CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Later that night, after Liana retreated safely to bed in a guest room she told him was the size of her entire New York apartment, Nick stood by the picture window at Helena’s, holding an expensive Scotch, feeling like a supervillain, even though the only reason he was there was to protect Liana.

 

"Can you trust her?" Liana asked. Her voice sounded tired, unsure, almost defeated, the voice of someone who thought she'd won a victory, only to find herself back at the starting line.

 

It wasn't like she didn't have enough spare rooms. “Trust me, she could lodge an entire circus troupe in this house with room to spare,” he’d told Liana.

 

She’d stood alone in the center of humongous room, bathed in moonlight, half-undressed, looking lost. He’d wanted to kiss her forehead, to take her hand, to be a gentleman about it. To say “at your service, milady.” But there was too much between them already to be that flippant. In the end he’d shut the door gently, letting out the biggest breath he’d ever held once he was out in the hall. He wondered if there ever again would be that lightness, that honesty between them, without a million pounds of sorrow and recrimination weighing it down.

 

Helena, behind him, put her hands on her hips. "You need sleep, Nicholas," she scolded, snaking up behind him and linking her arm into his. Nick had told Helena the barest minimum of Liana's backstory. She'd agreed instantly, and Nick didn't have enough time to explain more, or doubt her sincerity. He knew he probably should have, but Liana was safe for tonight, and that was all that mattered.

 

"I shouldn't," he said with a yawn. "Sleep is when things go wrong. You let your guard down, that’s when they come for you." He was so tired he wasn't even sure what he was saying anymore.

 

"When who comes for you?" she asked.

 

He couldn't help but smile at his ridiculousness. "The Decepticons?"

 

"Too much TV is your problem,” she laughed.

 

"Maybe," he agreed.He resolved not to sleep; there was too much that could go wrong with Liana if he drifted off. He could get very comfortable here, he thought. And that was exactly why he should never get comfortable for even a second.

 

"Did you know Liana had a boyfriend in New York?" asked Helena.

 

"A cop," he said. "How do you know?"

 

"I told you. I don't let people into my house without knowing who they are. And he was a dirty cop."

 

“So what? There must be a million dirty cops in New York."

 

"What do you know about what she's been up to since she left Prudence?"

 

"I know she was an actress."

 

"What about boyfriends? Relationships?"

 

"You're starting to sound like Tryg."

 

"Nick, I'm looking out for you. You told me yourself she fucked you over once; what makes you think she won't do it again? She hasn't exactly been forthcoming with information, has she?"

 

"She told me more than you think. It hasn't exactly been easy for her."

 

"Yeah, going out clubbing every night with gorgeous theater people and being wined and dined by posh directors at Broadway after parties."

 

Somehow, Nick suspected that wasn't even close to what life had been like for Liana, but he didn't have the facts to allow him to argue.

 

"It must have been a tough life," Helena said sarcastically. "She doesn't understand that there's a price to pay. She'll sell herself to the highest bidder. She's done it before. Why do you think she threw you over back then? Because she knew if she didn’t, Daddy would cut the purse strings financing her fancy education." She paused, seeming to realize she was tugging on the right memories for Nick. "Am I wrong?"

 

"No, but--"

 

"Then what's the problem?"

 

"Helena, it's not what you think. She's paid the price. A bigger price than we can imagine--than I could imagine. She's apologized for that. She went through hell. She's spent the last six years trying to atone for it."

 

Helena wasn’t convinced. “She hasn't been where we've been, Nick. She didn't grow up the way we did."

 

"Her grandpa founded the Black Sparks, and her dad led it for ten years before he was killed. I'd say that gives her as much street cred as anybody."

 

"But she denied all of that. She grew up with Noel, with piano lessons and ballet."

 

"Didn't you?"

 

Helena laughed. "I grew up refereeing street races in a bikini,” she replied. “I know what it’s like to have nothing.”

 

Nick gestured around him. "Helena, if this is your definition of having nothing, then having everything must involve something really spectacular."

 

"Like what?"

 

Nick frowned, vaguely remembering a cartoon he'd seen when he was little, that made being rich seem like mythology, like Disneyland, like something that didn't exist in nature. Compared with how he'd grown up, it might as well have been. "Like swimming in a pool full of gold coins," he finished lamely.

 

Helena tipped back her head and laughed throatily. She touched his arm; the hair underneath the fabric of his shirt seemed to rise up like magnets. He thought of Liana asleep in the other room, and immediately grew disgusted with himself. Given what had happened earlier, she probably thought he had no self-control, and it was his onus to prove she was wrong. Allowing Helena to snake her way around his body wouldn't help much there.

 

She pursed her full lips. "I told you about this, Nicholas. None of it's mine. Here, I'm a princess. On paper, I'm a peasant…How do you know all of this isn't just an elaborate ruse?”

 

“What are you talking about?” He felt his fists clench, torn between his desire to defend Liana and his need to ensure she'd be safe here. “She told me everything. This guy is dangerous.”

 

“So she said. But what if she made up this stalker story to get you to feel sorry for her?” Helena proposed. “While all the while, she's planted herself here like a mole, burrowing deeper and deeper, trying to eat the Black Sparks from the inside? Is that something you want to have to explain to Tryg? How you fell for this girl's bullshit all over again, after you told him you were over her?"

 

"I am over her,” he insisted, and Helena's expression indicated she didn't believe him. Nick leaned down and grabbed her by the shoulders, his knuckles digging into the expensive fabric of her blouse. He could feel her breathing sharply, but still, she didn't look away. “But that's beside the point. This isn't personal. It's for Tryg, and for my brothers. The Black Sparks take care of our own. And Liana is one of our own. And I don't want to hear another word from you about it.” Nick watched the veins in Helena's almost-transclucent face clench and unclench as he waited for her response. He'd be failing Liana if he just stood here and listened to their hostess insult her—but he'd fail her even more if he lost control and got them kicked out into the street, where he wouldn't be able to protect her.

 

“I'm sorry, Nicholas,” Helena said, and Nick loosened his grip on her. “I trust you.” She didn't say she trusted Liana, but he would have to take what he could get. “But why does it have to be you?” Helena asked. “Why is Tryg making you do this when he knows your history with her?”

 

“It's none of your concern.”

 

Helena placed her glass down on the table and rose from her chair, beckoning with one finger. Nick stayed in the chair, crossing one leg over the other, trying his best to look skeptical. She had to learn she couldn't lead him around like this. The tight fabric of her skirt seemed to attract his eyes as her smooth, ample butt beckoned. “Nicholas.”

 

“It is my concern. And yours, too.” He straightened up, like a student when a teacher called his name. Helena could do that to him. “Like I said, prefer to know as much as I can about the people I allow in my home. So when you told me about Liana's situation, I did some digging.”

 

The room was silent except for the tick of the expensive clock over the mantelpiece.

 

“And?”

 

“And I found out the name of the guy in New York who's pulling strings behind the Vipers. He’s an undercover cop. Or he was."

 

“Who?”

 

"Jack Camus."