29. Chapter 29
Rory
I slipped out of the hall bathroom, my heels dangling from my fingers so I could tiptoe quietly. The lights were off as I slipped through the door to Elio’s office. There was a small lamp on his desk, casting a little circle of light on the polished wood.
I set my heels on the floor next to the desk and lifted the fake faberge egg and popped the clasp, glazing furtively at the closed office door. My stomach plummeted when I looked inside the egg.
No key.
Okay, think. Where else had I seen him put the key? I lifted a polished rock but before I could determine if the key was under it, footsteps and voices echoed down the hall.
I stared at the door, my heart in my throat and my palms sweating profusely. When the knob began to turn, I quickly dropped to my knees and squeezed into the space under the desk, praying whoever it was wouldn’t come around it to sit in the chair. The sparkle of one of the rhinestones on my shoe caught my eye as a sliver of light from the hallway fell across the room. I quickly snatched the heels and tucked them under the desk with me.
“I’m done with this! I’m tired of kissing his ass. I want him dead. I want his territory and his business!” Elio’s angry whisper echoed in the empty space of his office. I slapped a sweaty hand over my mouth so I wouldn’t whimper in fear. The nervous sweat on my palms spread to the back of my neck. Cal was supposed to be keeping Elio distracted.
“I still think you should take your time with this plan, Elio.” Marco’s calm voice followed. “If you act too hastily and Cal finds out you were behind an attempted assassination, the fallout would be devastating. If he decided to come after you, you have neither the resources nor the soldiers to fight a full fledged war with the Irish. It is foolishness to think otherwise. You need to stop and think this through.”
Elio made a disagreeable noise, followed by a deep breath. I imagined his paunchy stomach straining against the buttons of his dress shirt as the redness leached out of his face, like it normally did when he took a calming breath like that. “Have you discovered who poisoned her yet?”
My eyes widened as I stared at the wood in front of my face, my breaths shuddering too loudly through my nostrils.
“No, not yet. We’re still looking.”
“Good. When you find them, tell them to double the price and try again. Once she’s out of the picture, the lovesick fool will be too distraught to even think of organizing a counterattack. It would be the perfect time to set my plans in motion.”
“Of course, sir.” I could practically see Marco bowing his head.
Elio harrumphed again. “Fucking maids always leave this fucking lamp on.” Polished shoes topped by wrinkled pants entered my vision at the very edge of the desk. My entire body froze, the sweat on my neck feeling like ice water as cold fear slithered through my veins. The lamp clicked off and I was plunged into darkness for a nanosecond before the door opened, spilling light into the room again. When the door clicked shut, I was in darkness again, only the moonlight streaming through the windows lit the room.
I sat under the desk for as long as my bent knees could stand it. I didn’t know how long it had been, but I was certain if someone was coming back, they would’ve done so by now. I slipped out from under the desk but stayed on my knees, pulling my dress out from under them to maneuver more easily. I lifted the rock and the small silver key glinted in the moonlight. I quickly unlocked the middle drawer and rifled through papers, briefly glancing each one over in case it held anything interesting.
There was a marriage contract, with an unnamed bride. Elio was listed as the groom and a shudder of disgust slithered down my spine. I quickly pulled my phone out of the hidden pocket of my dress and snapped a picture of it before sliding back under the other papers where I’d found it. At the bottom of the stack was the file I’d seen with Cal’s picture on the front. I quickly flipped through it, reading Elio’s messy scrawl and deciphering his plans for Cal and me. The more I read, the angrier and more scared I became. When I got to the last page, my heart froze in my chest and my lungs refused to expand.
A paternity test was paperclipped inside the back flap of the manilla folder. Shock weighed my limbs down and made my hands tremble. It took three heaving breaths to stem the tremors enough so that I could snap a clear picture of each page of the file, adrenaline rushing through my veins at Mach speed.
