Ghost
A week later
We finally knew exactly what the guy was looking for that was trying to kill Luxe.
No one knew why he wanted this painting so bad, but we’d been on the hunt for it to see exactly why.
Tonight, Luxe heard from a lil birdie that the painting was gon’ be at an art gala in Atlanta, so we hopped on the road and drove here to see if we could get our hands on it.
Luxe had gotten us tickets to the gala. Of course, we had to work some more security detail into the event because it was huge, and there was no telling who all was gon’ be there. We had to protect Luxe at all costs.
I’d been ready to leave the hotel but was waiting on Luxe to finish getting dressed.
I’d never understand why it took them so fucking long to put some clothes on and comb their hair.
Luxe wasn’t the type to keep her hair done like that.
Most of the time, it was in her natural state, so I was trying to understand why it still took her forever.
Luxe and I had adjoining suites at the hotel. She didn’t want to stay in the same room with me. After all this time that passed, one would’ve thought that she would’ve put that shit behind her and moved on, but I could see that her lil ass could hold a fucking grudge.
There was a knock coming from her side of the suite. Treading over, I opened the door to find Luxe standing there in this floor-length teal dress. Her hair was pressed with a part down the middle, and she had minimal makeup on her face. I’d never seen her like this. She looked . . . different.
“Stop staring at me. You got plenty of time to beat your dick when we get back. Let’s go.”
She brushed past me, into my suite, and opened the door.
I followed her out of the room, and we took the elevator down to the lobby.
The way the women and men were staring at her as we moved through the lobby told me that I wasn’t imagining things.
I was happy to be walking behind someone as beautiful as her.
We made it outside where the truck was waiting for us.
The driver opened the back passenger door, and we got inside.
The event wasn’t too far from the hotel.
That was exactly why we chose the one we were staying at.
If we did acquire the painting, we would have to get it back to the room quickly so that we could get the hell out of the city.
As we pulled up to the venue, there were so many cars lined up at the front entrance. Paparazzi were out taking pictures of everyone who entered the event.
“I’m not sure if that’s a great idea to go in through the front door,” I told Luxe. Word could get around that she was here, and we’d be swarmed with people trying to take her out.
“What do you suggest we do then?”
“I’ma go on in and open the door in the alley. One of them will have to stand back there with you,” I told her and then lifted toward the front. “When I get out, swing her around back.”
The driver nodded and stopped the truck. I hopped out and headed toward the entrance. With me being on a mission, I didn’t even stop to take pictures. It wasn’t like I wanted to be seen anyway.
As I entered the building, I noticed all the paintings and art that was everywhere. If I knew what we were looking for, I would’ve stopped to see if the painting was actually in here and saved us some time.
I made it to the back door and pushed it open. Luxe slipped inside.
“This is nice,” she said as she looked around. “Let’s find that painting.”
I followed her as she moved through the crowd. She stopped at a few paintings, but I wasn’t sure which one was which. A lot of the paintings looked like someone had just slapped paint on them and called them artwork. It was insane how the industry truly worked.
Luxe gasped. She stood there with her hand covering her mouth as she stared at one of the pieces.
“That’s-that’s it,” she said and pointed at the painting across the room.
There was a good group of people standing in front of it.
I wasn’t certain how we were supposed to get that out of here unnoticed.
Luxe damn near floated toward the painting. She stopped alongside some other people and looked up at it. I wasn’t the art type of person, so I honestly didn’t get the hype.
She caught me by the wrist. When I looked at her, she shook her head.
“What?”
“It’s fake,” she whispered, trying not to alert everyone else of her findings.
“And how do you know that?”
“Look at the edges. The paint is blurred. It’s fake.”
So we really wasted our time coming here. Well, I wouldn’t really say wasted our time because if the painting was real, we would’ve been one step closer to getting Luxe back to her normal life.
“Back to the drawing board,” I said and turned on my heels.
“I can’t believe this shit. I really thought it was about to be over.”
Luxe and I headed for the back door. I removed my phone and sent the driver a message, letting him know to be parked out back for us. Luxe was getting frustrated because she’d come so close several times, but it was like she was getting knocked back ten steps every time.
“Don’t worry. We’ll figure this shit out.”
As we stepped out the door, I shot Savion a text.
Me: It’s a dud.
I opened the back passenger door for Luxe and climbed in after her.
The ride back to the hotel was silent. All she did was stare out the window the entire time. I wasn’t sure what to say to her; that was why I just kept my mouth closed. We arrived back at the hotel, and I climbed out and held the door for Luxe. She brushed past me and entered the building.
We rode the elevator up to our floor. As we both stopped at our doors, I stared over at her. The glow she had when we left was no longer there. Her eyes were dull. She seemed exhausted, but I couldn’t really blame her. If I were in her shoes, I probably would be too.
“Good night,” I told her as she pushed her door open. She didn’t even respond, just entered the room and shut the door behind her.
Sighing, I entered my room as well and shut the door behind me. Stripping out of my clothes, I headed straight to the bathroom to take a shower. As I was in there, my mind drifted to Luxe. I wanted so desperately to solve this for her. It was slowly sucking the life out of her.
Resting my hands against the tile wall, I lowered my head and allowed the water to beat down on me.
There was no way I should be this concerned about Luxe.
I’d never cared this much for a mark before.
Yeah, I did my job at keeping them safe, but Luxe was different.
She was pulling emotions out of me that shouldn’t have been there in the first place.
Dealing with her was getting harder by the day.
Once I was done, I stepped out of the shower and wrapped a towel around my waist. There was a knock at my door. I thought it was coming from the hallway, but it was coming from Luxe’s room. When I opened the door, she stood there, still in her dress.
Rolling her eyes, she said, “I can’t get it unzipped.”
She turned, giving me her back. I grabbed her hair and draped it over her right shoulder and then reached for the zipper. As it tugged down, my heart skipped beats. Luxe had been the only person to ever get a reaction out of me like that.
The straps slipped off her shoulders. She caught the front of it because she didn’t have on a bra. Without uttering another word, she went back into her suite and shut the door behind her.