Chapter 99 Apology and Revenge

Alpha Sebastian was about to swear up and down he’d never said anything like that, when it hit him.

Last year. Rainy night. Eira walking home, umbrella in one hand, grocery bags in the other, rain running straight down the side of the umbrella and soaking her free hand clean through.

He’d actually thought about getting her a car back then. His assistant pulled up options fast, some pushing eighty, ninety grand, a couple hitting six figures.

And yeah. He’d said it. She doesn’t need anything that fancy.

He meant to buy one anyway.

Then that same week he’d had to push a big chunk of funding over to Serena’s research, and once that was locked in, he figured the car could wait a few more days.

A few more days turned into never.

Later on, when he asked Eira if she wanted a car, she said no, and he just let it drop, didn’t think twice.

Alpha Sebastian snapped back to the present. "Get her a Porsche."

"You got it, Alpha."

He hung up and started toward the door, intending to go home. Then he remembered—Eira wasn’t there.

He stopped cold, halfway across the room.

Eventually he just turned around and crashed on the couch in the private lounge off his office instead.

--

The next morning, Isabella blew up his phone until he woke up.

He grabbed it, squinted. Eight a.m.

"Why are you blowing up my phone this early?" he grumbled.

"Sebastian, I’m freaking out." Isabella’s voice shook. "Eira texted me. Wants to meet tonight. Ten p.m. The Sterling House."

"So show up, say sorry, and move on. It’s not that deep. But you’ve gotta actually stop pulling stunts that mess with her, Isabella. I mean it this time."

"You’re not listening to me!" Her voice spiked, sharp enough to make him wince. "Same time, same spot as last time. This has setup written all over it."

The screech rang straight through his skull. He pulled the phone back, got up, walked out of the lounge.

"She’s not gonna do anything to you."

"You don’t know that. Just come with me, okay? I need backup on this."

"I don’t have time for this."

Even as the words left his mouth, though, something nagged at him. He hadn’t actually seen Eira in days. He exhaled.

"Fine. I’ll swing by. But you’re going in first, I’m not babysitting this."

"Knew you’d cave." Isabella’s tone flipped instantly, smug now instead of scared.

--

The Sterling House

Eira and Lila were already at the table when Isabella walked in.

Fruit, sparkling water, nobody touching either. Just waiting.

Lila dug through her bag as the clock ticked toward ten.

"Brought something good." She pulled out a bottle of Vitamin C tablets, popped the cap. "Watch. I drop one in her drink right in front of her, she’s gonna flip out."

She popped one in her own mouth. "Ugh, sour as hell. No wonder people buy the fizzy kind."

Eira took one too, then reached for the bottle as Lila peeled at the label.

"Leave it on," Eira said. "Scarier that way."

Guilty people always figure everyone else is guilty too.

"There she is." Lila smirked. "Already looks paranoid."

Eira left the bottle out in plain sight and watched Isabella walk over.

Isabella dropped into her seat, already on the defensive. "My brother’s on his way. Try anything, Eira, and he’ll cut you loose so fast."

Lila snorted. [Cut loose? Girl, he already did. Past tense.]

If Eira hadn’t promised his parents she’d keep the divorce quiet, Lila would’ve had it on every billboard downtown by now.

"What’s funny?" Isabella snapped at Lila, then turned back to Eira. "You want an apology, fine, I’m here. Why’s there an audience?"

"So you can’t turn around tomorrow and say this never happened." Eira’s voice stayed flat. "That’s the whole point of witnesses."

Isabella had nothing.

Lila leaned in. "So? Let’s hear it."

"Here?" Isabella glanced around the room, looking sick to her stomach.

Lila pulled a megaphone out from under the table, dropped it with a thud. "Here. On record, in front of people who’ll remember it."

"Where’d that even come from?" Eira blinked.

"Under the table this whole time."

Lila slid it across. "Say what you did, ask forgiveness, done. Short and sweet."

Isabella stared at it like it was radioactive. "You can’t do this trashy stunt in a place like this."

"My family owns it." Lila shrugged. "Nobody’s saying a word."

Isabella’s jaw clenched hard enough to crack a molar. "You’re doing this on purpose."

"Yep." Eira glanced at her watch. "Sixty seconds. Talk, or the deal’s off."

Isabella’s hands shook picking up the megaphone. She couldn’t do it, not in front of a room full of strangers.

Eira stood. Lila stood.

"I’M SORRY!" Isabella screamed into it, eyes squeezed shut. Every head turned. Her face went white.

"I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have, I hated you, I wanted him to divorce you, I put something in your drink, I had someone, whatever, I’m sorry, forgive me!"

She said it all in one breath, then buried her face in her hands.

Lila laughed. No mercy at all.

Eira sat back down, calm as ever. "Now drink this."

"What?" Isabella’s head snapped up.

Eira twisted the cap, tapped two pills into a glass of wine, slid it over.

"What are you doing?!"

"Drink it. Consider it Exhibit A."

"I knew it!" Isabella smacked the glass off the table. Glass everywhere.

Lila raised a hand. A server appeared instantly.

"Fresh glass, please."

He brought one.

Lila poured, Eira dropped in two more pills, pushed it forward again.

Isabella whipped out her phone instead of grabbing anyone. "I’m calling the cops right now. She’s drugging drinks in public, are you kidding me?"

Nobody missed the irony, her throwing Eira’s own accusation right back at her, word for word.

"Oh, now you’re worried about drugged drinks." Lila’s laugh went cold. "Relax. It’s vitamin C. Read the label."

"It really is just vitamin C," Eira added.

"BULLSHIT!" Isabella screeched, thumb still hovering over the call button, when she spotted someone behind Eira and forgot the phone entirely.

"Sebastian!" She lunged, grabbed his arm. "She put something in the wine! She’s trying to force me to drink it!"

His eyes dropped to the table. Pills still sitting there, undissolved, plain as day.

"Eira?"

Her eyes cut to him, cool and unbothered. She stood, glass in hand, stepped right in front of him.

"Isabella." Soft voice. "You want to know what forcing someone to drink actually looks like?"

Her hand shot out, grabbed Isabella’s jaw, tipped her head back. Glass to her lips.

She tilted it. Wine poured straight in. Isabella’s eyes bulged, she sputtered, choked, flailed.

"This is forcing someone to drink."