AMIRA
“Jared beat you?” I asked, my voice trembling with disbelief. Clarisse nodded slowly, maintaining eye contact as she watched me from above the rim of her wine glass. She took a deliberate sip, the action almost theatrical.
“And you expect me to believe that?” I pressed, struggling to reconcile her words with the image I had of Jared.
Clarisse shrugged nonchalantly. “Like I said earlier, it doesn’t matter what you choose to believe. But that doesn’t change the truth,” she said, her tone steady.
I glanced around the room, my gaze sweeping over the people present—Clarisse, whom I had grown to dislike deeply; Carlo; and then Phoenix. “So, you three have been working together to take Jared off that Alpha title?”
Clarisse’s shoulders lifted in a casual shrug. “Jared deserved to pay fo
