I laughed, watching him walk away and thinking his little escort was following. Instead, Alex shook her head and sauntered over to stand at my side.
She crossed her arms, observing the party with me. “It is an art how quickly you can make everyone want to kill you.”
I shrugged, hearing the smile in her voice. “I just can’t help myself.”
I took another drink, kind of wanting to kill myself for a second, too. The shit that came out of my mouth. All for Winter’s sake, because she was my sole motivation in everything I did, and I was kind of fucking ashamed she had that power.
I didn’t have to explain myself to Alex, though. She knew what I was doing. I respected her, because she was no nonsense and made no excuse to do what she needed to do to get what she wanted. The world respected people who didn’t crave approval.
“How’s the job going?” I inquired, glancing down at her.
Her brow shot up, looking dissatisfied. “It’s almost not worth what you’re paying me. That old fuck is agonizingly boring, Damon,” she told me. “And pompous.”
“I know.”
Michael’s father had information I needed, and I doubted he’d care that I put Alex into bed with him to get it. It was for a good cause.
“Are you getting close?”
She pulled a flash drive out of her bodice and held it up to me. “I was able to grab this. But there’s more,” she pointed out. “Gimme a few days.”
I took it, hoping lots of good things were on it. For all our sakes. Her computer science minor was definitely a perk for this job.
“Make it two,” I told her, “and you get a bonus.”
I held up the flash drive, looking at it and pleased that everything was coming together. All the ducks. “Quack, quack,” I mumbled, feeling fucking great all of a sudden.
Someone bumped into me, knocking my shoulder, and the flash drive fell to the ground.
“Oh, excuse me,” a blonde woman dressed in a gray gown said.
She dove down and plucked the flash drive off the floor, and then stood up, raising her hand to give it back to me.
>
But she froze, meeting my eyes. Her face fell, and she didn’t move except to breathe.
Christiane Fane. Rika’s mother.
And even though she had a full-grown daughter and spent years on pills and alcohol, she was still incredibly beautiful. Her hair was loosely pinned back, strands framing her face, and her skin shimmered in the candlelight. Jewels hung from her ears, and her eyes flaunted several shades of blue that made them look exotic.
I wondered why my father never pursued her after her husband died. My mother had left by then, and Christiane was the wealthiest woman in town. She was gorgeous, still young enough to have more kids, and kind of stupid. I’d never understand how anyone remained that weak their entire lives, but here she was.
Why the fuck was she staring at me?
“Like what you see?” I smarted off, snatching the flash drive from her hand.
Jesus, go away.
She blinked, snapping out of it, and then dropped her head and walked away. Was she drunk or something? I thought Michael got her to kick that shit.
Whatever.
“So you going tell me what you’re doing exactly?” Alex asked once she’d left.
I tucked the drive into my pocket, letting out a deep breath. “Getting my family back. I—”
But I didn’t have a chance to finish. The string quartet stopped playing, and everyone exited the dance floor as I was sure a speech was about to start.