Chapter 145: The Look

Lorali

Susie had her back turned to him, completely unaware, smiling and laughing as she talked to Cleo on the tablet. But Vanya’s mate didn’t break his stare. He watched the way the satin dress fitted her waist, his expression heavy, unreadable, and lingering far longer than any married Alpha had any right to look at his wife’s best friend.

A sudden, sharp spike of annoyance flared in my stomach.

Unbelievable, I thought, my jaw tightening as I watched him. His wife was sitting right there, and he was staring at Susie like that? Oh my gosh, what is happening here?

It just rubbed me entirely the wrong way. A bitter, sour taste settled on my tongue as I glared at the back of his head. I was practically itching to step in, to pull Susie back or snap at him to keep his eyes to himself. But before I could even say anything—not that I was actually planning to make a loud, public scene in the middle of a high-end bridal boutique—Vanya’s head turned toward the entrance.

The moment Vanya caught sight of her future husband, every drop of the underlying suspicion I had about why this man was eyeing Susie completely vanished.

His face shifted the exact second he registered Vanya. The heavy, lingering look he’d been giving Susie didn’t just fade—it evaporated, replaced by something warm, bright, and utterly undeniable.

It was love. It looked like pure, unfiltered love.

"Hey, love," Vanya called out, her voice dropping into a tone I had almost never heard her use.

I stood there, blinking, as the sudden shift in the air hit me. You could practically feel the warmth radiating between them. Vanya had never been that soft or overtly kind to anyone. Sure, she was polite to us, and she held a deep loyalty to our friend group, but around him, she seemed almost light. Free. Unburdened by the usual perfectionism she carried like armor.

Vanya handed the tablet off to Susie without taking her eyes off him. She stepped across the plush ivory carpet, her stride eager and uncharacteristically informal. Reaching up, she pressed a soft, lingering kiss to his cheek. He folded his arms around her waist effortlessly, pulling her close and whispering something against her ear that made her cover her mouth and burst into a quiet, breathless laugh.

I just stood there watching them, my hands resting lightly over the navy satin of my dress.

Wow, I thought, shifting my weight from one foot to the other. They actually looked happy together. They looked... effortless.

I was really overthinking it, I chided myself silently, taking a low breath and letting the sharp tension drain out of my shoulders. What would I even know about it anyway? I hardly know any of these men, to tell the truth.

Getting tired of watching the lovey-dovey display unfolding in the middle of the showroom, my eyes unconsciously drifted back down to the tablet resting in Susie’s hands.

Arabella’s face was still active on the live video call, but she wasn’t looking at the dresses or contributing to the light chatter Cleo and Susie were trying to maintain.

Susie was holding the tablet angled slightly toward the entryway, catching Vanya and her mate in the background of the frame.

And Arabella was staring straight at them.

Her dark brows were pulled tight together over the bridge of her nose. Her lips were pressed into a thin, rigid line, and her eyes were slightly narrowed, squinting at the screen as if she was trying to solve a complex equation that refused to add up.

She looked thoroughly, utterly confused.

My brow furrowed as I watched Arabella’s expression. A cold prickle of unease settled into my gut. How on earth was Arabella, the girl who made it her personal life’s mission to know every single piece of dirt, history, and political dynamic on everyone in our social circle, looking at Vanya and her mate with the exact same confusion I had felt just two minutes ago?

Okay, I thought, the back of my neck prickling. I really, really need to read that group chat.

The dynamic in the group felt entirely off. The air in the room had shifted into something heavy and uncertain, carrying the exact kind of quiet, static tension that comes right before a storm breaks. Something wasn’t right here, but I wasn’t about to stand in a dressing room and dig into it now.

Vanya’s mate cleared his throat softly, turning around with Vanya still tucked securely against his side. He was an intimidating presence up close, tall, with a square, aristocratic jawline, sharp hazel eyes, and dark, neatly styled hair. His tailored charcoal suit fit his broad shoulders with custom precision, practically screaming high-ranking presidential pack money.

He offered me a polite, easy smile. "Lorali, right? It’s been so long since we last saw you."

"Yeah," I said smoothly, forcing a neutral, polite expression onto my face. "When you guys met me, I was pretty down and out."

He waved a dismissive hand, his tone remarkably charming. "Oh, no need for that. We all have our bad times. It’s good to see you looking well."

He was remarkably polished. He had the kind of easy, natural charisma that made people instantly want to trust him, but as I looked at him standing next to Vanya, I couldn’t help the skeptical thought that crossed my mind.

I don’t see him as Vanya’s type at all.

