Chapter 360 Little Victories

Ella

Sitting alone in my hotel room, surrounded by plush furniture and golden accents that gleamed in the soft lighting, I felt a pang of homesickness. The luxuriousness of the room was stifling in an odd way, as though constantly reminding me of my charade with a mobster.

Shaking off the momentary melancholy, I decided to call Moana to calm my frayed nerves.

Taking a deep breath to compose myself, I dialed her number and waited for the ring to connect. The familiar sound of her voice, warm and comforting as always, came through within moments.

“Ella, my love! How was your flight? Did you make it to the hotel?”

“We did,” I said, faking a sense of enthusiasm in my voice. “The place is…well, it’s something.”

“Where is your fiance?” Moana asked. “I’d like to say hello, if you don’t mind.”

The word ‘fiance’ made my body stiffen. I glanced at the empty space next to me, where Logan would have been if we were an actual couple. But we weren’t. He was in a room of his own, doing his own thing.

I couldn’t quite decide if I preferred it that way or not, the logical lawyer part of me knew that it was for the best, but the sleepy, scared-of-flying Ella with the yellow stuffed duck almost missed his company already.

“He’s… in the shower,” I stammered, hoping that Moana bought my lie.

“Well,I hope you know that we’re all excited to meet him tomorrow,” Moana said, blissfully unaware of the tension her question had sparked.

“I’m looking forward to it too,” I said, though in truth, I wished that tomorrow would never come. Meeting my family, particularly my discerning father, would be the make-or-break moment for this intricate lie that Logan and I had entangled ourselves in.

broke through my thoughts, her soft voice

though she couldn’t see

gift Moana had given me when I was a little girl. I held it up in the frame, so she could see it over our video call. “Look,

would turn out

Mom. It’s you,” I said, my voice filled with emotion for reasons I couldn’t explain. “I’m so glad you came

a bit when she spoke again. “I can’t

misting over. I cleared my throat before adding, “Oh, and tell Dad

girl had a nice ride

that was his way of snooping, making sure

“And this hotel you’re

feeling self-conscious. So they had snooped, just as I expected.

an interesting guy,” Moana mused. “You’ve always been so down-to-earth. It must be strange being involved with someone so

world that clashed with everything I had been

growl, betraying my hunger. “I’ll see you tomorrow,

Ella. Can’t wait to see

I hung up, I looked around the room, taking in the opulence that suddenly felt so incongruent with who I was. And in an unexpected way, despite

unpacked the last of my travel essentials and started browsing the room service

up and smoothed down my casual clothes, thinking maybe room service was preemptively delivering something delightful. Maybe Logan had purchased some sort of package that included special treatment, which I figured wouldn’t be out of character for

was Logan, leaning against the frame, arms

bored,” he said with a

look like it,” I quipped back, my eyes meeting his for a brief second before darting away. “What

starving, Ella. But I’ve got no idea where to go around here. Any

casualness of his tone. Was he really just asking for recommendations? Or was this an invitation? My wolf whined at the

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