Chapter 31
Thirty-One
Kass.
Dani hadn’t expected him to be here. He wasn’t supposed to be here. She wasn’t ready to face him, having no idea what he thought of her at this point, or whether he’d even bothered to open the message she’d sent him over a week ago.
But here he was: real and solid before her, touchable and yet so far out of reach.
His gaze skimmed from his father to Dr. Rodriguez then to Dr. Virtanen before it inevitably, resoundingly landed on Dani.
She had the distinct feeling that she’d brought this upon herself by wishing he could see her in her gown, but now that they were here, Dani wanted nothing more than for a hole to open up at her feet so she could plummet deep into the earth until she landed in its core and was consumed wholly by lava. Yeah, lava sounded good.
But it seemed a reprieve of a molten nature was not in the cards. “Lukas,” said his father, moving aside so Kass could slide in between him and Dr. Rodriguez, completing the family portrait. “What a happy surprise. But I thought we had established you had more important places to be tonight?”
He was doing a poor job of hiding his displeasure at the sudden appearance of his son—Dani saw it in shades of reddish brown, like rust flaking from old metal.
“Yes,” Dr. Rodriguez added, with a Miss Congeniality smile. “To what do we owe this unexpected honor?”
But Kass’s eyes were still on Dani, his expression unreadable, and a terrible thought struck her in that moment of scrutiny: Maybe Kass had read her letter, guessed that she’d be attending the gala, and he’d come here specifically to expose her in front of his family.
Maybe he was about to tell Dr. Rodriguez and Mr. Gianakos exactly what she’d been up to and put a stop to it here and now in a grand show of familial loyalty.
She locked eyes with him, trying wordlessly to communicate a thousand things, like all the regret and self-loathing she’d cultivated in the two weeks since they’d last seen each other—and a little bit of surrender, too. Her fate was in his hands now.
Go ahead, she thought. Get it over with. If he was going to do this, she wanted him to rip it off like a Band-Aid.
It’s time? Katya said.
No! cried Silva, and Dani realized that she had accidentally sent her thought through the shell to the rest of the group. No, stand down. Miss Lionet, what’s happening?
But Dani didn’t respond, because Kass was opening his mouth. She squeezed her eyes shut and braced for the impact of his accusation.
“What are you talking about?” Kass asked, and she knew him well enough to hear the artifice in his agreeable tone. “I wouldn’t dream of missing your big night. Ha, get it? Dream. Man, I’m so proud of this guy.”
She opened her eyes in time to see him slap his father on the back, definitely harder than would be considered friendly. Dr. Rodriguez cleared her throat, her smile losing ground.
“And my sister, of course,” Kass added. “They’re both such hard workers, always forging ahead even when it doesn’t make sense.”
Dani’s mind raced as she tried to figure out what was going on.
His words were laden with some hidden meaning, but it wasn’t as a result of her ability.
Whatever he was hinting at, his father and Dr. Rodriguez must have understood, because there was a palpable tension in the air, igniting the space between them.
It was almost awkward to witness, like going to a friend’s house and seeing them fight with their parents.
Dani didn’t know whether to keep watching or to look away.
Dr. Virtanen was picking up on the vibe, too. “The Gianakos name is certainly one I associate with endurance,” he said cautiously. “I’ve always looked to you as a paragon of business acuity myself, Lukas.”
No one was paying attention to him. Kass stepped just in front of his father, forcing the man to look at him.
Kass was a few inches shorter, but a powerful intention was rolling off him in waves.
He had come to the gala to do something—Dani just wasn’t sure what.
She barely caught what Kass said next, his voice low and urgent.
“Dad. I need to talk to you. Can we step aside for a minute?”
“Nonsense,” Mr. Gianakos said at full volume. “Our presentation is only twenty minutes away. Whatever you want to discuss can wait.”
“No, it really can’t.”
“Well, I’d best be off,” Dr. Virtanen said, taking the obvious cue. “I have to get my head on straight before I get on stage. Wonderful to see you, as always, Luke—and Dani, I hope we’ll cross paths again later?”
“Uh,” Dani said, blinking. Kass glanced at her, his brow furrowed, and unless she was reading too much into it, that look on his face was jealousy.
She didn’t want to answer Dr. Virtanen’s question directly, but he was clearly waiting for a reply before he would leave her side, so she just said, “Good luck.”
“Gods, that guy’s such a tool,” Kass muttered once Dr. Virtanen was out of sight.
