Chapter 22 Alaric
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
ALARIC
“The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool.” - William Shakespeare, As You Like It
The last few days went by quickly. The next thing I know, I’m waking up Friday morning of the event.
Celeste has been extremely busy during the day which leads to not being able to see or speak with her much.
She did make an effort to call me at night briefly but had to cut the calls short as she had to tend to the little cries I heard in the background.
I have no idea where she will be located in the club, but I won’t be able to speak with her anyways.
Shoving the comforter to the side, I make my way into the bathroom, taking care of my needs and turning on the shower to get freshened up.
The hot water beats against my skin causing my tense muscles to loosen slightly.
The weight of the case and tonight's event has been weighing heavy and the sooner we catch this asshole, the faster I can take a much-needed vacation and spend more time with Celeste.
There’s always going to be other cases with intense stress and with the obsession I have with catching and closing the case, but this one feels different. This one has me haunted as we continue to fail each and every time. We won’t fail tonight, we can’t afford to.
After about twenty minutes of standing under the pouring water, I lather and rinse and shut the knob off.
My body protests against the protection of the heat.
Pulling the curtain to the side, a puff of steam whirls around the bathroom and I grab a towel to dry off and tie around my waist. Stepping in front of the clouded mirror, I swipe my hand across it and meet blue eyes with dark circles hugging the bottom of them.
Tonight, I’ll be a different person, stepping into the role of a millionaire with the name of Elliot Parker.
Owner of the Black Hawk Industries, joined with his wife, Christina Parker.
I’ll have to school my features when I see Celeste.
I’ll have to act like she’s nothing to me and give all my attention to my makeshift wife, looking to spice up our relationship.
Grabbing the shaving cream, I smear it over my beard before bringing my razor to my face and shave off the evidence of who I am.
It’s been years since I’ve had a clean, shaven face besides the trimming and maintenance.
It’s true when they say that your identity can be determined by a beard and once I clean off my face and add after shave, I don’t recognize the man who stares back at me.
I’ll do anything for my job, especially when it comes to keeping everyone safe when there’s a psychopath out there who knows who I am.
As stupid as it sounds, it’s like a piece of me is washed away.
I find the set of contacts I was given and place them into my eyes covering my blue shade.
Brown is my new color for the night, apparently.
They said my blue color was too prominent and would be recognized right away, even with a bare face.
After getting dressed, I head into the kitchen to pour myself a cup of coffee and sit at the island going over the plans for tonight for the fifteenth time, as if I don’t already have it burned inside my mind.
A notification lights up my phone making me to put down my papers and pick it up.
It’s a text from Monroe with a linked article, and under it is a message from her.
Monroe: Are you still so sure you know her as you claim to?
My brows knit together when I click the link. An article with the headline of the club broadcasting the event. I scroll through it with all the information we already know about but stop with a picture of Celeste at the bottom.
Club owner, Celeste Hansley, will be attending tonight's big event. She’s the former daughter of the head of the Italian Mafia.
Will she be announcing the takeover of her father’s throne?
It’s been known that she’s as strategic as her father in business handlings, proving a woman can take over a man's world. She’s worked alongside her father in various businesses and is now owner of the top-notch entertainment in New York City.
Will the legacy pass down to the heir, will this be the end of the Hansley rule, or will someone new step in their place?
My body goes stiff, a million thoughts run through my mind.
Her last name always tugged at something so familiar but I’d swept it under the rug, not giving it a second thought.
She’s the heir to the Italian Mafia. The utter betrayal I feel at this moment crashes on my chest. We’ve shared many things but this is something she’d neglected to tell me.
The daughter of a criminal who rules the city.
Who has their hands so deep within the agency and protected by all the judges.
They’re literally untouchable. Maybe she decided not to follow in her father’s footsteps, hence why she didn’t tell me.
If she’s stepping into the role, being involved with me would be beneficial for her due to my position in the agency.
Was she using me for her own gain? She was so nonchalant when looking over the documents the other day about my case; was that an act too?
I want to believe what we have is real and this is all false news but something deep down tells me that's not the case.
When she said she was drowning in the darkness, I should have known there was something bigger with her but I was desperate to be the very thing she needed to escape.
I have to believe that fate brought us together, that we are more than sworn enemies.
Could this be the end of us, the end of everything we have built together in this short time?
It can’t be, but how can I be working for the law when I have a criminal as a girlfriend?
How can I believe those three powerful words meant something when she kept something so big from me?
A million scenarios and reasons run through my mind and my heart longs to believe she didn’t tell me in fear of losing me.
The dark has always settled me when I’m deep in thought, as if it makes everything numb and plummets down into nothingness.
The clock blares eight, signaling that it’s time.
I shove myself off the couch, groaning, before I head into my bedroom.
I quickly get dressed in my fancy suite, collapse my gold Rolex to my wrist, and slick back my hair.
Once entering the bathroom, I spray on my cologne and stare at the man in the mirror.
I don’t recognize the person staring back at me, clean shaven, dark eyes, and someone who's dangerous and powerful. The feeling of being numb and empty has taken over but maybe that’s a good thing for the role I have to play.
A knock sounds at my door, brings me back to the present, and I take one last look at myself before I head to the front room.
Swinging open the door, Monroe stands in front of me looking elegant.
Admittedly, I’ve never seen her in a dress so I’m taken back by how different she looks, especially with her wig that looks so real.
I step aside, allowing her in before shutting the door.
“You really do clean up nice, Alaric. I swear I never thought I’d see the day you shaved that beard.” Her eyes roam up and down my body, not hiding the fact that she’s definitely checking me out.
“Well, part of the job is to make sacrifices. Unfortunately, it had to go. You look nice, Monroe, I bet Lopez will be quite enthralled by you when he sees you.” I try to throw Lopez in the mix to get her eyes off me.
I saw the way he was staring at her in our meeting and I sense they either have history or there’s something between them.
We both agreed it was a drunken one-night stand between us and nothing came of it after.
Maybe I’m blind and never noticed that she might not have felt the same but agreed because she knew I had no feelings for her.
“Yeah, no way in hell.” She waves her hand in the air as if that conversation is over. Her phone chimes and she quickly looks at it and moves towards the door. “Limo’s here. Let the show begin.”
About twenty minutes later, our limo comes to a stop in front of the buzzing club.
There’s a huge line that winds down the sidewalk with anxious people waiting to get in.
In front of the doors are a couple of security guards and a red carpet that leads to the door.
I note that the two security guards at the door are dressed in black, an earpiece in one of their ears and they are certainly armed, not hiding it from plain sight.
There’s another guard who’s standing by one of the hosts who is checking ID’s and names on the guest list.
Before getting out, we insert our small earpieces into our ears, testing them to make sure they work and also make sure the tiny cameras are secured and working.
Once we are ready to go, the driver gets out of the front and opens our door, close to the entry way helping us out of the car.
Monroe immediately steps into her role, wrapping her arm around mine and we both take a deep breath and step to the front of the line as instructed.
It earns us a couple of sneer remarks but we ignore them as we approach the host.
“Don’t you two look ravishing? Can I have your name and ID’s, darlin’?” the host beams at us giving us a wink.
“Elliot and Christina Parker. Have a big crowd here tonight. How’s it looking in there?” I give her a soft smile as she takes our ID’s and checks her list.
I’m not lying when I say there’s a huge crowd. The line spreads down the sidewalk, wrapping around the building. Everyone wants to be part of the “in” crowd even if they may not even get it.