In my head, the pieces of the past began clicking together like misaligned gears. Back when we were at the Alma Academy, Vanya hadn’t been down bad for any of these high-society Alphas.

She didn’t care about their titles, their grand estates, or their political posturing.

Honestly, if I was telling the truth, she hadn’t even liked any of her pack members back then. I always got the distinct impression she only chose her arrangement because she weighed her options logically and picked the safest route.

The person who had actually forced the idea was Susie. Susie was the one always uplifting the match, always gushing about how perfect the union was, constantly pushing Vanya toward it.

I had never said much about it back then because I was far too wrapped up in my own mess, drowning in my delusional expectations of a future with the Spade pack. And look how wildly that had turned out.

I just hadn’t seen this bond actually happening. Vanya came from a genuinely wealthy, old-money family, crazy, absurd wealth. She had a massive, untouched trust fund sitting behind her name.

None of this high-society luxury was a shock to her. She was the only one of us in our core friend group who had actually come from that world to begin with.

It was still a bit of a shocker that any of us had ended up friends with her in the first place. The rest of us, me, Susie, Cleo, Arabella were essentially bought and paid for. We were brought into the Alma Academy because Alma paid.

Vanya was the sole exception. She hadn’t been paid for, nor had her family bought her way in to get rid of her. She had come to the academy entirely of her own free will. Unlike the other snobbish upper-class girls in our year, the academy headmasters had actively gone out to recruit her because she fit every single theoretical metric of the ’ideal Omega.’ She was that flawless.

So why choose him? She didn’t need his money. She didn’t need his pack’s social standing. What could have possibly made her agree to this match, other than Susie’s endless, relentless whispering in her ear?

"Well," Vanya’s mate said, breaking through my internal spiral as he looked between me, Susie, and Vanya. "Since we’re all here and the dress selections are sorted, why don’t I take everyone out to dinner?"

Susie’s eyes lit up instantly. "Oh, I am so down. I’m starving."

"Count me in," Cleo chimed through the tablet speaker, though she pouted slightly. "Even if I have to watch you guys eat over video."

I paused for a fraction of a second. I had a party to get to later tonight, a whole separate list of obligations I was supposed to be preparing for. But my curiosity won out instantly. Wait a minute. I’m going.

I wanted to know the drama. I wanted to sit at that table, watch the interactions, and figure out what was happening beneath the surface, because I was just as confused as Arabella looked on that screen.

A small part of me bitterly wished I hadn’t gotten into that stupid fight with Arabella earlier, because if we were on speaking terms, we would have already been secretly texting each other, gossiping and picking apart every single detail.

"Yeah," I said, offering a small smile. "Let’s go to dinner."

Susie and l headed back to the changing stalls to slip out of the heavy navy gowns and back into our normal clothes. The boutique staff efficiently handled the garment bags, assuring Vanya everything would be prepped and stored securely.

When we made our way down to the private garage, the arrangement was split logically: the girls traveled together in Vanya’s sleek, tinted town car, while the guys took the lead vehicle.

The drive was short, taking us toward a newly developed, ultra-exclusive high-rise district situated just a few blocks away from the main mall plaza. When the car pulled up to the private valet entrance, we were escorted straight into a private express elevator that shot up to the top floor of a striking, modern skyscraper.

The elevator doors slid open directly into a breath-taking, multi-level restaurant. The architecture was stunning, sweeping glass walls that offered a panoramic view of the city skyline, dark polished stone floors, floating warm lights suspended from geometric steel beams, and indoor greenery cascading down terraced seating areas.

"Wow," I said out loud before I could stop myself, stepping out onto the stone floor. "This is fancy."

Vanya’s mate chuckled, stepping up beside us as the maître d’ bowed politely and began leading us toward a reserved private booth near the edge of the glass. "It’s a relatively new spot. The architecture alone makes it worth the reservation."

"It’s unique," Susie noted, looking up at the angled, seamless glass ceiling that arched over the main dining room. She tapped her chin thoughtfully. "I think this is a Boleyn building, isn’t it? Their developments always have those distinct structural arches."

I halted mid-step, turning my head to look at her. "Really?"

"Yeah," Susie said casually, smoothing down her jacket as we walked. "They practically own half the new high-rise developments in this city."

My brow raised. "Wait. B..Boleyn, you mean Erin? Erin Boleyn?"

Susie gave me a look of pure judgment, shaking her head as if I had just asked if the sun was bright. "There’s only one Boleyn family running construction and high-end architecture in this city, Lorali. Come on now."

"Ooh... that’s true. There’s really only one Boleyn that builds things like this."