Chapter 273

After sending the message, Megan thoughtfully shared her location as well.

Lucas was in the middle of a discussion with Desmond when the message popped up. His eyes widened the second he saw it, and his hand, resting on the table, clenched into a fist.

Those two were at a bar again?

The image of a group of men crowding around the two of them last time was still burned into his memory. And now they had gone back? Had they learned nothing?

Desmond noticed the shift in Lucas’ expression and instantly realized the message had to be about Aurora. Nothing else ever triggered this kind of reaction from him.

“Sir… is it something about Mrs. Carter?” he asked cautiously, not daring to push too hard.

“Get the car,” Lucas said through gritted teeth as he stood up and headed straight for the address Megan had sent. This time, he didn’t waste a second.

Just thinking about those men from the last bar made his face darken even more. Why couldn’t these two women learn from their mistakes? They’d already gone once and now a second time? His chest felt tight, a pressure he couldn’t shake off.

When he arrived, there was no sign of Aurora. All he saw was Megan, still perched on a barstool in a mini skirt, her cheeks flushed deep pink, clearly very drunk.

Lucas strode toward her, his face like thunder, his entire presence radiating a quiet but terrifying fury. Megan hadn’t even realized he was there. She had no idea when Aurora left or how much she’d had to drink. Seeing her still drinking like nothing had happened made Lucas even angrier.

“Megan, where’s Aurora?”

The voice jolted her, but at first, Megan didn’t react. Her mind was still hazy—at least she pretended it was.

“Aurora?” She glanced around, eyes glassy. “She was just here… where’d she go?”

Looking perfectly serious, Megan began searching for Aurora, drifting further and further from Lucas as she staggered toward the entrance.

Watching this, Lucas immediately saw through it. His eyes darkened, and he gave Desmond a quick look—a silent order to bring her back.

The moment Lucas spoke, Megan snapped out of it. She had been faking the whole thing. She’d sobered up the second she sent Lucas that message and regretted it almost immediately. She’d tried to recall it, but with her fingers fumbling from the alcohol, she hit “delete” instead of “unsend.”

When Aurora realized what happened, she quietly stood up and walked out of the bar, leaving Megan to face the consequences on her own. After all, Megan was the one who contacted Lucas, so it was only fair she deal with the fallout.

As Megan watched her best friend disappear through the door, she cursed her silently.

“Seriously? Some best friend you are. I only called him for your sake!”

She had braved the one man she’d been nervous around since childhood for friendship and Aurora’s happiness. And now here she was, left behind to face her terrifying cousin alone.

When Desmond brought her back over, Megan was still in full performance mode, doing her best impression of a drunk girl barely holding it together.

“Let me go! I need to find my Aurora—she’s all alone out there!” she cried, voice high-pitched and dramatic. “She’s my best friend! I can’t just let her wander off like that!”

She clung to emotion, clung to theatrics. Maybe, it would get her out of this mess.