33. Ari
CHAPTER 33
ARI
T he liberation of Selene Fuller was something of an anticlimax, although Dusk said all good ops ran that way. The next phase of her life started at the Black Diamond, midway through a fundraiser for victims of domestic violence. How Jace could dare to show his face at that particular event, I had no idea, but there he was, dressed in a tux with his battered wife on his arm.
If you didn’t look beneath the surface, she was the perfect trophy wife, stunning in shimmering silver. But get up close, and you saw the slight swelling around her left eye that even the cleverest contouring couldn’t hide. The smudged gloss where she kept chewing her lip. The sadness in her big hazel eyes.
And I did get up close. Jace had never seen me, didn’t know that I was secretly plotting to gift him a divorce. Standing beside Selene at the bar, I ordered a Lady Liberty and a Good Luck Charm, and while the bartender mixed them, I put on a Southern accent and made small talk.
“I love your shoes. Are they Louboutins?”
“No, Hope & Grace. ”
“So lovely, although I have no idea how you can stand in them all night.”
“Oh, I pregame with Tylenol.”
No doubt that was a regular thing for Selene. Her control freak of a husband probably dished the pills out two at a time so she couldn’t OD again. I glanced down at my own stilettos and pulled a face.
“I walked to the bathroom in the far corner of the ballroom earlier, and I’m not sure how I made it back.”
“There’s also a bathroom by the cloakroom. It’s closer.”
“I prefer the one by the stage.” A guy greeted Jace, and he half turned to talk. Good. “If you need to touch up your make-up, the lighting’s so much better.” I touched a finger to my left eye. “Although you’re so pretty that you don’t need make-up at all.”
The bartender returned and slid my drinks over. “One Lady Liberty, one Good Luck Charm. You planning to drink both of those yourself?”
“Not if I want to stay standing, honey. One is for my friend. Kelsey always gets me home safe at the end of the night.”
The pieces clicked into place. Selene’s eyes widened, and I put a finger to my lips, then quickly squeezed her hand.
“Enjoy the party, sweetie.”
“Thank you. Thank you so much.”
Then once again, we had to wait. If nothing else, I’d gotten a beautiful dress out of the evening, and the accessories to go with it. Marcel had shown up with a rack of designer dresses and scarves, purses, shoes, jewellery… He told me to keep whatever I wore. When I asked Sin who I should reimburse because my beautiful blue gown was far too expensive to be a gift, she rolled her eyes and said, “Have you seen the government budget? They don’t really pa y four hundred bucks for a toilet seat and six hundred bucks for a carton of pens.”
Dusk and I were each other’s dates, which was socially acceptable these days, and Sin was on Priest’s arm. He’d ditched his Hawaiian shirts for a black suit, and he looked surprisingly attractive. Dusk said he scrubbed up well, but I hadn’t quite believed her.
Selene waited until after the appetiser to excuse herself and head to the bathroom. Sticking to her regular pattern? Worried her hopes might be dashed? As she walked across the ballroom, I rose too, following, and I noticed Priest moving in our direction as well. Sin and Dusk would stay to monitor Jace and intercept him if necessary.
Selene was pacing in front of the mirrors when I pushed open the door.
“Is it really true?” she asked. “Are we leaving?”
I pulled a dark-purple lightweight pashmina out of my purse and tucked it around her shoulders.
“Walk on my right. A man will join us, and you need to go with him to the exit. Kelsey’s in a car waiting to take you to a safe house.”
Waiting with tissues and a hug. With me in the way, nobody got a good look at Selene as we moved steadily toward freedom. Priest had transformed into a bodyguard, complete with earpiece, and he’d pre-cleared an exit route through the kitchen. He motioned for Selene to walk in front of him.
“Take it steady, ma’am. I’ll direct you.”
Two minutes later, Kelsey messaged to say they were on the way to Mav’s place, leaving Sin, Dusk, and me to witness the glorious meltdown of Jace when he realised his wife was missing.
We’d preempted that too. Nobody wanted him calling the cops, so fifteen minutes after Selene left the building, a waiter passed him a note. I’d been the one to write it .
Jace, it’s over. Don’t try to find me.
“Sir, a blonde lady gave me this and asked me to pass it to you.”
The blonde lady was Sin, now keeping a low profile in the corner, but the waiter didn’t know that and neither did Jace. In typical asshole fashion, he tried to shoot the messenger, well, punch him, but several partygoers pulled him off the poor guy and the police did show up after all. Jace got arrested, and that was the end of a glorious evening.