Starlet: A Dark Retelling - Cora Kenborn Page 0,108

some dirty, low-down shit.”

I feel the color drain from my face, and my stomach clenches. “What do you mean my test got rerouted?”

The man turns on his heel, a stunned look on his face before his lips part into a sneer. “Son of a bitch. You really don’t know, do you?”

I don’t trust my words, so I shake my head.

He crowds into me again, and suddenly I can’t breathe. “Your boy Dominic paid double my asking price to make sure your test came back proving you were Alexandra Romanov, Miss Smith. Only it never made it to me. Someone rerouted your sample to BioLink.”

“If you didn’t alter my DNA test, then… then…” There’s a sharp stab against my temple. His words are trying to get in, but I can’t let them. There’s no room.

I jump as he slams the folder onto one of the empty desks. “That girl you’ve pretended to be for the last four months? You weren’t pretending. You’re Alexandra Romanov, sweetheart, and there’s the proof.”

My world plunges into an unknown place. It’s dark and lonely, and cold. “No,” I gasp, closing my eyes while backing up. “You’re lying. It’s not true.”

He lets out a heartless chuckle that trickles down my spine. “Oh, it’s true all right. When I figured out what happened, I called McCallum, and let’s just say losing his shit would be an understatement.”

I stop falling, suddenly suspended as if time has frozen. Slowly, I open my eyes and stare at him. “Dominic knows?”

“Oh, sweetheart, not only does he know, he paid me extra to keep my mouth shut.”

Chapter Forty-Four

Dominic

Tightening my grip around the stack of boxes, I pick up the pace, taking the stairs two at a time. I told her thirty minutes but managed to make it back in twenty. Not because I don’t trust her, but I don’t know where her head is at lately, and that’s what worries me. I’ve seen this coming for weeks and hoped being out of the spotlight would reverse the damage I’ve done.

It hasn’t. If anything, it’s made it worse.

When I went to Silverline to get my hands on Rosten, the last thing I expected was to find him gone. Not only that, but then to talk to the night guard and find out he hasn’t been at the studio since Friday.

And neither has Angel.

I pause at the top of the landing, putting those thoughts away for later. I can get her help. She hurt herself last night. This can’t continue.

Whether she wants to admit it or not, we’re tied together. Bound by something bigger than a ruse or a lie. No one can protect her like I can. No one ever has. I won’t let go this time. No matter how hard she pushes or how hard she falls, I’ll be there.

I’ll always catch her.

But to live in the future, I have to stop living in the past. And that starts with leaving Beyond the News behind. Gripping the door, I push my shoulder against it, the boxes slipping from my grip.

“Hey, rook, can you help me with—” The rest of my words get lost as a fist slams into my face, knocking my chin over my shoulder and me into the door. I come back ready to swing until I see Angel standing in front of me, red faced and shaking. “What the fuck?” I yell, rubbing my jaw, because, shit, she can throw a punch.

“How long?” she hisses, one arm hugging a folder against her chest.

Son of a bitch, I knew I shouldn’t have left her alone.

“Twenty minutes,” I sigh, wiping the blood off my lip with the back of my hand. “I was only gone twenty—”

Angel slams the folder down on the desk beside her, flinging it open. “No, asshole. How long have you known?”

Fuck.

I stare at the folder. I don’t have to read it to know what it is. The BioLink logo printed at the top of the page flashes like a hazard light. Only there’s no hazard. This is annihilation. “Where did you get this?”

“Answer the question, Dominic,” she grits out.

I sigh, pressing my thumb against my temple. “Since that night at Amalia.”

She flinches. “The night we…that we…”

She can’t get the words out, so I do it for her. “Fucked. Yes.”

As if my words flip a switch in her head, she lifts her chin, steel glittering in her green eyes. “Did you know before?”

“No. I found out the next morning.”

Silence stretches between us, and then Angel blinks. Her pupils dilate,