Chapter Twenty-One #2
He looked down at me with a frown. “What?”
“Us … being here together. Anyone looking at us right now wouldn’t know you tried to drown me in your pool just a few days ago.” I laughed, shaking my head.
He watched me intensely. Completely unnerving because he just stared, with no expression, word exchange, or response; he just looked at me, and when my laugh died down, I cleared my throat, looking away from him. “Weirdo,” I muttered.
“Marino?”
“Por favor.” Please. He groaned under his breath; a woman hurried towards us with a drink and a dashing grin on her maroon-painted lips. “Grace,” he said, a cheer to his voice that didn’t reach his eyes or tug a smile to his lips as he detangled my hand from his elbow and turned towards the woman.
She was gorgeous. Her white dress was lacy and looked like the industry’s most prestigious designers fashioned it.
The material hugged her curvy, voluptuous body like it was sewn to her skin.
Her eyes were the brightest brown, complementing her long curly light brown hair, which added to the shine of her delicate dark skin.
She would have intimidated the old Zahra, who felt inferior in the presence of other women with a normal childhood and upbringing.
And if I was being honest with myself, there was still a twinge of that feeling, but I suppressed it and turned my head to study my surroundings.
“What a pleasant surprise,” Grace said.
“Indeed,” Elio said, taking her hand in his and kissing her knuckles like a gentleman. The need to snort gripped me, but I held firm, watching the exchange.
“I really wish we could have gotten visuals,” Milk said. “That voice sounds like it belongs to a beautiful person.”
“Yes.” The woman blinked in a blush, looking like there were stars in her eyes after Elio dropped her hand. “You never attend these gatherings; it’s quite the shock to see you here.”
Without warning, his arm snaked around my waist, warm and strong as he pulled me to his side, so affectionate, I couldn’t hide my shock in time.
“Blame my woman,” he said with such fondness, his behavior supplied me a healthy dose of whiplash.
“She has longed to attend this event for months; a certain painting caught her eye, and she wanted to see it for herself.”
My woman?
Grace’s eyes shifted to me, a smile on her face. “Oh, hello.” She extended her hand, which I shook. “I’m Grace Alden, a pleasure to meet you.”
“Layla Rahal, a pleasure to meet you too, Grace,” I said, dropping my hand from hers to place it on Elio’s chest, feeling his muscles tense underneath my palm, though he made no move to show his discomfort.
“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” Grace said, gesturing around. “I’ve also wanted to see this for months now. I flew in from London three days ago. I tried to get in touch with Marino, but sadly, he was unavailable at that time.”
I frowned. “Three days ago…” I looked up at Elio, feigning confusion. “Honey, wasn’t that the pool party day?”
His jaw clenched, but he nodded. “I think so,” he said, playing along with whatever this was. “I apologize, Grace, we had people over, and many things were going on simultaneously—”
“Yes, and I almost drowned,” I blurted.
“Oh dear,” Grace said, genuine concern on her face. “That must have been terrible. Are you okay?”
“Yes, fortunately, Elio also happened to be in the pool, and he saved me.” I looked up at him, our gazes locking.
“I did.” His tone dropped. “I would have hated for you to miss all that I have planned for you, querida.” Darling.
My mouth grew dry, almost like the intensity of his gaze sucked every single drop of liquid from my body. The press of my side to his became more prominent in my senses. He was warm against me, and I felt a tantalizing shiver sweep through my body.
His gaze dropped to my cleavage shamelessly, and it felt like someone was blowing softly at my nipples; I felt them press to the material of my dress.
Elio’s grip tightened on my waist, his gaze briefly rising to my lips before he broke the connection, looking back at Grace, who seemed to have just witnessed something private between us.
“I am sorry to cut this short, Grace, but we have places to be after this, and I need to say hi to the mayor; it was a pleasure meeting you again.”
“Yes, of course, take care,” she said before turning to me and going for a hug.
I moved away from Elio’s side to hug her, knowing people like these preferred hugs to handshakes.
“He looks at you like he wants to eat you. Keep him,” she whispered to me, and I cringed, knowing the rest of Street could hear it.
I smiled at her when she pulled away with a wink before walking in the other direction.
“Who was that?” I asked, looking back at Elio and immediately remembering how he had touched me with his eyes.