“Did you come here just to make trouble?” Mr. Gianakos snarled at his son. Splotches of red blossomed in Dani’s mind like a field of poppies. “Haven’t you stirred the pot enough this week?”
“Dad,” Dr. Rodriguez said, feverishly indicating Dani with her eyes. Her father had obviously forgotten Dani even existed and seemed irked at the reminder.
“Fine,” he said. “We’ll step aside. Come on, son, we have to make this quick.” He took Kass by the elbow and steered him away from the two women, toward a group of cocktail tables nearby. One of the bodyguards followed them, while the second stayed put, looming behind Dr. Rodriguez.
Can we get an update? Wyatt’s voice came through in Dani’s head.
They’re not on yet, Silva said. Hold for the time being.
Dani knew she should be paying closer attention to the conversations happening over the shell, should be giving them play-by-plays of every move the Gianakos clan was making, but she could only watch as Kass and his father retreated, and Dr. Rodriguez watched her watching them.
“Dani,” she said slowly, “how about we talk for a moment ourselves? I can give you a quote for your article.”
Clearly Dr. Rodriguez didn’t want to give her anything, but especially not the chance to trail after her father and brother and overhear their conversation—which, of course, was precisely what Dani wanted to do.
“Sure,” Dani said, thinking fast. “That would be great.”
She was struck with a sudden idea and didn’t give herself time not to act on it; she squeezed her fist around the stem of her wineglass so hard that it broke in two, cutting through the fabric on her glove and opening a small slice on her palm in the process. “Ouch. Fuck.”
“Oh dear,” Dr. Rodriguez said. “Are you all right?”
“Yeah, I just—” The blood was dripping down her wrist now, the cut smarting more than she’d expected. “Could you grab me a napkin or something?”
Dr. Rodriguez glanced around, her gaze landing on exactly what Dani had in mind: an array of napkins on one of the tables in the area where Kass and his father were now having a heated but low-volume argument.
Dr. Rodriguez paused, calibrating, then tottered over to the nearest table, the tight circumference of her skirt limiting her stride.
Dani started after her, and just as she hoped, they ended up a few tables away from Kass and his dad—not close enough to hear everything they were saying, but close enough to catch every few words.
She strained her ears to listen as she peeled off her ruined glove and tossed it on the table.
Dr. Rodriguez flagged down a server to whisk away the broken glass, instructed her bodyguard to go find a first aid kit, then took Dani’s hand in her own and pressed a wad of napkins to the cut.
“—none of your concern,” said Mr. Gianakos. His next sentence was swallowed by the general noise of the gala.
“Sorry,” Dani said to Dr. Rodriguez, with real sheepishness. “I can be pretty clumsy sometimes.”
“It’s not your fault,” the woman assured her, wiping away the trickle on Dani’s arm. “These glasses are atrocious quality. Whoever selected them should be ashamed.”
“—everyone’s concern,” Kass said, his voice rising slightly. “You can’t just keep—”
“Press down here,” Dr. Rodriguez said, passing Dani’s hand back to her as the bodyguard returned with a small first aid kit.
Dani held her thumb against the wad of napkins.
“Thanks.” Dr. Rodriguez had opened the first aid kit and was rummaging around for a Band-Aid.
Dani was a little surprised at how nice the woman was being to someone she thought could potentially sabotage her company.
But then again, she was Kass’s sister, and Kass was a sweetheart, so there had to be some of those genes in her, too.
They sure didn’t seem to come from their father.
“Here.” Dr. Rodriguez unwrapped the Band-Aid and waited for Dani to move the napkins before she placed it over the cut.
It was a challenge of Dani’s willpower not to stare openly at Kass and his father while Dr. Rodriguez did so—the two men weren’t being particularly inconspicuous at this point.
Passersby were starting to rubberneck as their volume turned up a few levels.
“You’ve gone too far this time, Dad,” Kass said. “People are getting hurt. Are you really okay with that? For what? Another cover story in Business Bros Monthly?”
“Don’t you dare disrespect me like that, Lukas,” his father snapped. “I built this company for our family. For us. What would you have without it? Certainly not our home, nor your place at the university.”
“Oh, I don’t know,” Kass shot back, “maybe a father who actually spent time with me? Who asked me what I wanted instead of telling me? Who gave a shit about what I had to say?”
“To suggest that I don’t care—”
“You don’t!” Kass said. “All you care about is that I’m a good little puppet anytime you need me, and that I’m out of sight, out of mind when you don’t.”