Once I had a clear image of each page, I slipped the file back into the drawer, locked it and slid the key back under the rock. I rose to my feet, slipped my phone into my pocket and picked up my heels, tiptoeing to the door. I cracked it open and peered down the hall. Not seeing anyone, I stepped out and quietly shut the door with a barely audible snick.
Turning to head back to the party and find my husband, I bumped into a wide chest. Gasping, my heart jumping into my throat, I looked up to meet the pale, angry eyes of Domenico, one of Elio’s most brutal enforcers.
Fear and anxiety, so potent I swear I could smell them, drained the blood from my face and I took a small step back.
“Spying again, piccola stronza?” I shook my head vigorously, taking hasty steps away from him, but he reached out for me anyway. I squeezed my eyes shut, barely stopping the cry from leaving my lips when his hand clamped around my bicep.
But just as quickly as his hot hand wrapped around me, it was yanked free. My eyes opened to see Dom in a strange position, one arm above his rapidly reddening face. Marco’s eyes met mine over Dom’s head. His teeth gritted and he tightened his hold around Dom’s neck as he struggled. Dom’s face turned purple and his eyes rolled a second before his body went limp, his legs going lax beneath him. Marco dropped him unceremoniously and we stared at each other for a moment.
Then he raised a single finger to his lips, telling me to stay quiet.
I swallowed, the adrenaline causing my body to shake hard. He nodded his head down the hall and I took off and a near-run. As soon as I reached the mouth of the hall, I slipped my heels back on, taking a deep breath to calm myself.
The information I’d learned in that file, the run-in with Dom and then Marco, of all people, coming to my rescue…I was dizzy with the overload of information, emotions and flagging adrenaline.
I went to find Cal in the gardens but didn’t see him. Connor and Carson had been ordered to stay by the staircase in the foyer and keep an eye out for my return, and I made my way to them as quickly as I could without drawing suspicion. “Where’s Cal?”
“He’s waiting in the cigar room. Many of the guests headed up there about twenty minutes ago. Did you find what you came for?” Connor answered as he steered me up the stairs.
“Yes, and we need to leave,” I whispered in a rush. “There’s…something important I have to show him.”
We entered the cigar room, a large room with several seating areas. There were only a few people in the room, most guests having gone home due to the late hour. Elio wasn’t in the room, neither was Fern, but what I did see made my stomach sink.
The woman that had been with Elliot, who was on the other side of the room with his back turned, was standing entirely too close to my husband. She laid her hand on his arm, brushing her red nails up the corded muscles there, which were exposed since he’d removed his jacket and rolled his sleeves up. Her beautiful eyes looked up at Cal, half-hooded and full of seduction. My stomach hit the floor and my heart leapt right back up to my throat.
He glanced at her fingers on his arm in disgust and gently but swiftly removed her touch, backing away from her. He met my gaze over her shoulder and smiled before my harried state registered and his face fell into a concerned frown. He quickly pushed past the woman, who’s name I didn’t even remember, and made his way to me. For some unknown reason, she followed him, looking indignant.
He gripped my face in both hands and tilted it side to side as he ran his eyes over me, before leading me out onto the balcony, it being the closest open door out of the room.
Still, the woman followed.
“Cal, you’re not serious, right? You’re turning me down for her?” Cal ignored her, which seemed to incense her more. “I won’t tolerate this disrespect!” She grabbed a handful of his sleeve and tried to physically turn him toward her as she rambled. “I will not be rejected so you can spend your evening with this slob! You have been making eyes at me all evening and you’re not leaving me hanging so you can go back home with your fake wife and pretend we wouldn”t be good together!”
When she realized he wasn’t paying her a lick of attention, instead running his hands over my body as if looking for injury, she boldly slipped her body between ours, placing a hand on his chest and snaking a finger between the buttons to stroke his skin. I bristled and anger slithered through my veins like a living, breathing snake. I felt it travel from the tip of my nose, down my limbs, and settle into the tips of my fingers and toes like a million buzzing bees.
