XXV
Tori
“W hat are you talking about?” I ask Gemini.
“You need to get off the dancefloor and check that everything is still in place for when du Pont arrives.” Syn joins our side, glaring at Gemini like he’s been caught slacking off at work.
“That’s exactly what I need to do.” Gemini lets go of me, turns to Syn and salutes, and then strolls across the dancefloor towards Royal.
“Is it time?” I ask when Syn doesn’t move. “Is he here?”
He shakes his head. “Not yet. We still have a little more time before the auction begins.” I start to walk back to where Royal is still standing, but Syn grabs my hand, stopping me. “Dance with me.”
I glance at his hand on mine, then look up at him, tilting my head. “Dance? With you?”
Syn doesn’t let go of me. “I would like to talk to you.”
Dancing doesn’t seem like a necessary requirement to be able to talk with someone, but I turn back to him and put my hand on his waist. Just like Gemini, Syn has grace when it comes to dancing. Maybe it’s a requirement for this kind of event, but it’s still unexpected to me.
“The Christmas before JP left for college, our parents announced he would be marrying Madeline Addison when he finished law school,” he tells me.
“Because he was gay?” I ask quietly.
Syn frowns and then shakes his head. “As far back as I can remember, JP was going to be president one day. If he was still alive, and it got to that point, then maybe this country might be accepting of a gay president, but that wasn’t going to be something my father or the party would ever allow to chance. JP told me he liked guys when I was twelve, and even then, our father had already been talking about him marrying the right woman.”
“Did JP even want to be president?” I bite my lip. “Do you?”
“You ask that like it’s a choice.”
“How is a decision like that not a choice?” I glance over his shoulder, finding his mother and father on the other side of the room. “It’s your life, not theirs.”
“That Christmas, as usual, the Greatsons were there. Lola’s mom made a joke about needing to find me a wife and suggested her daughter, who was barely thirteen at the time.”
With a sigh, I stop dancing. “Syn, you don’t need to justify being engaged to her.”
“This is what I’m trying to explain to you,” he says, sounding more exasperated than I expected. “That was a passing comment which has become a… a running joke .”
“Then who are you engaged to? If you’re president next, and having the right wife is important, then there must be someone. Right?” I scan the crowd, browsing each woman who looks about his age.
Syn’s reaches for my face, turning it back to face him. “For someone who claims they’re not jealous, you’re certainly acting like it.”
“For someone who claims to be clever, you’re not acting like it,” I snap back at him. “Reign your ego in, Syn. Whether I like you or not is irrelevant. I am upset. And I’m upset because somewhere, there’s some poor girl who’s going to have to marry you someday soon. You might have the emotional range of a rock, but there’s a big difference between an ex-girlfriend and an ex-fiancée. Imagine if you saw the girl you’re promised to with another guy she claims to love.”
“You are caring about a girl that doesn’t exist,” Syn tells me. “When my father told me I would be taking JP’s place, I told him I wasn’t marrying Lola. He agreed because her family doesn’t meet some dumb list of requirements. As of yet, my father hasn’t decided on who does,” he continues before I can object.
It seems like such a silly thing to worry over, especially after everything I’ve done, but knowing that I haven’t caused anyone any pain from effectively being the girl who’s been cheated on brings me a huge sense of relief. But I’m also thankful that Syn didn’t make me be that other woman.
“Then, in the interest of fairness, there’s something you should know,” I tell him.
Syn reaches for my hand, and we resume dancing. “What’s that?”
“Last night, your father tried to give me a hundred thousand dollars in cash to leave you. I think he thinks we’re really engaged and—”
“I know.”
“Is that what you talked about when I left you last night?” I ask carefully. “Does he know who I am?”
Slowly, he shakes his head. “He didn’t say so then, but he will by now.”
A pang of pity hits me. If that’s the case, and Syn’s father was just trying to make me break up with Syn because he didn’t approve of me, then he was probably going to do that to any girl Syn brought home. Before I can stop myself, I pull my hand free of Syn’s and wrap my arms around him, hugging him tightly.
Syn’s body stiffens. “Don’t worry. The auction will be starting soon. My father won’t do anything before then.”
Maybe it’s better that he’s misunderstood my sudden display of concern. I pull back and look around the room. “Has Preston arrived yet?”
“Not yet…” Syn trails off as Royal approaches.
“It’s your father. He’d like to speak to you,” Royal tells him. As I suck in a deep breath, psyching myself ready to deal with William, Royal shakes his head at me. “Just Syn.”
“I’ll deal with it.” Syn raises his arm and looks at the watch on his wrist. “If this takes longer than expected, you two should head to the meeting location and wait there.”
I watch as Syn walks away and then turn to Royal. “Is everything okay?”
“I’m sure it’s nothing.” Royal looks at me and then shakes his head. “I was checking with Preston’s fiancée that du Pont was still planning on making an appearance—which she confirmed he was—and Syn’s father came and asked where he was. I offered to let Syn know he was looking for him, mainly because I was hoping I could get a dance with you while I still have chance.” Royal gives me a sheepish smile.
