Chapter 21 Helena
When Colton Pratt first approached our table, I froze.
I’d been hoping to meet him, of course—that was the reason I was here, after all.
And yet when he shook my hand and introduced himself, I was gripped by sheer terror.
Not just because he was a dealer and a felon of citywide renown—but mostly because I needed information from him and suddenly had no idea how to get it.
So I just smiled, unable to get a word out at first. But the longer I sat talking to him, the more I relaxed.
Colton was good-looking, but he was also funny, charming, and intelligent.
It didn’t take much effort to flirt with him, and I caught myself genuinely laughing at his jokes.
But I hadn’t forgotten my plan. This would just make it easier… or so I hoped.
“How come I’ve never seen you around this fair city of ours, Helena?” Pratt asked me at one point.
I picked up my drink and rested my arm on the back of the sofa we were sitting on. The others were dancing; only Preston sat in a lounge chair, staring at his phone and ignoring us.
“I was overseas for a while,” I replied. He didn’t seem to have clocked that I was Valerie’s sister, and there was no way in hell I was going to let him know and risk his taking off.
“Overseas?” He gave me a quizzical look. “Where exactly?”
“Cambridge, England. I went to college there.” I smiled, frantically wondering how to turn the conversation around to the night when Pratt had turned up at Adam and Valerie’s suite.
“England, okay.” He nodded, impressed. “Why did you come back? Did you get sick of fish and chips and bad weather?”
“Something like that, yeah.” I grinned and decided to take a risk.
We’d been there for an hour already—he’d probably have to get to work at some point, and I suspected he’d be out of there soon, unless I gave him a reason to stay.
“England was great, but New York has a whole lot of other possibilities for… entertainment.”
Pratt raised an eyebrow. “No kidding.”
He reached a hand behind me and gently stroked the back of my neck.
Something tightened pleasantly near my core, before logic could get in the way.
I was suddenly all too aware that it had been way too long since I’d been intimate with anyone.
I didn’t particularly want it to be Pratt who ended my dry spell, but I couldn’t just give him the brush-off, either, not until I had my intel.
So I smiled and pretended I was enjoying it. Which wasn’t too far from the truth.
“You seem pretty confident that you’re better than fish and chips,” I remarked, and Pratt laughed. But he quickly grew serious again and leaned in toward me.
“You have no idea, Helena.” He spoke softly, and I could feel his breath on my mouth.
Then he closed the gap between us and kissed me.
Very gently, with closed lips, and he pulled back right away, but I could see in his eyes that he wanted more.
And I knew that this was my chance to get answers.
People usually gave away their secrets more easily when their guard was down.
“Can I ask you something?” I whispered in his ear.
“Of course,” he replied in a low voice.
“It’s my birthday soon,” I continued in the same tone. “I heard people can book you for birthday parties, kind of like a gift. You and your… merchandise?”
“You can book me for absolutely anything, baby,” he murmured and kissed me again, his lips tracing a line down my neck. He didn’t seem surprised that I knew who he was, and what he had to offer.
“Really?” I persisted. “You mean, like at Adam Coldwell’s engagement party? Didn’t you go there on a job for someone?”
Pratt pulled away, unmistakable caution in his eyes now. “How do you know about that?”
“Oh, I don’t know.” I waved it off like it was no big deal. “I think I heard it from someone. Why, is it not true? Sorry, I didn’t mean to make it awkward.” I had, of course, but instinct told me I was playing with fire and about to get burned.
“No worries. You didn’t.” He seemed to relax again but didn’t come any closer. Instead, he flashed me a winning smile and stood up. “What do you say we go somewhere a little more private? I know a few spots in this place that aren’t open to the public.”
I hesitated. Should I go with him? Or say no and lose my chance to find out something about Valerie’s death? No, I couldn’t afford to do that. He hadn’t denied that he was at the party, so there was a possibility that I’d still get something from him if I just picked the right moment.
So, despite feeling uneasy about it, I stood up and took the hand Pratt offered to me. We left the group, skirted along the back wall, and Pratt opened a door that led to a corridor even darker than the club.
“Don’t worry, I know my way around. Come on.” But instead of kissing me again under the dark cover of the corridor, he strode purposefully down it.
My stomach knotted, as though part of me knew something wasn’t right.
