Chapter 18
Activated mocktail hour, the Big G’s mansion
Gabby put on some pants that looked really good but were also really tight. Hopefully, this mission didn’t require any bending or stretching. She could sit carefully, but that was about it. Still, pants seemed more practical than the sexy dress the Disguises department had packed.
Gabby applied some of Jasmine’s makeup samples. With Inner Beauty, she looked basically the same as before, although she had to say that her hair looked pretty good… even if she ate the hair masque instead of using it.
From the other room, Markus said, “Do you have a purse?”
“The fancy beaded one,” Gabby said.
“I’m going to tuck a USB drive in it. Is a taser good enough, or do you want a gun?”
“A taser, please.” She did not want to shoot anyone at dinner tonight.
With a snort, he said, “As I recall, you’re pretty handy with those.”
She laughed. “I know. I really got the hang of it.” She’d tased Markus before tying him up last time. “I promise not to use it on you.”
Stomach in, fanny out, she stepped out of the bathroom like it was no big deal, like she always looked like this. She rolled her shoulders back and tried to look casually gorgeous. No big deal. Discreetly, she glanced at Markus, ready to catch his reaction.
But damn him, Markus looked even more like James Bond than usual.
“Markus,” she said, annoyance edging into her voice, “can’t you let me be prettier than you sometimes? I mean, really. It’s not very thoughtful at all.”
A smile spread across his face at her compliment. He knew he looked good. But he gave her an up-and-down, lingering on her hips in a way that sent a spark right through her core.
“It’s not funny. I’m not sure we can go on a real date unless you tone it down a little. This”—she gestured to his whole person—“is too much.”
“Stop being dramatic. You look good enough to eat.” The way he said it, she almost believed him.
“Our first party as a couple,” he said.
“I’m actually a little more worried about the break-in.”
“You’re going to be great.” He offered his arm. “Gia,” he said, leaning into her new name, “you ready?”
“Yes, George. Let’s do this.”
Jasmine and Genesis’s house was an avant-garde structure made of curved glass and steel that overlooked the ocean.
The building wrapped around a courtyard with a Japanese garden and a stream that ran right under the house, through the courtyard, and spilled over the cliff toward the ocean in a fantastic waterfall. The design was very villain’s lair.
Around ten or fifteen people were mingling in black-tie attire, holding cocktails.
Well, not cocktails exactly. They were drinking mocktails with “activated compounds,” whatever that meant.
The beverages looked like regular fancy cocktails, and no one looked like they’d just done bath salts, so Gabby took one and hoped for the best.
While finding her shoes, Markus had explained the layout of the house to her. The office was down the hall, close to the bathroom. The plan was simple: pretend she needed the bathroom and slip into the office. Markus would play lookout.
While she scanned the guests, the crowd parted, and Jasmine and Genesis appeared. He was a full head taller than any of the other men and glowing with charisma. Jasmine was on his arm, looking all va-va-voom with long, slim legs, wrapped in an evening gown that was both elegant and daring.
As individuals, they were charismatic; as a couple, they had a gravitational force.
The Loves were selling that Power Couple branding without even trying.
Jasmine tilted her head back, exposing an elegant neck, and threw back some activated radical molecule drink.
Gabby went from suspicion to “I’ll have what she’s having. ” Inner-G looked good.
Gabby took a sip.
“Is it hot in here?” she asked Markus, fanning her face.
He shook his head. “Your face looks a little rosy, though.”
She exhaled in frustration. “I might be allergic to Inner Beauty.”
He laughed. “No, you’ve got plenty.”
“The product, I mean.”
Markus wrapped his arm around Gabby’s waist protectively as they approached.
Genesis locked eyes with her. “Gia, it’s so good to see you again,” he said, taking one of her hands. He held it an uncomfortably long time. “I can see why George fell for you. You have a glow that comes from deep within.” He said “deep” in an actual deeper voice. And gestured to her lower belly.
She laughed uncomfortably. Was he trying to point out her uterus? Because she knew for sure that’s not where the glow came from. Just cramps. And a small fibroid, according to her gyno.
“Any glow I have tonight, I owe to your wife,” Gabby said. She turned to Jasmine. “Thank you so much. I was wondering, though, is this redness normal?”
“I’m sure you’re fi—” Jasmine started to say before doing a double-take. “Don’t use whatever you used tonight again.”
