Chapter 4
Three and a half years ago
“We should probably show our faces eventually,” Daniela murmured, resting her cheek against Connor’s chest. They’d only been dating for a month, but she felt like she’d known him forever.
He was so different than anyone she’d ever met.
“Or we could just sneak out the back and go to my place.” His voice was full of mischief as he pulled her closer against him.
She laughed lightly and leaned back to look up at him.
His green eyes were captivating, had been from the moment he’d walked into her art gallery.
He had a roguish quality. Dark hair, sexy green eyes, built like a god…
It was no wonder he’d captured her attention at first. But that wasn’t enough to hold it.
No, he’d done that by being funny, authentic and her favorite brand of weird. “It’s my show, I can’t just disappear.”
“Fine.” He nipped her bottom lip once, then stepped back and straightened his jacket.
She did the same to her dress, running a hand over the black-and-white material more out of habit than anything else.
She led the way, stepping out of her office into the mostly quiet hallway, but sounds from the gallery show trailed in from the main area.
Connor stepped up next to her, took her hand in his. “Want me to just disappear for a while so you can focus on your artists and patrons?” he asked quietly before they reached the end of the hallway. “I know you need to talk to people.”
She glanced up at him in surprise. She hadn’t dated much—not with her family—but he was a breath of fresh air from the few men she’d tried dating. Those men had been all ego, and she’d have never invited any of them to one of her showings. They would have expected her attention to be on them.
“You don’t have to disappear, but I’m definitely going to have to check in with some of my people.” Her artists were so talented, but often needed a little hand-holding. Especially if their paintings or sculptures weren’t moving fast enough for their liking.
But that wasn’t what these shows were about.
Not completely anyway. She always invited investors and influencers, knowing the investors would talk to their clients and the influencers would post about anything they found interesting on social media.
It tended to help spread the word in a semi-organic way.
As they stepped out into the main gallery, she nearly stumbled to see her brother Julian plucking a flute off one of the passing server trays. Her father used her gallery to funnel their dirty money against her will, but no one ever showed up to stuff like this.
“I’ll be around if you need me, but don’t worry about me at all,” Connor murmured, then kissed her gently on the forehead before he headed off to look at the newest display.
She bit back her wince of dismay that Julian had witnessed that—she hadn’t told her family about her new relationship, not wanting them to ruin anything. Since she knew Julian was here for a reason, and not to look at art, she pasted on a fake smile and made her way toward him.
Her assistant Kiki was approaching her, but Daniela waved her off.
“Surprised to see you here.” She kept her tone pleasant and mostly neutral as she stopped next to Julian and an oil painting of a woman giving birth.
He just lifted a shoulder, looked around at the decent-sized crowd. “Big showing.”
“Yeah.” It was something she was proud of, but she’d learned not to show too much excitement about anything in her family’s presence.
Even Julian, who wasn’t actually terrible to her.
Growing up, he’d at least been someone she could depend on when she’d needed something.
And yeah, she realized the bar was in hell.
“So who’s your date?” He chin-nodded behind her, but she didn’t bother looking.
She just snorted softly. “Not a real date,” she lied with a faint laugh. “Just a man I’m casually seeing.”
“Hmm.” Julian moved to the next painting, looked at the still life painting of a mother and her son kayaking in the ocean.
Something about their expressions was almost haunting, at odds with the brightness of the scene.
She didn’t want to talk about Connor, didn’t want Julian focusing on him at all.
She wanted something that was just hers.
“Is Father with you?” She’d never called Alexander Hill dad.
He’d always been father, or mostly nothing.
She’d realized at a young age that he didn’t like her so she’d made it a point to be busy with after-school activities, various sports, clubs, and friends. Her days had been full of things, half of which she wasn’t even interested in.
But she’d wanted to avoid going home for so many reasons. If one of her friends had a sleepover? She was in. Summer camps? Sign her up for as many as possible.
Now she treasured her personal time when she could actually reset. Though the last month she hadn’t wanted as much downtime as she usually did.
And that was because of a very sexy man she was trying hard not to look for. She knew he was in the gallery, but she didn’t want Julian to catch her staring at Connor like some lovesick fool. She was kicking herself even now for inviting him.
It wasn’t like she’d invited any relatives to this showing, but she should have been better prepared.
Julian’s expression went neutral as he shook his head. “No, he’s not with me.”
She’d never understood their relationship. Their father had very clearly favored Julian, but Julian had sometimes seemed almost angry at him. It was always there, underneath the surface.
Sometimes she wondered if she was imagining it. But they weren’t close enough for her to ask.
“Then why are you really here? Is something going down? I know you’re not here for the art.”
“I feel like you just insulted me,” he said mildly, but there was a hint of a smile around the corners of his mouth.
Even though they’d never been close—not with him being a decade older than her—she remembered a few times in childhood where he’d stood up to their father when he’d been too hard on her. Or when their father had tried to forbid her from going away for college.
Julian had practically been foaming at the mouth over that, had shouted at their father that they were wasting an opportunity at a free education—she’d gotten scholarships thanks to her high test scores.
Mostly she was pretty sure he just wanted her to get out of that house. Once she had, she’d rarely gone back. And after college she hadn’t moved home at all, had moved straight into her own condo.
She’d wanted to move to the West Coast, but her father had put his foot down, made it clear she would live close and “be part of the family business.” Her hate for him had only grown from that moment.
He could have just let her go, let her live her life, but it was almost like he wanted to punish her.
When she was younger he’d told her that she looked just like her mother, and the way he’d said it… She suppressed a shiver.
“I’m here because someone saw you on a date. Father wanted me to check him out,” Julian said bluntly, his honesty surprising her.
“I don’t know why he even cares,” she muttered, even as she kept her fake smile in place, nodded at a couple familiar faces as they walked past.
“I’ll tell him you were alone tonight, but now that he’s got the scent he’ll want to know more about your friend. If it’s not serious, cut him loose now.” Julian gave her a pointed look.
Tension expanded in her belly, settling with a hard thump. She wanted to keep Connor out of her family business, would need to tell him who her family really was.
Part of her knew she should just break up with him, end things cleanly while they were still new. But she’d fallen so hard for him, had never felt like this.
And for once in her life, she wanted to be a little selfish. So she’d tell him who her family was and let him make the decision.
She desperately wanted him to choose her, to be enough for him to stay. But if he stayed with her, he deserved to know the potential danger he was getting himself into.