Chapter 20: Chapter 20

EVELYN Since that night at the country club, I’ve been feeling anxious.

After all, Assistant Director Curtis's attitude that day had been really odd. He'd gone from praising me to slapping me, from desiring Grace to shoving my sister away.

Damn it. It should’ve been a simple evening.

He got what he wanted. I got what I needed.

Easy peasy.

And Grace…she’d been in prison for years, she should’ve been grateful for the attention. It’s not like anyone would want her now for the long term, not with her record, and certainly not any wolf would associate with her once they learned she was exiled. She didn’t even try to shift. She had no strength when I restrained her. So either her wolf was gone or something had made her disgustingly weak.

There was nowhere lower to go. My sister should’ve seen the chance with Curtis for the good opportunity that it was. Instead she’d caused some horrible fuss and I’m still not entirely sure of the fallout.

After a few days of Curtis not coming to the set, his older brother, the Head Director had also been replaced.

It doesn’t make sense.

As for the reason, no one in the film crew could seem to explain it. I think it has something to do with Curtis’ behavior at the hotel. I overheard his conversation. That human—and his brother the senior Director—they had both been scared.

A prickle of unease skitters along my skin.

I’m a little frightened too. That somehow…the fallout with the directors is connected to Grace.

I just learned from another actor on the set that Assistant Director Curtis had been hospitalized and that his right hand seems to be ruined for life.

I’m dumbfounded. His right hand... If I remember correctly, that was the hand that he had used to slap Grace.

I take a deep breath and try to lessen the panic rising inside.

Grace is a nobody. A convict. A rogue.

Once Sean rejected her, everybody else followed his lead.

But I can’t shake the feeling that these events are connected, and if they are, then…Grace has someone really powerful behind her. But how can that be? And who?

I shake my head.

If it is true… would she still be bitterly sweeping the road every day?

I don’t think so.

“Where were you the other night?” my father asks. “Beta Eric said he saw you… with Grace.”

Shit.

They know.

I debate how much to say. I lift my head and look my father in the eye. “Yes. I asked Grace to meet for a few drinks with the Assistant Director.”

“I see.” My father crosses his arms.

He knows when I’m lying. He flexes his hands and it’s like a wave of power ripples through the room. It rocks me back a few feet.

“Tony!” my mother screams.

“Fine,” I say. “I wanted Grace to cozy up to the Director. I thought if he liked her, he might do more to advance my character in the series.”

My father frowns.

“See,” my mother says grasping his arm. She smiles up at him and bats her eyes, her efforts to calm his beast. “Nothing to fret about.”

"It's just drinking together. What's the big deal? Besides, she’d done that with Sean all those years ago.

Why should it be any different now?”

“Sean is an Alpha. And he respected Grace. He was going to mate her, Evelyn!” Father snarls at me.

“You set your sister up with a human. One older than me!”

Okay, clearly Dad knew more than he let on.

He’d never been warm to Grace, but I acknowledged that I had set my sister up to be sexually assaulted. My father—my Alpha—isn't stupid. He knows that too.

If he presses me, I’ll deny it.

As I said, it had only been a few drinks. My father can’t prove the rest, and I’d launch into a tearful performance if he pushed the point.

“Come now,” my mother tells him. “Evelyn is thinking of pack. A good role for her will bring money and fame to Pack Cummins.”

I lift my chin. “Yes.”

My father doesn’t say anything, but he relaxes a bit, and that’s good enough for me.

"Dad, could Grace have found someone to help her? Because she rejected Assistant Director Curtis’s offer of a drink…and he later ended up in the hospital?”

My mom’s eyes widen. She hurries to intercede. “Oh, Tony. Can it be true?” She touches my dad’s arm again. "You are her father after all. You should try to ask her about it. If she really has a backer now, she should tell the family about it. I'm worried that if she gets involved with some bad people, then our family will be dragged down as well. Again. She was in prison before, and there are all sorts of people in prison. Who knows who she had met in there!”

Bravo mom!

I wasn’t even thinking of giving it that sort of spin. But to hear mom tell it, Grace is up to her despicable antics again.

Heck, maybe she is.

I cover my mouth and gasp. Following my mom’s lead. “Oh, father! What if they come after us? Or her criminal friends do more damage to our family name? I’ve heard that Director and the Assistant Director are being replaced on my set! What if this comes back to haunt us again… Father, you were so honored and revered before Grace killed Alpha Atkinson’s daughter and dishonored us all.”

My father frowns. Then he slaps his fist down on the kitchen table. “If she dares to implicate the family again, I'll break her legs myself!”