Escaping the Arrogant Dark Moon Alpha novel · Chapter 11 of 24

Chapter 11: Portia's Price

I didn't reach for it.

Portia closed her hand again.

"Sit down," Ginny said from behind the bar. "You're letting the cold in with your face."

Portia didn't sit.

She looked around the room.

"I'd like to speak to her alone," she said.

"No," said Tobin.

"No," said Ginny.

"No," I said. "Say it here."

Portia's mouth tightened.

Then she laughed a little, and some of the polish came back into her face.

"Fine. Here's my offer. At the Moot, you stand up in front of the Council and reject the bond. Out loud, so it dies."

"And?"

"And you confess to April third. You pulled the rope. You were jealous of me, so you wanted my family hurt. You did it alone." She tilted her head. "You give them that, and I give you this card, and nobody ever hears what's on it."

The whole bar was listening.

"Why would I want the card if nobody hears it?" I asked.

"Because Roman wants it. Because as long as I have it, so does he." She shrugged. "You'll get a few years. Groomers do well in prison, I'm sure. Lots of floors."

Ginny made a sound.

"And Roman walks," I said.

"Roman stays Alpha. My father's money stays in the Crown. And my husband never feels you again." She said "husband" carefully, as if it were a glass she might drop. "That's the deal."

"How's his arm?" Tobin asked.

Portia didn't look at him.

"Healed. He told the guests he slipped on the ice."

"Did they believe him?"

"They're my guests," she said. "They'll believe whatever I tell them to."

I looked at her for a long time.

She was twenty-five.

She'd married a man who left their wedding cake to wait in a dark barn for somebody else.

I almost felt sorry for her.

Almost.

"You were on the Crown that morning," I said.

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