Page 72 of Papers Don't Lie

Kiaran finally notices me and clears his throat, rearranging his suit. “Thanks, sis,” he says, patting her on the back before he turns away, stopping next to me. “That was the only way I could drag her out of there,” he whispers.

I quirk a brow. “That or you wanted more material for your social media.”

He opens his mouth and closes it back, nodding his head before he leaves. I move my attention back to Lacey, whose arms are planted on her hips, a frown on her beautiful face.

“Kai-Kai,” she says, looking at me from under her eyelashes. “Are you spying on Esmeray?” I open my mouth to respond, but she doesn’t let me, and in exchange, pushes me away with her small hands. “It’s bad luck,” Lacey murmurs, pushing me as I stumble on my feet to keep my balance.

Thankfully, when we walk away, our mother is nowhere to be seen.

“Have some patience.” I follow the path her palms push me to, and she only takes her hands off me when we arrive in front of my room.

Lacey leaves with a wave of her index finger meant to express that I’ve been bad.

A laugh escapes me, and I shake my head. I didn’t even think about spying on Esmeray, but now that Lacey has mentioned it, it doesn’t seem like a bad idea.

At all.

THIRTY-NINE

ESMERAY

Raven enters the room where Ilory, Naveah, Taylor, Victory, and Lacey have been for a few hours now. She has a huge horizontal box in her hands, barely keeping her balance as she heavily breathes her way through the girls and puts it down on the table.

“What is this?” I ask, touching the velvet box with my fingers, and she exhales as if she just came from running a marathon.

“It came with this.” She smiles, wiggling her brows at me and handing me a little note with Kai firm’s logo on one side.

I take it.

You said you wanted to choose - your Mr. Big.

A laugh bubblesout of me, and I cover my mouth with my palm as my eyes close from how hard my cheeks lift. Someone takes the note from between my fingers, and when I open my eyes, the laughter is still not fading at the memory of that night.

After how last night ended, I thought it would be strange for us to find our way to each other, but Kai knows to make stuff like that easier to get through.

I’m still shattered over what I heard, and I try to push away the question that refuses to leave my mind. What if… what if everything I got as mixed signals was simply his nature?

“Why does he call himself…?” Raven starts, her brows furrowing. “You know what? I’d rather not know.”

I breathe out in relief when the tension from my stomach disappears and tap my fingers under my eyes, making sure my makeup is not ruined.

“Good,” I tell her, then snatch the note from her hands.

A smile sneaks its way onto my lips, and I don’t think twice before opening the box with shaky hands, excited to see what’s inside. My eyes zero in on the at least thirty rings laid out in front of me.

Now his note makes sense. Kai remembered the day we got married and I told him I would’ve liked to choose one ring for him the same he did for me.

He remembered.

“Are you marrying, like, fifty dudes, or what’s the deal?” Naveah asks, poking her head next to me.

The girls ask the same question, but I don’t pay attention to them as I touch every single ring until I find the perfect one.

“Can you cut a small piece of my bow? But from the back,” I ask Ilory, knowing she’s the only one who won’t ruin it. She nods and grabs a pair of scissors before handing it to me.

I take the material and put it through the silver ring, tying it. It’s perfect. He might think I’m heavily obsessed with purple, but I can’t help myself from putting my mark on everything that passes my hands.

“You’re creepy smiling like that.” Victory furrows her brows, but I only smile wider.

---