Page 93 of Claiming Pretty

I looked down at the blanket wrapped around me, reallylookedat it for the first time. It was navy blue, soft, with stars sewn into it like a night sky.

“I-I don’t know,” I stammered. “I just grabbed it on my way to the bathroom.”

Ciaran’s eyes burned into mine, disbelief etched into every line of his face. “That’s Ty’s. Our mother gave that to him.”

The air left my lungs as the room suddenly felt too small.

Ciaran turned to Ty, fury sparking in his eyes. “Why ismygirlfriend wearingyourblanket over her naked body?”

Ty remained silent, the tension in the room pulling tautlike a wire about to snap.

Ciaran took a step toward him, then faltered, stumbling slightly. He must still be shaking off the drug Ty had given him last night.

I rushed to him, grabbing his arm to steady him and guiding him to sit on the couch.

“Sit,” I murmured softly. “I’ll get you some water.”

Ty, infuriatingly unbothered as always, headed for the kitchen. “I’ll start the coffee.”

I kissed Ciaran’s temple, whispering, “Just rest,” before I made my way to the kitchen. The tension coiled in my chest like a spring as I filled a glass at the sink, Ty standing by my side near the kettle.

“Last night didn’t happen,” I whispered to him, my voice low but sharp.

Ty glanced at me, his expression unreadable. “Itdidhappen. No matter how much you try to deny it.”

A groan from the couch made us both glance over at Ciaran. He looked pale, his head in his hands.

I hated lying to Ciaran.Hatedit. But the alternative was unbearable.

“Ty,” I whispered. “If you tell him… he’ll kill you.”

Ty’s mask slipped for a fraction of a second, the cold rage from last night glittering dangerously in his eyes. “Not if I kill him first.”

The words hung in the air like a knife between us, sharp and heavy.

I swallowed hard, the tension between us thickening, suffocating. And for the first time, I let myself consider it—what if this was the only way it ended?

With one of them dead.

AVA

With an exhausted sigh, I tossed yet another useless library book onto the dining room table. It joined the clutter of laptops, newspapers, more books, and pizza boxes, each a monument to our increasingly desperate search.

The air smelled faintly of cold pizza and burned coffee, remnants of the time we’d spent chasing ghosts through dead-end leads.

Ty didn’t tell Ciaran about the night at the observatory so things between Ciaran, Ty, and me settled into a weird kind of truce as we dug into researching the Sochai between classes.

“It’s been weeks,” I groaned, raking my hands through my hair. “And we still have nothing.”

“These assholes created a system to legitimize and hide their twisted activities,” Ty said from the chair beside me, his voice steady but simmering with quiet frustration. “They’re experts at hiding. It’s going to take time.”

Ciaran, sitting on my other side, slammed his palms flatagainst the table. “The bastards probably have high-level judges erasing public records, airline CEOs masking international travel, doctors forging documents—God knows what else.”

He was right, of course. But David didn’t need fucking constant reminding that he was up against Goliath.

I let out a sharp noise of frustration. “So what do we do now?”

Ciaran softened slightly, reaching for my hand and massaging the tension out of my palm, his touch grounding. “We’ll figure it out.”

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