But at that moment, Pratt pulled open another door and shoved me roughly through it, out into the dark alleyway at the back of the club.
It was pouring rain, the pavement was slick, and I almost lost my balance in my high heels.
I just about managed to stay upright before I wheeled around to face him.
“Have you lost your mind?” I snapped in an attempt to disguise my fear. “What the hell are you doing?”
He grabbed me by the arm and, with one swift movement, pinned me against the brick wall, his hand around my neck. Any trace of desire had vanished from his eyes, along with all of his charm. Instead, he glared at me in suspicion.
“What do you want from me?” he hissed. “What’s it to you if I was at Adam Coldwell’s party?”
“I… I told you, it’s my birthday soon, and I wanted to know if I could book you for it.” My voice trembled in fear. I cursed it silently.
“You’re lying!” he shouted in my face.
“I’m not!”
“Tell me the truth right now, or you’ll regret it.” He pressed harder, and I felt something else, aside from his hand, something cold against my throat. A knife? Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck.
“Okay, okay, I’ll tell you.” It wouldn’t do me any good to keep playing the innocent with him. If I told the truth, he might let me go. “I’m trying to find out what happened that night. Something to help me explain Valerie Weston’s death.”
“And how do I come into it? The fact that she and Coldwell kicked it has nothing to do with me!”
“It was a tip,” I managed. “Someone told me you were sent there, but Adam threw you out because he didn’t want drugs at his engagement party.” I felt the rain on my skin, felt the cold seeping through my thin dress. And the weapon that was just a fraction of an inch away from hurting me.
“What else do you know?”
“Nothing. Really.”
“I don’t believe a word you say.” The knife pressed harder, and I felt a burning pain as the blade broke the skin ever so slightly. I took a sharp breath.
“It’s the truth, I swear!” A thin, warm trickle of blood ran down my collarbone.
I froze. The knife was dangerously close to my carotid artery; one false move and the trickle would become a torrent.
Panic flooded my brain with useless questions.
How long did it take to die from a severed artery?
How would my parents explain this to the rest of society?
“You swear? Oh, well, okay then!” Pratt laughed derisively. “I don’t give a shit what you swear, sweetie. Admit it, he sent you here to find out if I can keep my mouth shut.”
“He?” I asked. “Who is ‘he’? I have no idea who you’re talking about.
” The blood was seeping into the fabric of my dress.
I had to do something, say something, to get me out of there.
This was exactly why I’d started learning martial arts.
But no maneuver, hold, or kick I could think of was going to be of any use if I couldn’t move because of the knife at my throat.
Pratt had caught me off guard. And now here I was, armed with nothing but my voice to try to free myself. “I really don’t,” I told him again.
“Come on, Helena, you can do better than that. Tell me the truth, and maybe I’ll leave your pretty face in one piece.”
Despite my panic, a thought came clearly to my mind: maybe it was a good idea to give Pratt what he wanted. Or pretend to.
“Yes, you’re right,” I managed to say. “He sent me.”
“I knew it!” Pratt snarled, but he didn’t loosen his grip.
I could practically feel the rage radiating off him.
“It’s about time I showed him once and for all what happens to the people he sets on me.
I’m not some small-time dealer intimidated by Carter Fields anymore.
Maybe he’ll understand if I dump his little snitch’s body on his doorstep, what do you think? ”
The knife’s pressure increased, and I felt a sharp pain all the way into my arm. Pratt had just given me a name, but it would be no use to me if I were dead. I held my breath and ran through my options. Try to free myself and risk his slitting my throat? If you don’t try, he’ll do it for sure.
Suddenly, there was a clang behind him in the alley and an angry hiss.
Pratt turned around in surprise, lowering the knife, and I wasted no time: a well-aimed blow to his stomach, and he folded over and dropped the blade with a clatter.
I raised a knee and connected with his face.
Pratt groaned, but he wasn’t beaten by a long shot, and I was in the absolute worst clothes for a fight.
Cursing, he came at me again, pressing me against the wall with his entire body.
Then he put both hands around my throat and squeezed.
I groped at his arms and tried to free my legs, but he had me completely pinned. I gasped for breath and found none.
“You worthless little slut,” he hissed. “I’ll finish you!”