Elara's POV
And now here was his voice, carrying through the grasses of a resort pergola, asking his sister: "Did Celeste tell you that Lily is my daughter?"
Not: "Lily is not my daughter."
Not: "That's not true."
He asked a question. Calm and careful, like he didn't know yet what his sister had heard. It could mean anything. And the answer was on the other side of that wall, where I couldn't get to it.
I waited.
The grass shifted in the wind. Veronica answered, but I couldn't make out a word. Too quiet, too fast. The resort noise ate half of it, and my own heartbeat ate the rest. It was pounding so hard I could barely hear anything else.
I heard only the question.
Not the answer.
The receipt tore in my hand. I hadn't realized I was gripping it that hard.
I pushed off from the wa
