Chapter 23
When the music stops and the crowd cheers, I don’t hear them. I don’t even feel Owen’s hand as he leads me away.
My eyes scan the crowd for Peyton. Even though I knew there would likely be assassins here tonight, for some reason, I didn’t expect him.
“Is something wrong?” Owen leans over and whispers so no one can hear us.
I shake my head. “I just need to use the restroom. Will you excuse me?”
Owen looks disappointed at my sudden change in mood, but I need to get away. I need to find Peyton. I need to find out who he’s working for.
Owen nods and releases my hand, watching me walk away. I don’t want to. I want to stay and make sure he’s okay. Make sure he knows I’m on his side. But this is the only way I know how to do that, even if he isn’t aware.
I practically sprint from the crowd now closing in around Owen. I don’t turn to see his face. I focus on what I’m supposed to be doing: finding the assassins and finding out who is pulling their leashes.
“Gray,” I whisper into my comm, exiting the atrium and scanning the crowd by the entrance. “Peyton Radd is here. I need to know where he went.”
“Last location?”
“Exiting the atrium toward the back exit.”
“On it.”
As Gray searches the cameras, I wind my way around the outside of the crowd, searching for Peyton’s dirty blond hair among the commotion.
“Got him,” Gray’s voice comes through the comm. “He’s headed down to the aquarium.”
The aquarium is on the floor below the atrium, displaying creatures from all over the world in beautifully designed tanks. From tropical waters to the deep sea, there are a myriad of exhibits. The problem with the aquarium, though, is that it’s dark, and there are many places to hide.
“Shit,” I mumble into the comm.
“You want me to send backup?” Gray asks.
“No. I’ll handle it. Keep eyes on him, let me know if he leaves the area.”
“Will do.”
I quickly walk to the stairs that descend into the aquarium. The sound of my heels is drowned out by the number of people talking and laughing around me.
When I reach the bottom, the crowd disperses, and all that’s left are small groups scattered around the exhibit. Many of them socialize around a temporary bar set up in the middle.
Walking to the tank of sea anemones to the left of the bar, I pretend to study them as my eyes travel around in search of the familiar face.
My heels click along the floor, audible now. I make my steps slow and purposeful as I round the corner into another section of the aquarium. The deep-sea exhibit. There is almost zero light.
I know he’s here before his snakelike voice sounds over my shoulder. “I know who you are, Miss Riley. The question is, does Owen?”
Turning slowly, I find Peyton Radd standing close. Too close. He presses a blade lightly into my side.
“Does he know who you are, Mr. Radd?”
Payton laughs, but it’s humorless. “That’s not my real name.”
“Nor is Miss Riley my real name, but you already knew that. Why don’t you get to the point?”
Peyton laughs again, and the sound grates against my nerves. I’ve encountered many men like him. Too many. But the visceral reaction I still have to them never ceases to amaze me. My brain wants me to run, but my body wants me to fight. It wants me to eliminate every single one of them.
“He thinks he knows who I am,” Peyton says. “Just as you think you know who I am.”
“So he didn’t hire you?”
“I didn’t say that.” He pauses for a second, changing the subject.
“I’ve been keeping an eye on him for a long time, Miss Riley.
I know more about his life than anyone actually in it.
I know what makes him angry, what makes him happy, and what he desires.
” Peyton leans in and licks up the side of my ear.
It takes all of me not to kill him. I clench my fists and grit my teeth. “You speak in riddles. Who hired you?”
Peyton pulls away, but only slightly, and laughs again. “One favor for another, Miss Riley. You know how this works.”
“What do you want?”
“You see, I know far more than you probably do. So I’m not sure what you can offer me.”
“How about I don’t kill your ass or put you in jail?”
“You amuse me, thinking you have any power in this situation. You are sorely outmatched, and you have a little rat in your midst.”
That information should surprise me, but somehow it doesn’t. My gut has been telling me something isn’t right for a while. This only confirms what I feared.
“What do you want?” I ask again, this time ready to put him on his ass regardless of the people and the charity event going on around us.
“Five minutes alone with Mr. Mills.”
“So you aren’t working for him, then?”
