Chapter 165

Aria

Lola takes a deep breath, glancing over my shoulder like someone might be eavesdropping, then locks eyes with me. “Your mother… she was a beautiful and brave woman,” she says, and for a second, she looks like she’s about to cry or punch someone. “I used to wait on her.”

Wait, what? “You did?” I ask, raising a brow.

She nods slowly. “Yeah… we were close. But then something happened.”

The air shifts. Her whole face changes, like someone just slapped her with a memory she didn’t ask for. “Something bad?” I ask, even though I’m already dreading the answer.

“Alpha Marcel… he…”

“What’s happening here?” And that’s when the damn interruption shows up like clockwork. “Aria, I’ve been waiting for you?” Alpha Marcel says, popping his head into the kitchen like the king of inconvenient timing.

Lola’s face transforms so fast. She pastes on the fakest smile known to man. I’m talking toothpaste-commercial fake. “We were just getting to know eac