Chapter <b>111 </b>


    The bartender came and took our order. I wanted a double shot of rum in my Rum Runner. She nodded at


    all of us, then went to make our drinks.


    “So, what brings you out here tonight, Chase?” Anna asked. “Our little bar here can’tpare to what you


    must be used to in the city.”


    “While it’s true I’m used to more options, this ce isn’t without its charms,<i>” </i>Chase said. He paused a moment, ncing at me. “Truly though, I needed to clear my head and I couldn’t do that sitting in a hotel


    room.”


    “Did something else happen?” I asked.


    “I saw something. Something that confused me.”


    “At the hotel?” Anna prompted.


    “Yes,” Chase replied. “I saw a woman entering a man’s room while carrying a bottle of wine and two sses.”


    “That’s not so strange,” Anna said.


    “Perhaps not,” Chase said. “But I know them both, and… Given what I thought I knew, I didn’t think they would be a pair that were together.”


    I had a sinking feeling again, as if the floor was preparing to open and swallow me whole. “What do you


    mean?<b>” </b>I asked.


    “Amber… Forgive me,” he said. “But aren’t you in a romantic rtionship with Alpha Julian?”


    I froze, the bar suddenly bing very quiet around me as all the blood rushed to my ears. “What did you


    see?” I asked.


    “Perhaps it would be better if I showed you,” he said. “When it happened, I thought it so strange that I had better record it.”


    Chase was on his phone again, opening that gallery. He clicked on a video and turned the screen toward Anna and me. This time, the recording was one clearly taken on his phone. If there was audio, I couldn’t hear it in the crowded bar, though the pair were far enough away that I wasn’t sure Chase’s phone could pick up audio anyway.


    I stared wide–eyed and unblinking as the scene on the phone unfolded.


    Olivia was standing in front of Julian’s hotel room door, then Julian himself. They were talking for a while. In my heart, I begged Julian to send Olivia away. But he didn’t. Instead, after a moment, he let her inside.


    “When did this happen?” I asked. To me, my voice sounded so far away.


    “Half hour ago, maybe?” Chase said. “I’d really only just got here before you two arrived.”


    I stood up from my stool. The bartender was only just now cing my drink down in front of me. I downed it in a few strong gulps, gathering some liquid courage.


    “I’m going,” I said.


    Anna and Chase both looked at me with surprise.


    Anna said, “You shouldn’t have to see what they are doing in there.”


    Chase said, “I didn’t show you this to encourage that…”


    “I don’t care,” I said. “I’m going.”


    I needed to confront Julian myself. No cameras. No lies. Just me and him and the truth.


    Olivia’s POV


    For the past forty minutes or so, maybe even more than that, Olivia has been watching and waiting for Julian to stop talking about Amber long enough to actually drink that drugged ss of wine she had given him.


    Instead, he was pacing, walking back and forth, jumping between only two topics of conversation no matter how hard Olivia tried to move the subject along.


    If he wasn’tining about Chase, he was worried about Amber.


    “Amber is fine<i>,</i><i>” </i>Olivia said, not for the first time. “It’s you I’m concerned about. Drink. You’ll feel better.”


    He looked down at the wine ss. “Maybe you’re right.”


    Finally!


    Olívia leaned forward with anticipation as Julian lifted the ss to his lips.


    C