I imagined an empty canvas in front of me.
I studied its pristine, unmarred surface with my mind’s eye, taking in the fine texture of the white cotton weave. I took a deep breath and cleared my mind, transporting myself out of the art studio in my college campus and into my safe space.
“Breathe in and out,” I imagined a soothing version of my voice to say. “You’re in a clear, white expanse of clouds, floating freely. Let the warmth wash over you. Think only happy thoughts, calm feelings, et cetera. No boys allowed in here.”
I concentrated on the white skies for as long as I could, and when I opened my eyes, my mind was... a blank canvas.
I exhaled in relief. My mental exercise had worked.
A painting easel sat before me, propping up a half-done painting I had been commissioned to do. It was a portrait of the client, a man who looked important-ish and a bit serious in the professionally-taken photo he had given me. I’d tacked it to the top right of the canvas for reference.
I was way behind time with everything that had been going on. My brain had been a sad, confused mess ever since locking lips with a certain someone last week, and doing any work had been impossible.
But just like how good always triumphed over evil, I too shall triumph over Th—I mean, whatever that’s bugging me.
I tugged on my paint-splattered smock and picked up my palette and brush, getting started on detailing the client's features.
It wasn’t until a couple hours later that I felt a cramp coming in my neck. I put my tools down and stretched my arms over my head, yawning widely.
My yawn choked in a “Hurk” when I got a good look at my painting.
I stared at it, then back at the photo, then back at the painting again.
It looked nothing like the man in the photo.
I grabbed my hair in despair. I knew I hadn’t painted his hair to be this dark or thick. And his eyes were supposed to be brown. How did they turn out amber?
And why did he look like he was about to burst out of the canvas and eat me?
Panicking a little, I tried to salvage it by dabbing a cool-toned ash brown on the irises and the hair.
It only made things worse. From the client’s straight-backed pose in his photo, the effect he had been going for was “distinguished”. Now he just looked confused and slightly crossed-eyed.
“I'm running out of time,” I begged him. “Please cooperate.”
“Who’re you talking to?”
I turned to see my friends Gillian and Pamela in the studio, seated at their own easels.
“Uh, no one. When did you get here?”
“An hour ago.” Pamela shook her head, going back to her work. “K, you’re so oblivious it makes me worry for you.”
I sighed loudly. “I worry for me too.”
Gillian came over to look at my half-finished painting. “Who’s that? A client?” She peered closer. “Girl, that looks nothing like the photo.”
“Why are you even working?” Pamela called. “Just get cash from Mr Sexy Rich Pants. Didn't he pay off your tuition loans?”
“He’s my sister’s boyfriend, Pam, not an ATM.”
“Please. As if you’re not secretly thinking the same thing.”
I frowned at her. “I’m not.”
Ever since the news slipped out that New York’s most eligible bachelor was taken by my sister, I had been worried that my friends would act differently.
My worries had not been unfounded. Pamela brought up the topic of Ryland Wyatt every other sentence. Thankfully Gillian was still her same old self.
“What’s he up to anyway?” Pamela asked, stopping her work to rearrange her dark hair. “Any chance I might run into him on a night out?”
I couldn’t help feeling annoyed at that. As if Ryland would ever look at anyone else other than my sister. “He took Allie to Paris a couple of days ago.”
Gillian’s eyes widened. “Oh my god, is he gonna propose?”
I shrugged lightly. “Maybe.”
Ryland was going to propose, and I was over the freaking moon.
Only one dark cloud remained—Estelle’s threats. I needed to get that flash drive back stat.
The problem was that for all my efforts, I couldn’t seem to change Theo’s mind, and worse still, he was changing mine.
A kiss. A make-out session with Theo. Argh, what was I thinking?
“I’m getting back to work,” I mumbled, trying to scrape some of the caking paint away with a flat knife. “A girl’s gotta hustle.”
“You’ll have to hustle harder,” Pamela remarked. “That thing looks nothing like the guy in the photo.”
“I was distracted,” I said defensively. Theo's dark face swam back into my mind again, the image of his mouth descending to mine making my breath catch. “It’s this guy I used to know…”
“Lemme guess. An ex-lover trying to get back in your life?”