That would have been everything.
Genesis said, “Maybe you should start testing that stuff on animals. Speaking of animals”—Genesis pointed to some tuna poke canapes—“Jasmine let me have some meat tonight.”
Jasmine patted his arm. “Genesis is such a typical man.”
… If reclining in his personal wave pool with his extra-large D out for the world to see was typical.
“How did the wedding planning go today? Naomi mentioned that you looked at places for the ceremony.” He looked at them intensely. This man was as invested in her love for Markus as much as her mother was in her relationship with Phil.
“Yes, I’m thinking the beach,” Gabby said because she was a good girl, “I want to be connected to nature when we say our vows.”
Markus squeezed her hand, either because she was doing such a good job schmoozing the cult leader or because he was having feelings.
“Jasmine and I got married on this property before we bought the resort,” Genesis said with a faraway look like he was reliving the moment. “A fox appeared to me that morning.”
Was that good or bad?
“We’ll take any tips you have,” Markus said. “About marriage.”
Not about wildlife. Gabby got the impression Genesis didn’t know much.
“I got you, Lil’ G.” Genesis clapped Markus on the back.
Gabby almost choked on her molecules at “Lil’ G.” Maybe Valentina was right. Was Markus his sidekick?
G put an arm around each of them. And with more intensity than felt manageable to Gabby, he said, “Having you say your vows at the retreat, marrying into Inner-G—I am grateful for the trust you have placed in Jasmine and me. Especially you, Gia. This is a leap of faith for you.”
Gabby smiled, an actress playing the part of a peaceful bride, but G left her feeling anything but peaceful. His presence was unsettling on a molecular level.
Like inspiration just struck, G said, “You know, how would you like to get married on the yacht?”
Gabby gasped. “Really?”
“Surrounded by the ocean on all sides. You can tap into your Inner-G as a couple and begin your journey into oneness in connection with the life-giving force of our planet.” He was not using an inside voice. G was always preaching, it seemed. “It would promote abundance and fertility.”
Gabby choked. Fertility?
Markus did an aww yeah head nod, totally fine with the concept of knocking someone up. Gabby tried to remember his stance on children. If he wanted more than an eight-year-old and a fourteen-year-old, they might have issues.
“We’d love to get married on the yacht, but only if you perform the ceremony,” Gabby improvised. “It would mean so much to George and me.”
Genesis swelled with importance. “I would be honored.”
“Would you like to meet some of our inner circle?” Genesis asked, taking Gabby’s arm and steering her toward a group of old white guys who looked like they could be congressmen, even if they weren’t.
Gabby nodded. “I would love to meet the Inner-Gs, but first, could you point me toward the restroom?”
After G pointed down the hall, Markus gave her a head nod and squeezed her hand. He turned to G and said, “Give me all your marriage advice. I’m all ears.”
G started ominously, “In the beginning—”
Gabby took a deep breath like she was jumping off the boat for a scuba dive, not that she’d ever done that. She was a sunhat, SPF 50, and a book-on-the-beach kind of girl, not that she had the attention span to read a book these days.
Her whole being was vibrating with fear and excitement. Her brain was useless and panicking, leaving her body to walk down the hall of its own accord. Normally, she wouldn’t even go to a dinner party without a hostess gift, and here she was breaking into G’s office.
Like Markus had said, the office was just past the bathroom. Noise from the party dimmed as she went farther down the corridor. Just the high notes of clinking glasses and a peal of laughter that carried above the conversation like a flute solo.
At the office, obvious from its furniture, she slipped in and pulled the door shut behind her.
It was dark, only lit by the screensaver and moonlight filtering in from the windows.
In the center of the room, there was a huge desk that looked like it was made from a reclaimed redwood tree, chunks of bark still attached and root structure still visible along the base.
A fancy monitor sat atop the tree desk. When Gabby wiggled the mouse, the light from the monitor spotlit her face and the wall behind her like a high beam police light.
She paused before continuing, but there was no sign she was caught. The sounds of the party carried on uninterrupted, no one the wiser to her snooping. No steps in the hall or jiggling doorknob. So far, so good.
She typed in the password using a password decoder from the gadget department. It took a couple of minutes. While she waited, she couldn’t help but think about Sheridan’s prediction. She felt like the most likely candidate to die at the moment. Not likely, just most likely.