Evelyn finished her drink and traded it for some hors d’oeuvres. Isadora had nothing but kind things
to say about everyone she appraised. Toni was ushering Jamie through the melee. Her laughter could
be heard from time to time over the quartet. Decided to find Lucian, Evelyn excused herself.
Strangers smiled at her, and many men chivalrously stepped aside for her to pass. Cool vents
rippled the dressed walls and when she peeked out on the balcony, the sultry air seemed stifling.
Guests partook in cigars and voices bloomed with liquor-scented rowdiness. Lucian was nowhere to be
found.
She made her way back through the living room and searched the bar. He wasn’t there, but while
she waited, the bartender made her another drink. It was some sort of signature drink made with
crushed fruit and gin. She didn’t really care for it, but drank it anyway. She noticed a door she hadn’t seen before and decided to look there for Lucian.
Making her way back through the crowd, she paused at the entrance. The last thing she wanted to do
was inadvertently go trespassing in Toni’s private space. She decided she’d use the excuse of looking
for the restroom if anyone questioned her.
Her gloved fingers touched the knob and the door glided open with little effort. It hadn’t been
closed tightly. She stilled when she heard a deep voice whispering.
“I will apologize again and again. I see now what you saw in her. I was wrong. All I can say is that
my intentions were at one point honorable and somehow got twisted into something selfish along the
way.”
She frowned and remained hidden behind the door. Her feet casually stepped closer to the heavy
curtain suspended about a foot from the wall so not to appear as if she were eavesdropping, although
she was.
“I’m not losing any sleep at night, Slade. I suggest you cut your losses and move on. What’s done is
done. I’ll continue to tolerate your presence out of respect for my sisters and Shamus, but other than
the lingering business ties we have, our association is over.”
Her ear cocked to attention at Lucian’s statement.
“Lucian, please. We were friends. I made a mistake.”
Lucian’s curt voice rang of exasperation. “I told you I loved her then and I love her now. You
betrayed me and nearly cost me the only person who has ever made me feel this way. You don’t know
what it is to fear losing someone you love with an intensity that eats up every hour of your day. What
either of us felt for Monique doesn’t compare to what I feel for Evelyn. I can overlook what you’ve
done, but I’ll never forgive it completely. Until you love someone the way I love her, I don’t expect
you to understand that. Now, if you’ll excuse me.”
The sound of footsteps had her jumping back behind the curtain. Lucian passed in a blur of black
and she heard Slade sigh and mumble something. Enough. Striding out from the shadows, she stepped
through the narrowly cracked door and shut it quietly.
Slade’s head jerked up at the sound of company. She expected to see those stormy blue eyes and
experience the jolt of shame his disdainful scowls usually provoked in her, but she didn’t. The whites
surrounding those blue irises shimmered and appeared slightly pink in hue. He cleared his throat and
quickly blinked and looked away.
“Evelyn. Lucian just left.” His voice was grave, but curt. She was clearly being dismissed.
“I know. I heard you talking.”
He turned back to her, all signs of being humane gone, replaced with the hard mask he usually
looked down at her with. She waited for him to say something, but he didn’t. He just glared at her,
intimidating her, but she didn’t let it show.
The room was some sort of den. A desk sat in the corner with a laptop closed on the surface. Club
chairs perched around a modernized gas fireplace. This was Toni’s usual style, she assumed. Evelyn
entered the space with a show of courage. Slade’s days of making her feel unwelcome were over.
“You know,” she said in a soft, but steady voice as she ran her hand over the back of a plush red
chair. “While I appreciate you helping Parker, I hope someday he betrays you the same way you
betrayed your partner. I hope you feel what it truly is to be the victim of someone else’s ill-
intentioned motives.”
He sighed and looked to the ceiling as though he’d allow her this moment to say what she needed to
say, as if it were her due.
She swallowed and refused to take her eyes off of him. “You decided not to like me from the first
time you met me. It didn’t matter who I was or where I was from. You never gave me a chance and
never denied it. Well, I have news for you. Your opinions are worth less than dog shit, not just to me, but now to Lucian as well. You meddled in our lives and cost yourself a valuable friendship. That’s