“We weren’t lovers. We just made out twice, both times under very stressful circumstances that I’m not gonna share, so don’t ask.” I thought of the cage fight and how it freaked me out. Theo was assuredly not trying to show me the tender side of him. “I need something from him, and he’s making it really difficult for me to get it.”
Gillian snapped her fingers. “He wants you to sleep with him in exchange.”
“Actually, he’s warning me away.” While kissing me with the desperation of a dying man. “It’s really confusing.”
“Maybe he’s trying reverse psychology.”
I considered it. “I don’t think so…”
“Honestly we’re obsessing over the wrong thing here.” Pamela grabbed a stool and dragged it over to us. “The most important questions are: is he rich, and is he hot?”
I sighed. “Yes and yes. As hot as scorching lava from a freshly-erupted volcano.”
My girlfriends let out excited “Ooh’s.”
“But! And it’s a big but. He did something in the past that really, really screwed me up.”
Gillian looked disgusted. “Oh shit. Once a cheater, always a cheater, K. Dump his ass.”
“He didn’t cheat,” I said glumly. Only that his mum had murdered my dad and Theo kept it a secret from me. And he was still refusing to hand her over.
“Even if he apologizes, which he hasn’t,” I added, “I’m not sure I can ever forgive him.”
Plus—not that I’ve considered it seriously—he didn’t fit my usual criteria for dating: Above average package, below average baggage.
From our sexually-charged encounters behind the factory and in his study, I knew Theo’s package was way above average.
On the other hand, he also had more baggage than a team of Sherpas.
I’ve never been very athletic.
“I should have known better than to get involved with a Slytherin,” I muttered while dunking my brushes in a jar of alcohol.
“Slytherins can be romantic,” Gillian protested.
“I know, but Th— I mean, he’s not the Snape kind. He’s the Lucius Malfoy kind, and he’ll eat me alive and use my Hufflepuff badger bones to pick his teeth.”
Gillian and Pamela looked sympathetic.
My phone buzzed then, and I pulled it from my pocket a little too quickly to be considered dignified.
Pamela leaned over. “Is that Lucius Malfoy?”
I blinked in surprise when I saw who the text message was from. “No.”
It was Gabriel.
***
“I’m gonna go through this one more time just so everyone’s on the same page.”
“Oh we’re on the same page alright. It’s the one you’ve repeated thirty thousand times.”
Cam ignored Gabriel. “We remain in our designated sections throughout the event. The moment any of us spots Valentine, we inform the others through this.” He handed out small black earpieces to Gabriel and me.
“Nice.” Gabriel tossed it and caught it again. “Can I keep it?”
“No.” Cam held an iPad out to us. “Here’s the layout of this place.”
The blueprint of the Berling Straits Hotel was pulled up, and I angled my head to read the upside-down words.
The grand ballroom of the Berling Straits was widely acknowledged as the second-best ballroom in New York, right after the one in the Lancaster Hotel, which belonged to Cam’s family.
It was designed in an ornate eighteenth-century style just like Lancaster’s, with intricately-carved paneling decorating the walls and ceilings—also like Lancaster’s. Several giant teardrop chandeliers hung from the high arched ceilings, bathing the entire ballroom in soft light.
The Berling Straits was hosting a black-tie dinner event tonight, and there had been a rumor that Theo was going to show up here. I barely had enough time to get home, throw on my green Forever 21 party dress that I kept for special events and tame my wild hair into a knot before Cam came by to whisk me here.
The moment I arrived, I knew I was underdressed. Everyone here seemed to be wearing fashions from the latest runway collections, a complete one-eighty from my regular crowd of broke college kids.
But at least my dress flattered me well. I wondered if Theo would like the way I looked, then I blushed instantly at the thought.
Eye on the prize, K.
“If you can, lead him through the side door, away from the crowd,” Cam instructed. “My guys will be waiting to pick him up. Valentine may attempt to make a run for it if he senses something’s wrong, so we need to know all his possible escape routes. Aside from the main doors, exits are here, here and here—”
“And in case of emergency, detach the inflatable slides and disembark in an orderly fashion.” Gabriel rolled his eyes. “Jesus fuckin’ Christ, Lancaster, we’re not fifth graders, stop ramming it down our throats.”
“Well, don’t take it so hard, jackass, it’s not a cock.”
