“What about the threat that Lineage made?” I asked.

He tilted his head. “What threat?”

“Julian said they threatened to shut Goldshire down if the school didn’t agree to be used as part of a cover-up.”

He blinked. “Oh, I didn’t know anything about that. I was talking about the gala.”

It took a lot more convincing for me to get Adam to spill all the details he knew about the upcoming gala. But I think he felt awful about how badly I had gotten beaten up, so he had a difficult time refusing me.

Apparently, the gala was to be held in the city’s aquarium, a place that I loved to visit with my mom when I was a kid. She and I had gone once during a nighttime visit, and I remembered thinking how much cooler it was than going during the day. The entire aquarium was lit up in teals and cerulean blues that seemed to make all the tanks look backlit. It was truly a magical experience. Less magical that Adam told me the event was being used in preparation for a charity event that would be used as a cover for a huge drug trafficking deal. The more I heard about the people there, the more disgusted I became.

Everyone at Lineage was invited to the gala, even me. Adam thought it was best for us to sit the event out, but not only did I want to revisit the aquarium, I also wanted to get some insight as to the fake charity event that Lineage would be putting on. He agreed to take me as long as I stayed close this time and didn’t wander off. I think he was afraid he would find me at the bottom of one of the tanks if I did.

Unlike the events I had attended at Goldshire, this event had a strict dress requirement, and I had absolutely nothing suitable to wear to it. I had mentioned to Adam about needing to go shopping before the gala, and he had nodded while half-listening and obviously thinking about something else.

We walked back to the apartment from class together, and Michael was back when we arrived. He stood at the kitchen bar, pouring a cocktail, and completely ignored both of us as we walked inside. I had the burning desire to turn around and look at him as we went down the hall just to see if he was watching us, but I didn’t. When we got into the bedroom, there was a large box laying on the bed with my name on it.

“Is it a bomb?” I asked.

Adam laughed. “It’s in much too pretty of a box to be a bomb, I think. Open it.”

I pulled the giant gold ribbon off the top of the box and removed the lid. Inside was the most beautiful, sparkling dress that I had ever seen. I pulled it out and held it up to my chest. It was the midnight blue color of the night sky and was covered in so many little rhinestones that it looked as though all the stars had suddenly fallen onto the dress at once.

There were no sleeves and a deep, plunging neckline that reached all the way down the bodice of the dress. I turned the dress around to look at the back, which scooped almost down to the waist and held my hand under the gorgeous layers of cascading lace at the bottom.

“Do you like it?” Adam grinned.

“Did you get this?” I asked in astonishment.

“Yep,” he said as he popped the ‘p’. “You said you didn’t have anything to wear.”

“It’s perfect,” I beamed. “Thank you.”

Adam smiled with satisfaction. “Oh, there’s one more thing inside the box.”

He went over and lifted a teardrop pendant out from inside the tissue paper. The diamond in the center of it was huge and glittered as it reflected all the light in the room. He held it up against my breastbone and looked at me.

“You’re going to look like a walking galaxy,” he said.

And as I gazed into his eyes, I wondered how in the world this mysterious boy that had come into my life could peg a dress and jewelry for me that easily.

Much less get everything—like my size—just right.

13

By the time the night of the gala had arrived, all of my cuts and bruises had healed. And so had Michael’s. Although he and Adam still had some hostility between them, they were back on talking terms in an attempt to keep things civil and at least uphold the appearance of peace between us all.

I just hoped it held up.

I knew that I shouldn’t have been looking forward to going to the gala at all, especially considering that it was just the cover for something bad, but I couldn’t help being at least a little bit excited about going to the aquarium. I couldn’t even remember the last time I got to dress up for anything, I mean really dress up, and I had the most beautiful dress to wear.

All of that aside, I knew it would be the prime place to find out more about what Lineage was up to.

I had continued to search around campus, but I hadn’t found anything of particular interest since that one letter I had found in the maintenance office. Michael must have discarded it somewhere because I had searched his room one day when he wasn’t home and couldn’t find anything in there either. Out of everything, I was hoping to finally find some usable leads to follow.

While I was in the bathroom trying to get my long pieces of hair to stay up in some sort of pretty concoction on my head, I heard Michael and Adam talking to each other in the other room. I couldn’t make out everything that they were saying, but essentially, it had something to do with “keeping me out of the way” and “getting through the night without any drama.” I walked back into the bedroom to change into my dress, Adam was standing in the middle of the room already ready to go.

My mouth opened slightly as I saw him. He was dressed in black dress pants that fit him so perfectly it made me salivate, and a black button-down shirt with the cuffs at the sleeves turned up. He had left a few of the top buttons undone, and I could see the top few lines of his tattoo peeking out from above the opening of his shirt. He ran his hands through his ebony hair, which poked out in every direction. With the combination of his nose ring and his wild eyes, it made him look even more tantalizingly rebellious than usual.

“You okay?” he asked when he saw me stop in my tracks in the doorway.

“Yeah,” I said, his voice ripping me from my trance. “It’s just…”

Adam raised an eyebrow at me as he waited for me to finish what I was saying.

“You look so hot,” I blurted out.

I actually can’t believe that I said that.

He laughed and walked over to kiss me. And when he let go, there was a boyish grin that rested on his face.

“I’ll let you get dressed,” he said. “I’ll be waiting in the living room—with Michael.” He rolled his eyes at that last part.

He was so gorgeous. I started thinking about coming back to the apartment after the gala and taking each of those articles of clothing off him, one by one. I stood still for a minute and imagined what it would be like to make love to him, with the sprawling roots inked over his chest wrapping around me. Then I snapped myself out of it so that I wouldn’t make us late.

After I finished getting dressed, I clasped the pendant behind my neck and took one last look in the mirror. The dress fit perfectly. It hugged every curve, and the bones inside the bodice showed just the right amount of plunging cleavage. I managed to not do too terrible of a job with my hair, and it looked like carefully selected pieces were falling down onto my bare shoulders. They happened to just have landed like that, but it worked all the same. For the first time in a long time, I thought I looked pretty. I added one more thing, a glossy lip shimmer that made my lips look as if they were wet with dewdrops and fairy dust, and then I walked out of the bedroom.

Adam stood up when he saw me come down the hall, and he didn’t even need to say anything because his eyes said it all.

“Wow,” he said quietly. “You look absolutely stunning.”

“Thanks,” I smiled. “It’s the dress.”

Then, he shook his head. “No, it’s not, it’s you.”

And his words caught my breath in my lungs as his eyes met mine.

The aquarium was only a short ride away, and when we got there, it was already bustling with people. Only Lineage people, of course, Goldshire was not invited.

I asked Adam to take a picture of me and send it to Julian since he couldn’t come, and since he hadn’t seen me in a dress in years. I figured he’d be amused by my ability to clean up well. I hadn’t been prepared for all the eyes that would turn to look at me as we walked in.

“Why is everyone staring at us?” I asked, feeling suspicious and uncomfortable.

My eyes darted from one person to the next person around the room. I didn’t know most of them, and those that I did know, I didn’t trust.