While I’m not sure why everyone wants to dance with me tonight, it’s a better alternative to just standing around and waiting while avoiding awkward small talk with any other guests.
“I need to use the bathroom, but I’ll be back,” I tell Royal.
He nods, and I leave him on the edge of the dancefloor, heading towards the bathrooms near the entrance to the room. There are a couple of women talking to each other as I enter the bathroom, and I give them a polite smile as they look over at me with obvious curiosity. They look vaguely familiar, enough that I’ve probably seen them on the news before, but I disappear straight into a vacant stall before they can talk to me.
By the time I’ve finished and go to wash my hands, I’m alone in the bathroom. I quickly wash and dry my hands, then step back to examine my appearance. When the hair stylist reapplied the blue to my hair, he mentioned that it’s going to be difficult to remove the color and return to my natural blonde.
While I’m considering whether I should let it fade out or try being a brunette for a while, I realize that the woman who’s just entered the bathroom has walked up beside me. She’s one of the servers. Assuming she needs to tidy the sinks, I give my appearance one last check and then turn.
Before I can sidestep out of her way, she steps forward and blocks me. “I’m here to take you to Mr. du Pont.”
I thought we had more time before he was due to arrive, but I’m thankful that I don’t need to wait around any longer. I follow the woman out of the bathroom, but when I start to head back to the main hall, she shakes her head.
“What about the others?” I ask.
“I was told to bring you straight there before Mr. du Pont leaves. We need to go this way.” She gestures back towards the main entrance.
Royal did say they’d paid someone to notify them when Preston arrived. I didn’t know the layout of the museum well enough, but with Syn being caught up by his father, Royal must have sent this woman and then gone straight to where we need to meet.
Not wanting to miss anything Preston has to say, I follow the server down a corridor and then through another door to an empty exhibit that’s lit only by the emergency lighting.
We walk through room after room. As I start to grow concerned with where she’s leading me, I spot a sign for the World’s Beyond Earth experience, and I can’t help but roll my eyes.
Of course, Gemini was behind choosing this location.
No doubt he’ll be suggesting post-adventure sex afterwards…
However, the uneasy feeling starts to return as we go through a door marked ‘Private.’ “Where are we going?”
The woman barely glances over her shoulder. “We’re nearly there.” She pushes open the door at the end of the corridor, and I follow her inside.
A cold draft whips around me, and I rub at my bare arms. The room is only lit with emergency lighting, and I can barely make out stacks of crates and boxes. “Are you sure this is where we’re supposed to be?”
As I ask the question, the woman disappears behind an enormous crate.
Something doesn’t feel right.
I know Royal said we needed somewhere private to talk, but I didn’t get the impression he meant whatever this storage area is.
Just as I’m contemplating if I should go back, the woman steps back out and beckons me over. “It’s this way.”
“Are you sure we’re supposed to be in here?” I ask again as I hurry over to her.
“I’m just bringing you where I was told,” she tells me. She points to a door. “Through there.”
When she doesn’t move, I walk over to the door and push it open. Instantly, I’m hit with a strong gust of icy wind, but before I can take a step back, I’m shoved so hard that I go flying.
As the door slams closed behind me, my body hits metal railings, and I’m barely able to grab onto them to stop myself from hurtling over the edge.
“What the hell?” Ignoring the pain in my wrist, I whirl around and try to open the door, but it doesn’t give. “Hey!” I hammer on the door. “Let me in!”
I’m going to kill Syn.
Rage bubbles through me.
Was this the point of bringing me here? Why go to all this trouble?
This is the American Museum of Natural History. I might not be able to get back in through this door, but I can easily walk around the block, back to the main entrance. I turn to walk down the few steps.
“Hello, Victoria. Or should I call you Tori Reynolds?”
The man at the bottom of the steps is Preston du Pont. I recognize him instantly from the portrait that hangs on the wall above the stairs back in Denali House, but my attention isn’t on his face.
It’s on the gun he has pointed at me.
“Make a noise, and I will shoot you.”
“You wouldn’t...” I mutter, trying to keep calm.
“Listen carefully, because I’m only going to say this once. You’re going to walk down these steps and get into the back of that van.” He nods towards the small delivery van that’s parked beside him, one of the rear doors already open. “The security cameras have been disabled, and I promise, you’re not fast enough to outrun a bullet. I don’t want to shoot you, but I will.”
My legs seem to have locked in place, and my hand grips the railing like my entire body is fighting against Preston’s orders. Going anywhere with him seems like a bad idea, yet staying here is obviously worse.
One by one, I force my feet to move down each step, then over to the van. Even if I wanted to see if I could be lucky and run away, my legs won’t let me. There isn’t a large gap between the ground and the back of the van, but even climbing in is hard work.
My speed is enough to irritate Preston because he rushes up behind me and shoves me into the van.
Everything goes dark as he slams the door closed behind me.