Chapter 94

Chapter 94

By the time I got to work the next day, Andrew had told me that everything was taken care of Any witnesses who might have recognized us, any fingerprints that could have been used to identify us, any clue that we had even been at The Masque last night had been figuratively buried. That was the magic of money and connections. I supposed.

As I entered the Ever After Weddings bridal shop, the attack was all that I heard about. Apparently. Andrew’s influence was enough to keep our part in the fight from being revealed but was not enough to keep people from leaking that it had happened in the first place. People did love high–society drama.

“Crystal!” Terri exclaimed as soon as she saw me. She motioned me over to the counter. “Did you hear what happen at The Masque last night?”

My heart pounded, but I tried to keep my voice and breathing even.

“The Masque? You mean Lady Clement’s club?” I asked.

“Yeah, the one that all those hoity–toity people go to in order to put on masks and do weird shit. Terri continued.

I shrugged nonchalantly.

“No, I don’t think so.”

“Seriously, you need to start checking the tabloids in the morning.” Terri gave me a friendly. shove in the arm. “There was a huge fight between two male werewolves there last night.”

I widened my eyes to appear surprised.

“You’re kidding me! Right there in public?”

“Yeah, they transformed and everything.”

“Full wolf?”

“No, that’s the wild thing. They went wolf–man and nearly killed each other.”

Terri paused.

“Well, one nearly killed the other. Supposedly, the attacker was so strong that the other guy barely even scratched him.”

My eye twitched at her calling Andrew the “attacker. In my eyes, that creep who had been copping a feel was the true attacker.

So, what are they saying started it?”

Terri shrugged.

Chapter 94

“That’s the other crazy thing. No one’s sure why it happened. It seemed that there was a female werewolf involved, so maybe she had something to do with it.”

“Maybe the one was getting handsy when he shouldn’t have been,” I muttered, not realizing that Terri could probably hear me.

Terri cocked her head at me.

“That’s an interesting theory. I wish that there was more information out, but apparently, they don’t even know the identity of the attacker or the female.”

My curiosity overtook me.

“Do they know who the other man was?”

Terri chewed her lower l*p, deep in thought.

“The son of some rich werewolf businessman. Samuel Romano, I think.”

I coughed, nearly choking on Terri’s answer.

“Samuel Romano, son of Luca Romano, the meat mogul?”

Luca Romano was the owner and CEO of Lycanthrope Meat Distributions, or LMD, the biggest werewolf–specific meat distributor in the world. He also happened to be one of the biggest contributors to Andrew’s campaign for Alpha King. If it ever got out that Andrew attacked Luca’s son, it could ruin Andrew.

“How is Samuel?” Lasked.

“He’s in intensive care, but they expect him to pull through. Why do you

ask?”

“Just wondering.”

Inside, I was praying to the Moon Goddess for Samuel to recover. He might have gotten what he deserved, but I did not want to risk this impacting Andrew’s career–or life.

Just before lunch, a man wearing a basketball cap and sunglasses walked into the shop.

“Hello, welcome to Ever After Weddings,” I said as he approached the counter. When he did not say anything in return, I continued, “Is there anything I can do for you?”

He pulled a gloved hand out of his jacket pocket and placed an envelope on the counter. He stared at me for a moment. Then, without a word, he turned around and left.

Well, that was creepy, Terri said from within a row of wedding dresses. “What was that all

Chapter 91

“I don’t know.”

I looked down at the envelope. On the front, in bold red letters, it read:

CRYSTAL BLANCHARD

READ ALONE

I turned to Jeffrey, who stood behind me, but he gave u

indication of having any idea of what was in the envelope or what I should do with it. Since it was just about lunchtime anyway, Ldecided to head to the employee lounge and see what was going on.

“Hey Terri, you can handle closing up for lunch, right?” I asked.

“Sure thing. Scream if you’re getting murdered.”

Terri laughed uncertainly, as though even she found her joke in poor taste.

I gave her a pity chuckle before grabbing the envelope and going to the employee lounge, Jeffrey only a couple steps behind me. I closed the door behind him and sat down at the table, throwing the envelope down in front of me. For a few minutes, I sat there, staring at it, not wanting to know what was inside.

“You

won’t know what’s going on until you open it.” Jeffrey finally said.

I cringed.

“I know.” I took a deep, shuddering breath. “What if it’s bad?”

“It probably is.”

1 whipped my head around.

“You’re not supposed to say that!”

He shrugged.

“It’s the truth, though. No envelope with red writing gets delivered that mysteriously and has a good message inside it.”

I ran my hand through my hair.

I know. It’s just the last thing that I need right now.”

“You know that, whatever it is, Andrew will help you through it.”

Tumaled slightly.

“Yeah, I know.”

Trey’s words give me enough courage to open the envelope. Inside was a one–page letter.

Chapter 94

read:

Crystal Blanchard,

I know that you and Andrew Dubois were involved in the fight at The Masque last night. I know that Andrew was the attacker, and I know that the fight was over you. Meet me outside of Ever After Weddings at 11:59 p.m. tomorrow night with $1 million, or I will tell the world. about your and Andrew’s parts in the fight.

Come alone.

My b*dy shook by the time I finished reading the letter. How did someone find out what had happened last night? Andrew swore that he had scrubbed the situation clean.

Was it possible that he had missed someone? Had someone decided that what he had given them wasn’t enough, and now they were coming for more?

This could ruin Andrew. Why were they coming through me? I didn’t have $1 million!

What was I going to do?

I forced myself to rein in my panic. I had to focus, and to do that, I had to have a clear head. There had to be someone who could help me out of this situation.

I was suddenly very aware of the man standing behind me. The man who had received the same kind of training as the US Secret Service. The man who had witnessed my kidnapping and who knew what else in his line of duty.

I turned and gave the letter to Jeffrey. Silently, he took it and read it through multiple times. When he was done, he handed it back to me and waited for me to speak first.

“What should I do?” I asked, staring at him with imploring eyes.

He did not hesitate with his answer.

“You need to tell Andrew,” he said. “Immediately.”

18