“C’mon, baby, you know we’d be so hot we’d light the bed on fire.”
The tension and insecurity that I’d been carrying since opening that file snapped. I felt it break like a rubber band, reverberating through my whole body. The emotional overload of the fear, the adrenaline, the anger, it all spilled out of me. Before I knew what was happening I had my hands around her wrists, my body between hers and Cal’s. I shoved her away until her back hit the stone railing around the balcony. My eyes burned like they were full of unshed tears, but my vision was clear. My hands didn’t tremble and adrenaline didn’t fill me with false strength.
I was just plain pissed.
Cal’s hand landed on my back but he made no move to stop whatever I was going to do.
“You dare touch my husband? You dare put yourself between us? I may not be as put together as you, or as beautiful or tall or perfect as you. But Cal would never touch you.” My anger fueled my words and I couldn’t stop them, the urge to humiliate her like she’d just tried to humiliate me was the only force driving me, forcing words from me that I wasn’t even sure were true. I just knew they’d piss her off. “He loves me and would never betray me like that, much less for someone as low as you.”
She gasped in outrage and tried to push back against me, her eyes spitting fire as she tried to move her sharp, fake nails toward my face. I shoved again and she went over the railing, but my hold on her wrists stopped her descent. My middle dug into the railing as I sneered down at her. She screamed and kicked, which honestly made no sense because it made it a fuck-ton harder to hold her weight. I was small, but I’d been dancing my whole life and I had long, lean muscles. I used every single one of them to avoid dropping her.
I heard a stampede behind me as the remaining guests made their way over to the sound of the terrified woman dangling from the second floor balcony.
Nothing but the tiny slob of a ballerina stopping her from plummeting to the ground below.
“Don’t come any closer,” I heard Carson say, followed by the familiar click of their holsters unsnapping.
“CAL! CAL, HELP ME!” the woman screamed, tears and snot smearing her terrified face. “She’s fucking crazy!” she cried. “She’s gonna kill me! Help you fucking bastard!”
“You’ve got some big fucking balls, talking to my husband, insulting him, while I literally hold your life in my hands. In case you don’t remember, it was your interactions with him that got you into this mess in the first place!” I snapped at her. She began to sob and kicked her legs again. My grip slipped, just a little, and she screamed. “Beg me to pull you up. Beg me not to let you go,” I demanded.
Despite her current situation, she glared at me.
“No?” I asked, feigning shock. A heavy sigh ghosted over the side of my face.
Cal leaned casually against the railing, his elbow propped up and his body facing me, eyes laser sharp on my face. “Mo solas, why don’t you bring the poor woman back up here?”
I glared at him. Whatever reserves my body had been running on were flagging and exhaustion was pulling at my burning shoulders. I honestly didn’t even know if I could pull her up.
“C’mon, solas, you’ve had your fun, baby. Can you please bring Elliot’s date back up here before he gets miffed that you cockblocked him for the evening?”
I looked over my shoulder at Elliot, who was smirking, eyes sparkling with mirth, clearly entertained by the scene in front of him.
“I think I saved him from a shitty night and a month’s worth of itchy dick,” I hissed at Cal. Elliot’s laughter was overshadowed by the outraged gasp of the kicking woman hanging from my wrists.
“You fucking cunt!” the woman screeched. “You crazy fucking bitch!” She kicked again and my fingers slipped another inch. She screamed. “NO! I’m sorry! I’m sorry! Please, Mrs. Byrne, please forgive me! Please! Please pull me back up!”
I smirked at having won my battle. “Touch my husband again and I will kill you, am I understood?” She nodded like a wild woman and screamed that she understood as snot and tears coated her face. I met her eyes and sent her the sweetest smile my exhausted, dragging body could muster, then released my hold on her wrists. She screamed for half a second before she landed on the stone roof of the covered sitting area, three feet below her dangling heels.