was how everything was connected. It couldn’t be a coincidence, could it? I couldn’t help feeling I was missing an essential piece of the puzzle.
Sitting upright, unable to relax, I slowly sipped my wine, grimacing at the taste.
Weston glanced over at me with a short laugh. “Not a fan of wine?”
“Not really.” I swirled the liquid around in the crystal glass. “Not of this particular wine, anyway—it’s giving me a headache. I’ll drink it to be polite, but I’d rather have Prosecco or champagne, if anything.”
He craned his neck to look over at the tray with the bottles Allan had poured my wine from. “Just an FYI—that wine’s something like five hundred quid a bottle.”
“What?” I screeched, then instantly lowered my voice when several heads turned to look at me. “That’s insane! I could buy, I dunno, a laptop or something for that.”
He just shook his head at me, laughing, as I stared at him with my mouth hanging open.
“Something funny?” We both looked up, and Caiden was standing there,