Page 83 of Twisted Shot
So instead, he smiles.
Not really a smile. More of a show of teeth. But it’s enough to make Conrad lean back, wary for the first time.
“Still nursing that Napoleon complex?” Theo says, voice cool as he lifts his chin and rises to his full height. He’s been taller since he was sixteen, broader too, and he lets the difference settle between them like a blade slid quietly across a table.
Conrad blinks, just once. Not much, but it’s a slip.
Theo turns before he can respond, quietly bidding his mother goodbye before he can draw more attention.
The air around him feels thin, the noise of the room muffled. He knows people are still talking. Laughing. Drinking.
It takes a full thirty seconds for him to remember how to breathe.
He looks toward Mila.
Still radiant. Still his anchor.
He focuses on her, grounding himself in the curve of her shoulders, the softness of her expression.
He came here for her.
And if tonight is about showing up—for her, for himself—then he’s not letting anyone, not even Conrad, ruin that.
CHAPTER 29
MILA
Mila’s eyes sweep the ballroom, her shoulders loosening at last, as if they’ve finally remembered they don’t belong hunched around her ears. With Jake whisked off to prep with Naomi, a strange calm slips in. For the first time all evening, she almost believes everything is under control.
But she’s lost sight of Theo.
And that’s enough to make her feel…off-balance. Disoriented.
She catches sight of Carter, holding court like he’s the Bachelor. He’s flanked by two middle-aged donors who are clearly charmed by his dimples and bawdy stories about locker room pranks.
“Sorry to interrupt,” Mila says, stepping in and flashing a dazzling smile at Carter’s admirers, tablet tucked to her side. “Have you seen Theo?”
Carter grins, eyes unfocused. “Prince Theo? Yeah. Last I saw, he was being cornered by his mother.”
Mila blinks. “His what?”
“His mother,” Carter enunciates, as if Mila were unfamiliar with the word. “Fancy lady with a scowl. She terrifies me. I got the fuck outta there.”
She frowns. “Why do you keep calling him Prince Theo? And what do you mean his mother is here?”
She pulls up the list on her tablet and runs through the list of over two hundred names, eyes snagging on Janet Eagan-Tilbury.
Damn, she should have caught that. She wonders whether Theo knew she would be here. If he’s happy.
Carter is looking at her, genuinely surprised. “You don’t know?”
She tilts her head, suspicion rising. “Know what?”
“Tilly comes from mega money. Like, generational, prep-school, private-plane money. His dad’s some finance mogul-slash-media guy, and his mom’s on, like, every important board between here and Boston. The guy probably had his crib monogrammed.”
Mila blinks. “Wait. What?”
Carter raises a brow. “Yeah. You didn’t know that?”
