“Yes. They’ve agreed to give you another shot, and they’ve agreed to hold the initiation ritual at the Connery mansion,too.”
My shoulders sagged with relief.Thankgod.
“That’s great. Thanks for asking for me,” Isaid.
She casually waved a hand. “It made sense. The weather is going to be terrible for the next few weeks, and there’s already the perfect cover event happening at the mansion this coming Friday. So it all lined upperfectly.”
“Cover event?” I said, tipping my head slightly to theside.
She smiled. “It’s not like fifty people can just walk into the place without the staff or the Connery boys getting suspicious. So they only have parties in that secret room when there’s another party going on downstairs. That way all the wives, kids and staff members aren’t suspicious when they see people roaming all over the house and heading upstairs. They just think it’s normal partyshenanigans.”
“Oh. So Charles Connery is holding some sort of event thisFriday?”
“Yes. A fundraising gala for a hereditary disease foundation,” she said. “While everyone is downstairs dancing and donating money, we’ll be upstairs getting youinitiated.”
“Great.” I beamed at her and reached over to touch her hand. “Thank you so much for giving me another chance. I know I don’t deserve it, but I swear I’ll make it up toyou.”
Her smile faded. “I guess we’ll see if that’s true or not on Friday,” she repliedfrostily.
“I won’t let you down. Ipromise.”
“I hope not, for your own sake.” She leaned forward. “This time, youhaveto go through with the ritual. If you don’t, there will beconsequences.”
I’d prepared myself for this, but that didn’t stop the cold stone of fear from dropping through my guts. “I understand,” I said, wishing my legs would stopshaking.
“I really hope you do, because if you fail us again, you won’t get another chance.” She flashed a cold, humorless smile at me. “And trust me… you don’t even want to know what happened to the last girl who ran out of chances withus.”
Another bolt of fear shot through me, but I maintained my composure, steeled my jaw, and nodded. “I won’t fail,” I said. “I’mready.”
12
Laney
“Almost ready.”Trina bit her lip and narrowed her eyes in concentration as she stood over Hunter with a small makeup brush. “Okay.Done!”
She flipped the chair around, and my eyes almost bulged out of my head. “Holyshit!”
“That was the exact reaction I was looking for,” she said, grinningsmugly.
I shook my head, still marveling at the job she’d done. “I know you’ve been practicing for days, but this is even better than Iexpected.”
“I knew I’d be able to pull it off,” she said, shrugging nonchalantly. “I’ve been waiting for a makeup project like this since I was eight yearsold.”
Hunter had been utterly transformed. I honestly couldn’t believe it was him sitting in the chair. His hair looked like it was graying, and his complexion was the same as that of an average fifty-five-year-old man. With a black and gold patterned domino mask covering the middle third of his face—including most of his nose, which was the main feature he had that differed from Charles Connery—he was almost indistinguishable from hisfather.
“How did you get his hair to look like it was going gray?” Iasked.
“I combed talcum powder through it and set it with hairspray,” Trina explained, cheeks flushing with pride. “It’s better than a wig, because with wigs there’s usually an obvious bit where it starts, even if you try to combine it with the realhair.”
“And the wrinkles?” I leaned closer, squinting at Hunter’s forehead, cheeks, and neck. It was unbelievable. I couldn’t see a hint of makeup at all. He actually seemed to have aged thirty-five years in just a few hours. Even his hands lookedolder.
“Liquid latex,” Trina said. “It’s what all the special effects makeup artists do for movies. You spread it over the natural skin, and then you start picking at it while its drying to make the wrinkles. Then you lightly go over it with foundation to give it the propercolor.”
“It’s seriously perfect,” I said. “No one will have any idea that it’s really him, unless his mask fallsoff.”
Trina raised a brow. “I stuck the mask to his face with eyelash glue, so that won’thappen.”
“It’s gonna be a bitch to take off later,” Hunter said with a wry smile. He swiveled around in the chair to inspect himself in the mirror again. “Honestly, it’s kind of depressing to see how much I look like Dadnow.”