East plastered a smile on, and attempted to escorted Victoria to the door. "Time to go, Ria."

She twisted away and faced him with a scowl on her face. "Can't I stay here a little while?"

"No. You have to go home."

She sighed. "Okay. But I don't like it there. I like here a lot better."

East felt his face slip into a real smile. Ria was cute when she pouted.

They started walking. East tried to distract Ria-and himself-by talking the whole way. He told her jokes, pointed out interesting shops, and shared funny stories. He got her laughing so hard that they had to stop walking. He grinned at the way she rocked back and forward as she laughed. Just like...no, don't think about her. Nothing good could come out of thinking about her.

Victoria straightened up and caught her breath. She noticed Easton had the oddest expression on his face. "What's wrong, East?"

East shook his head slightly. "I'm good. Let's keep going."

They continued walking. On a normal day, they probably would have stopped for icecream. But Victoria had to go home, and Easton had to go to the Veritas meeting.

East turned the corner and faced a massive building- the Hotel Adfluens.

Ria stopped walking and faced him. "This is far enough. You can go back to the Axiom."

He put his hands on her shoulders. "Are you going to be okay? Any of the guests giving you trouble?"

"Well, there was this one guy who looked kinda sleazy, but he turned out to be really nice! He's a clothing designer. So, I guess the lesson there is that you really can't judge a book by its cover?"

A dumb and overused saying, but Easton laughed anyway. "Why would a clothing designer be at the hotel?"

Victoria pondered this. "I don't know. Usually it's just my sister's business associates. But now that you mention it, some random people have been showing up. But don't worry about me. I'll be fine. I'm a tough girl."

He smiled wanly. "I'm sure you are. But remember, you ever need us, we'll be there."

She hugged him. "Thanks."

East was a little bit caught off guard. He didn't get hugs very often. But he returned the hug. And for a minute, he felt like a normal guy, hugging his younger sister. Except he wasn't a normal guy. And Victoria wasn't his younger sister. She could never be his sister, not unless... No, don't think about that either.

The sounds of heels clicking on the pavement made both of them tense up. He gently pushed Victoria back, breaking their hug.

A tall woman with short blonde hair stood in front of them. She was staring at them. But East was staring at her. She cleared her throat and addressed Victoria. "Hello, Victoria. I trust you had a good day?"

Victoria nodded, not trusting herself to speak. If she opened her mouth, she'd scream.

The woman put a hand on Victoria's shoulder. "It's getting late. We should go inside."

She started walking. But she stopped and said over her shoulder, "Hello, Easton."

He gritted his teeth as he watched Ria and the woman enter the hotel. Only when they were inside did he whisper back. "Hello, Janet."
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I admit that I'm stalling. I'm having trouble writing about the Veritas meeting. But I promise it's going to be the next chapter. Also, these chapters are important. They have lots of background information. I was going to put them in later, but I decided to put them in now. So they're not just "filler" chapters. Anyway, vote, comment, and thanks for reading Victoria!