I studied Gabriel and Cam in interest as they insulted each other. Surprisingly, they weren’t much different from a decade ago, only… more.
Gabriel was still as gorgeous, with teeth whiter than my canvas and brighter than my acrylics, but he was sleeker now, his charm honed to perfection. And Cam was even more of a bruiser, his shoulders easily twice the width of mine. While Gabriel looked polished and handsome in his black-and-white suit, Cam’s impressive muscles filled his out in a way that was a little…
I cocked my head, searching for the right word.
Erotic?
“Seriously dude, if you don’t take your finger out of my face, I’m gonna—”
“What if Theo slips past us and makes it out of the ballroom?” I asked, breaking up their argument.
“He can try, but I have four of my men stationed at the back exits to take him down, by force if necessary.”
Judging from Cam’s resolute expression, he would deem it necessary anyway just for the pleasure of jumping Theo.
“Four guys against one?” I said doubtfully. “That’s a bit much.”
“If you’ve seen Valentine in a fight, you’ll know that it’s more than fair. It’s like trying to cage a wild animal.” Gabriel gulped a mouthful of wine and made a sound of disgust. “It’s fucking watered down. Stingy assholes.”
Cam gave his surroundings a similarly disdainful look. “And they call themselves our rivals. The only thing the old Berling bastard knows to do is copy every damned thing Lancaster does.”
“What would Theo Valentine be doing at a black-tie event anyway? It’s like a rabid dog learning to meow.” Gabriel snapped his fingers. “How about we just forget this and grab him when he leaves his residence? We know where he lives.”
“We’re not mafioso, Easton. We don’t snatch people off the streets.”
“No, we wait for him to walk into a black-tie event with four hundred guests and then snatch him,” Gabriel drawled.
I cut in before they could escalate this into a full-blown brawl. “Just to be clear, you are not going to hurt him.”
“We just want a little chat.”
I didn’t believe a word Cam said. “You swear? Because if Theo gets hurt during, say, an interrogation, Ryland’s not gonna be happy when he gets back.”
As much as Theo was giving everyone trouble now, Ryland had insisted that he’d been the key to balancing the odds between us and Estelle. He couldn’t admit it, least of all to Allie who absolutely hated Theo’s guts, but I had the feeling that of the three guys, Ryland held the least animosity towards Theo.
Gabriel and Cam shifted uncomfortably. “We’ll keep it to talking,” Cam finally agreed.
“Unless the bastard starts throwing fists.” Gabriel flicked a piece of lint off his earpiece. “Then all bets are off.”
I regarded them doubtfully. “I’m having second thoughts about this.”
“Welp, unless either of us has a better plan, we’re stuck with Cam’s.” He popped the black device into his ear. “Last chance to back out.”
That wasn’t an option when Allie’s happiness was on the line.
I put on the earpiece too. “I’m in.”
Gabriel grinned, stunning me for a split second with his brilliant smile. “Attagirl.”
We spread out over the ballroom to our respective locations. Once I was ready, I turned on the device in my ear. It crackled softly as the connection was made.
Cam’s voice came through. “All in position?”
“Right here.”
I adjusted the volume with the button. “Yep.”
“Alright, my guys on the road say Theo will be here in five minutes. Pay attention.”
“No problem there, it’s not like I have anything else to do but wait,” Gabriel remarked. “They could at least have invited a couple of hot chicks. The ones here are all sixes and below.”
There was an awkward pause right after he said that.
Gabriel coughed. “I mean, present company excluded. You’re hot too Karin, and I—”
“Easton, take that foot out of your mouth before you choke on it.”
“It’s okay,” I assured them. “I’m more cute than hot.”
“Exactly. That’s exactly what I meant.”
The painful silence dragged on until I couldn’t take it any longer.
“Thanks for inviting me along,” I offered. “I know how important this is to you.”
“Anytime,” Cam said easily. “We’re shorthanded now that Ryland’s gone, and we need all the help we can get. This stays out of his ears, by the way. If Ryland knows we roped you in, he’d string our balls up like Christmas lights.”
Gabriel and I agreed immediately.
I chose not to share about my own late-night excursions either. They were not so much the purposeful talks I’d envisioned, and more like me giving in to Theo’s seducing.