“Once again, I didn’t say that. I only asked for a meeting with him. Alone. Tonight.”
“And you think I have the power to give that to you?”
“You may be the only person in this building who holds any sort of power over Owen Mills.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I hiss.
Peyton chuckles in my ear. “Oh, I think you know what that means, Miss Riley.”
“Tell me who you’re working for, and I’ll try to get you what you want.”
“Are you sure that’s the question you want answered, Miss Riley? Not who the rat is?”
Though I’m not really sure, I nod. “Five minutes alone with him. No weapons allowed in the room, and security will be stationed outside the door.”
“Fine,” Peyton growls.
“Who is paying you?”
Peyton leans down and whispers so quietly I almost miss it. “Vivario.”
“What?” I stammer. The word catches in my memory. The little boy. Italy. But how?
“You have thirty minutes to secure the meeting before I decide to kill him.”
He disappears around the corner, the shadows swallowing him.
“You want me to keep eyes on him?” Gray asks through my comm, having heard the entire conversation.
“Yes. Where’s Mr. Mills?”
“Right in front of me. The bar.”
I groan, and Gray chuckles.
“I’m guessing you don’t want to know how many drinks he’s had since you left his side?”
“No.”
Gray laughs again. I stomp back up the stairs.
I’m intercepted by Parker, who steps to my side while I continue toward the bar. “I take it my father got hold of him?”
I nod. “He’s a real piece of work.”
Parker chuckles nervously. “That he is, and he’s unnecessarily cruel to Owen.”
“Why?” I dare to ask.
“He blames Owen for her death.”
I halt my steps, and Parker faces me.
“He blames Owen? But Owen was a child.”
Parker nods and nervously runs a hand through his hair. “It was a car accident. No one knows what happened, but Owen’s mother took him in the car because he was throwing a tantrum. His father believes he was the distraction that caused the accident.”
“The scar on his chest…”
Parker nods again. “He almost died, too.”
I don’t know what to do with this information. It all adds up, though. His desire to follow through with the charities. To do what his mother wanted. His father’s treatment. His obsession with defiance, and yet he seeks his father's approval.
“He was a child,” I say again.
“I know. He doesn’t deserve our father's cruelty. But at this moment, I need your help. Owen is already too deep. Had too many in a short time. I’m not sure he’ll be able to make his speech. Do you have his notes for it?”
I nod.
“I’ll do it for him, but I need what he wrote, and I need you to get him out of here before the alcohol hits for real and he decides to do something stupid, like bait our father into a fight in front of everyone.”
Shit. This is not the night for Owen to get piss drunk.
“Okay,” I concede because I don’t know what else to do. “Where do I take him?”
“Home.”
“I don’t know where he lives.”
Parker sighs. “No one does except for me. I’ll program directions into his car.”
Another odd piece of information that creates more questions than answers.
“Thanks. I’ll get Owen.”
Parker puts a hand on my shoulder before I can slip away. “He likes you. I dare say he probably loves you. And anyone with eyes can see you feel the same way. Just don’t hurt him. I don’t think he’d survive it.”
Tears fill my eyes, but I don’t let them fall. He’s right. I do feel the same, but how I feel about him won’t save either of us when the truth is finally revealed. We’re both going to fall, and we’re both going to lose each other.
“And thank you, Miss Riley,” Parker continues. “There’s no one else I trust to make sure he gets home safely.”
With that, he disappears through the doors to the atrium, and my heart cracks in my chest.
I take a heaving breath before composing myself and dialing Noah. “I need you. Second floor outside the dinosaur exhibit. Fifteen minutes. Bring two other guys.”
“You find the people you were looking for?”
“One of them, and I made a stupid bargain with him. Now I’m going to pay the consequences.”
“I hope it was worth it.”
“It wasn’t.”
Noah sighs on the other end of the phone. “Whatever you need, Nova.”
“Thanks, Noah. I mean it.”
“We’ll make sure he gets out of there in one piece.”
“He’s already not in one piece.”
Noah chuckles. “I can see that.”
Now it’s my turn to sigh. “Fifteen minutes.”
“I’ll be there.”
I hang up the phone and race to Owen. Already afraid of what I’ll find.