“It is a bullshit party, but I had to show my face. This makes it easier since you’re leaving early. I need to find this man.” I tug a picture out of my pocket of slimy Sal and offer it to him.
He scans it and then passes it back to Soo. “Your men haven’t had any luck.”
“He’s hiding, and it’s apparently the only thing the asshole is good at.”
I glance over my shoulder, trying to spot Val through the crowd but can’t. It grates on me, but I focus on Nic again. “The reward will make the effort worth it. You have my word.”
Nic nods, and Soo has already disappeared. “I’ll let you know when I have something. The usual payment will suffice, and I expect interest for making me dress up for this circus.”
“Seems reasonable. I’m only here tonight to present my wife to society, then we are gone.”
A grin splits Nic’s face. “Wife, huh? I didn’t peg you for the marrying kind.”
I slap him on the chest, jostling his drink, but he doesn’t care. “You’re one to talk. I didn’t think you would ever do it either.”
He shrugs. “When you know, you know.”
I nod, understanding completely. “I need to get back to her. I hate leaving her alone, even with my men around her. Let me know if you find him. Don’t kill him, though. That will be my pleasure and no one else’s.”
Another wicked grin splits Nic’s face. He seems quicker to smile now, happier. “Consider it done. Let’s chat for a minute, and then I’ll let you get back to your wife. Tell me about this target. Soo will do most of the hunting, but I’ve been known to bring in an asshole or two. If he catches sight of me, he’ll piss his pants. I’ve dealt with his family before, briefly, and only as a last resort to move a shipment. None of them deserve to keep breathing for much longer.”
“He took something that didn’t belong to him. Before I married my wife, he was her fiancé. She came to me to deal with him, and I haven’t been able to do so yet. He’s been running since he, well, found out I was looking for him.”
No one needed to know what that bastard had done to Val. That would stay between us, and I’d list off every single one of his sins for Sal as I cut him to pieces. In that way, the truth would stay between him and me as well.
Nic isn’t the type to press, something I appreciate about him. “Anything else I need to know?”
“Get his phone if he has it. Don’t let him destroy it. He might try if he gets caught. I need to check it for any videos he might have taken.”
There are questions in Nic’s eyes, but he doesn’t ask. “Well, then. I’ll find him, and I won’t be gentle about it. But I won’t kill him. Deal?”
I nod, shaking his hand again. “Deal.”
19
VALENTINA
The moment the crowd swallows him up, the room starts to close in on me. I take a step backward but bump into Andrea, who easily catches my upper arms and steers me to the edge of the room.
Towering well above me in platform heels, she ducks her head to catch my eyes. “Breathe. If you have a panic attack and die, we’ll all be goners a few minutes later.”
Her statement shocks a laugh out of me, and I suck in a few breaths through my nose. She nudges my drink to my lips, and I take a sip. “I’m fine. I’m his wife. I can do this.”
In my head, I’m giving myself a pep talk, but a tiny voice in the back of my mind tells me it’s all an act. He married me to keep me safe. He married me to fulfill a deal. He married me for a pretty play toy spiced up with revenge against my father for my ownership.
It’s fine, though. We both get what we want, right? It’s not like I’m falling for how safe he makes me feel. Or for the way he wakes things inside me I didn’t know existed.
No. I can do this. It’s a game. A part he’s given me to play, and for my safety, for saving me, I won’t let him down.
The problem is as I peer through the crowd, I keep catching sight of Rose. I know she’s not real, but all I see is the night of our first party and how she stayed by my side. God, I miss her so much it’s like a hole in my chest that won’t ever close up. Tears threaten to fall, so I stare up at the ceiling just like she taught me. Never show your weakness. Don’t let them see the tears.