“Were you guys very close?” I asked. “I always wondered.”
“You mean us and Valentine?” Cam considered the question. “Pretty close. We did everything together.”
“Until the fucker turned on us.” Gabriel’s tone was light, but I sensed that he was still hurt by Theo’s betrayal. “We were brothers. We would have taken a bullet for him, and the asshole didn’t even think twice about betraying us.”
Brothers. I knew that deep down, Theo had always wanted a family.
And yet he’d turned on them once he’d found them. It was heart-breaking for everyone involved, and it didn’t make any sense to me.
“Get ready, my men’s spotted him coming through the front lobby. Black suit and tie, black waistcoat, black shirt.”
“What does he think he is, the Grim Reaper?”
I steeled myself. It would be the first time meeting Theo since our kiss at the factory. I didn’t think he would appreciate the intention behind my visit this time.
“He’s headed straight for the bar,” Cam murmured.
“Called it. Lock and load, boy and girl. Oh, shoot.” Gabriel cursed suddenly. “He just looked right at me! He knows we’re here.”
Cam groaned. “Liam Berling. Fuck, I forgot they were friends.”
“You forgot? You had the entire blueprint of the hotel memorized and you forgot this one important fact? We were banking on the element of surprise!”
“It’s not too late,” I quickly interjected. “We can still make it work.”
“We’d better. I’m not leaving here without that stupid pink flash drive.”
I blinked. “Pink? Wasn’t it black?”
“The one he showed me was blue.” Cam swore under his breath. “Motherfucker. He thinks this is a game. I should’ve let you and Ryland kill him that time.”
“That’s what I keep telling you—Ah shit, interception.”
“The hell does that mean?”
“It means an ex-hook-up has spotted me and is coming my way faster than a Russian bazooka. And that fucker is smirking at me! He planned this! Shit, Imma have to detour. Cam, you’re up.”
“Christ,” Cam muttered. “You’re always fucking things up.”
“What can I say, I’m loved from coast to coast like butter on toast.” Gabriel sounded a little out-of-breath, probably already making his escape from the unnamed woman. “You’re just jealous I’m more in demand than you.”
“You sure sound like you’re having fun, you delusional bastard.”
“Shit, shit, she’s closing in. Fucking Valentine. Okay guys, radio silence for now. I gotta focus.”
Cam swore again when Gabriel’s line muted. “Alright Karin, just you and me now.” He paused. “Valentine’s not at the bar anymore.”
I scanned the crowd, quickly spotting Theo to the left of the ballroom. He was decked in all black like Cam had said, looking handsome and sinful like a fallen angel. My heart skipped a beat.
“By the main doors. He’s talking to a group of people in suits.”
“Not just any people,” Cam growled. “Those are the board members of a bank. What business does he have with them? And why are they fawning over him like his balls are made of gold?”
I didn’t understand it either. “I thought he has a shady reputation.”
“He does,” Cam said grimly. “You gotta love New York in all its hypocritical glory. Whatever he’s doing to pull them to his side, I’m gonna find out.”
I waited for a few minutes, but no Cam showed up to whisk Theo away from the bankers.
I looked around anxiously and finally spotted him with a group of security personnel, wearing a polite but pissed-off expression. He had been intercepted too.
His eyes met mine with meaning.
It was my turn.
My heart thundered in my chest as I made my way over to where Theo was. He didn’t seem to have noticed me, his attention on the group of executives surrounding him.
That was what I thought, at least, until Theo turned and looked right at me.
The intensity of his amber gaze was scorching hot, even from across the distance. The breath left my lungs, and suddenly I was back in the alley outside the factory again, tangled up in his arms and intoxicated with lust.
The heated look in Theo’s expression told me he was thinking the same thing.
He trailed his eyes down my body intimately. Heat gathered between my thighs, and a faint smile tipped a corner of Theo’s mouth, cocky and sinful, as if he knew what he was doing to me.
A waitress bumped into me suddenly, making me stumble back a step and take my eyes off Theo.
“I’m so sorry—”
I did a double-blink when I regained my bearings.
“Uh, guys? We’ve got a problem.”
Neither Cam or Gabriel answered, but I knew they could hear me. I scanned the ballroom urgently, but there was no mistaking it.
“Theo’s gone.”