Page 53 of Hunting Pretty

Liath didn’t inheritanyof his features.

Which made sense if Liath wasn’t his biological child either.

I dropped my cucumber sandwich onto my plate. “Liath was adopted?”

Mr. Byrne pointed at her, whiskey spilling over the lip of his glass in accusation. “It wasyourfault she found out. That’s why you won’t accept the truth.”

Mrs. Byrne shook her head, makeup smearing down her soft cheeks. “No, no.”

“You let it slip while you were drunk.”

“I didn’t, I swear.”

“Because of you Liath found out.” Mr. Byrne slammed his glass down on the mantle. “She ran off to find herrealparents.”

“Excuse m-me, I…” Mrs. Byrne stood and ran from the room.

Mr. Byrne cleared his throat and smoothed down his vest. “I apologize for my wife. She is prone to bouts of hysteria, even before Liath ran off.”

For once, I glared back at Mr. Byrne, the fury at the way he treated his wife making me bold, overriding my sense of self-preservation.

Mr. Byrne’s lip pulled up in a dark smirk and he prowled toward me until he towered over me in my seat.

He placed his spidery fingers on my shoulder. “You’ve always been such a good friend, Ava.”

To my horror, his fingers began to move, to massage up to my neck. “Such a good girl.”

The hairs on my arms stood on end. Every single inch of me screamed to run. Run!

But I was frozen in place by cold dread, by the pressureof his hand.

From behind me Lisa gasped, but what could she actually do?

“Don’t touch me,” I spat out through gritted teeth.

Mr. Byrne merely smiled as if my words meant nothing. “We’ll see you again soon, dear Ava.”

His fingers lingered at my neck before he strode out of the room, following his wife farther into the mansion, not looking back once.

My breaths came in shallow gasps, and I jerked upright in the chair, swiping my hand over my neck as if I could erase the memory of his hand there. I shuddered, the chill of his touch still crawling across my skin.

“Let’s get the fuck out of here,” Lisa hissed as she shot a glance toward the door, as if he might reappear at any second.

I nodded, but my legs were trembling beneath me, and I made no move to push myself to standing.

Liath was adopted.

The thought slammed into my mind, my heart still racing from the whole creepy encounter.

Mr. Byrne let it slip, just like that, with that twisted smirk on his face like it was some kind of joke.

My mind whirred, trying to piece together what this could mean, even as Lisa grabbed on my arm and tried to tug me toward the exit.

Even though the Byrnes appeared to be wealthy, well-positioned, respectable members of high society, they kept so many secrets. I bet this whole house was crawling with secrets.

Clipped footsteps echoed from the front foyer, growinglouder with each passing second, announcing the approach of whom I guessed was their butler, ready to escort us out.

But I wasn’t ready to leave.

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