Chapter 176
Ellie's POV
The takeout containers felt like lead weights in my hands as I stood outside Dorm 304 at nine p.m. Through the door, I could hear Lily's footsteps—frantic, repetitive, the sound of someone trying to walk off panic. My phone buzzed with Jackson's text: Be careful. Stay calm. I'm here if you need me.
I took a breath that did nothing to settle the churning in my gut. Thalia prowled restlessly beneath my skin, her instincts screaming that lying to packmates—to friends—was wrong, dangerous, a betrayal of the most fundamental kind.
We protect the secret to protect her, I reminded my wolf. Ryan's truth isn't ours to tell.
Thalia's low growl rumbled through my chest. She didn't buy it.
Neither did I, honestly.
The door swung open before I could knock. Lily stood there, hair escaping its ponytail, eyes red-rimmed and wild. "Finally. I thought—" She grabbed my wrist, pulling me inside. "Did you find anything? Is he okay? Please tell me you found something."
Megan's beds was empty, her absence deliberate. They'd given us space, probably at Lily's insistence. The room felt too small, too warm, the curtains drawn tight against the night.
"I brought food." I held up the bag from the Thai place Lily liked, forcing steadiness into my voice. "You need to eat something."
"I don't want food." But her hands shook as she took the bag anyway, setting it on her desk without opening it. "Ellie. Please. What did you find?"
I pulled out my laptop, buying myself seconds to arrange my face into something that wouldn't scream I'm hiding things from you. My palms were already sweating. Thalia paced, agitated, her presence making my skin feel too tight.
"Okay." I sat on her bed, patting the space beside me. "I found some things. But Lily, you need to understand—there's probably a completely reasonable explanation for all of this."
"Just tell me." She dropped down next to me, so close I could smell her anxiety—sharp and acrid, cutting through her usual vanilla body spray.
I pulled up the screenshots I'd carefully selected. "Ryan's from Aspen, Colorado. His family... they're involved in business. Big business." I showed her the photo of the mansion I'd found buried in his old Instagram—the log palace with mountain views that screamed generational wealth. "This is his family's house."
Lily's breath caught. "That's not a house. That's a—Jesus. Why didn't he ever tell me?"
"I don't know." Because you're dating a billionaire heir who's probably being held hostage in a power struggle right now. I swallowed the truth and clicked to the next screenshot. "His family owns Carter Industries. They're into mining, real estate, tech investments. It's... substantial."
"Carter Industries." Lily grabbed my laptop, fingers flying over the keyboard. She pulled up their corporate website, scrolling through project portfolios and executive bios with increasing disbelief. "This is billions, Ellie. Billions with a B. And he drives that shitty Honda and shops at Goodwill and—why would he hide this?"
My throat was dry. I reached for the water bottle on her nightstand, taking a long drink to avoid answering. Thalia snarled, hating every second of this deception.
"Maybe he wanted to be normal," I said carefully. "Maybe he didn't want people to treat him differently. You know how it is—money changes relationships."
"So he lied to me instead?" Lily's voice cracked. "For eight months? Let me think we were the same, struggling college students trying to make rent, when he could probably buy this entire dorm building without checking his bank balance?"
"I don't think—"
"What else did you find?" She turned to me, eyes narrowing. "And don't tell me 'nothing.' You've got that look."
"What look?"
"The one you get when you're choosing your words too carefully." Lily's hands clenched in her lap. "You did that during midterms when you were hiding how stressed you were. You're doing it now. What aren't you telling me?"
My pulse kicked up. I could feel Thalia pushing against my control, wanting to either tell the whole truth or leave entirely—anything but this agonizing middle ground. I took another drink of water, then another, trying to think.
"Ellie." Lily's voice dropped to something quieter, more hurt. "Are you seriously going to sit there and keep secrets from me? After everything?"
"It's not—" I stopped. Started again. "Lily, I'm telling you what I know. Ryan comes from a wealthy family. They're very private, very... controlled about their public image. That's probably why he never mentioned them. And as for why he left—" I gestured at the screen. "Companies this size, they have emergencies. Board meetings, crisis management, family obligations. Maybe someone called him home for something urgent."
"Then why lie about where he was going?" Lily stood abruptly, resuming her pacing. "Why tell you Jackson needed him and tell me he was meeting you? That's not 'I have a family emergency.' That's 'I'm deliberately covering my tracks.'"
She was right. Of course she was right. And I had no good answer that didn't involve and also his grandfather just died and there's probably a inheritance war happening and we think he might be in danger but we can't tell you because it's not our secret to share.
My phone buzzed. Jackson: How's it going?
I typed back with shaking fingers: Not great. She knows I'm hiding something.
His response was immediate: Stay calm. Breathe. Remember—you're protecting both of them.
"Who's that?" Lily asked sharply.