The last person I should feel any sexual attraction to was him.
Yes, he was sinfully attractive and oozed an unhealthy dose of sex appeal, and there was that pull between us …
so damn strong that I was almost positive I wasn’t the only one feeling it.
Elio cleared his throat. “A person I know,” he stated. “Go find your painting; and don’t cause any trouble.”
I smiled. “When have I ever?”
He shook his head, and without another word, turned and walked away.
“Okay, guys, let’s find that naughty chihuahua.”
“Am I the only one thinking it?” Milk asked.
“Thinking what?” I asked, walking casually while eying the door I was supposed to walk into, and the guard that stood right in front of it.
“Is it possible to feel tension without seeing it, like just from sounds and quietness that’s a bit static?” Milk said.
“Audio porn?” Dog inquired.
“Yeah, but like, between people who don’t like each other—”
“Quit it, Milk. Do you see the door, Z?” Devil asked.
“Yup, I’m approaching now,” I answered, walking towards the door and the guard, whose frown hardened when I reached him.
“In position, waiting on you, Zahra,” Upper said.
I smiled tightly at the guard. “Hi—”
“This hallway is reserved for VIPs only.”
“I know, but—listen, I heard there was a fully equipped female bathroom somewhere in there, and I need to go.”
“There is a guest bathroom at the other aisle by your left—”
“I know, sir…” I said with an apologetic smile. “I just—this place is closer for—for the little problem I have? If—if I have to walk all the way to the aisle, it might—it might be very bloody.”
The man frowned. “I beg your pardon?”
I stepped closer to him, looking around before beckoning him nearer. He leaned forward. “It’s that time of the month. I didn’t know it would be today, and I can feel it—the cycle blood, pouring out of—”
He stepped aside, holding the door open for me. “Just go.”
“Thank you, sir, I don’t know how to—”
He averted his gaze completely. “Just go, go—”
I rushed into the hallway, and the door slammed shut behind me before I could thank him again.
“You are one cruel motherfucker,” Dog said. “I’m disabling the security cameras now, shouldn’t take me … Done, you’re on loop. You have about fifteen minutes before the system rewrites the codes and the cams are back online with real-time feed.”
I began walking to the elevator, getting in and pressing the button for the floor where the vault was. “I won’t need fifteen minutes,” I said as the doors jammed together and I started going up.
In no time, I was out of the elevator, heading straight for the vault. “Okay, Milk, I’m standing in front of the vault lock. It’s like the picture we saw, there’s a huge box and a rotary mechanical combination lock in front of it.”
“Great, take out the device.”
I took it out. It was a black cylindrical box. “Is this filled with water?”
“Nope, just an illusion of what water should feel like,” Upper said. “Water would work just fine too, but this device is more effective with sound and resistance recognition.”
“Place it on top of the box,” Milk said. “You’re looking for a light click, two resisting clicks, three thick clicks, and one light click to get it open.”
“Twelve minutes,” Devil’s voice cut through.
I got to work, picking the lock with the instruction Milk provided. It took two minutes to hear the final click and get the vault open. “I’m in.”
“Ten minutes.”
I rushed into the vault, seeing the sensored safe in the middle of the room, big enough to hold the painting. I looked up at the vent and grinned. “Hey, Upper, what are you doing up there?”
“You know, just, hanging around,” he said as I went to the vent-lock key swipe by the side, digging through my purse for the key card I’d nicked off the kind guard who let me into the hallway. I swiped the card and the vent gate pushed open on its own.
I shook my head. “I still don’t understand technology. In my days, vents were pegged tight with screws.”
Upper jumped down, landing on his feet as he opened the laptop in his grip. “You’re twenty-six, not sixty-eight,” he said, typing furiously on the keyboard.
“Seven minutes,” Devil called out.
“Hacking into the systems now … lucky for us, I recognize this build, it might take a few—oh.” Upper scoffed as he typed. “It’s either this painting is worth nothing or the people who built this system didn’t care enough to make this challenging—security alarms disabled, password, 556745.”
I typed that into the safe lock; it clicked and I twisted it open and—
“What the bloody fuck?” Upper said, staring at the same thing my eyes were locked on.
“What is it?” Milk asked, alarmed.
“It’s empty,” I said, my shoulders slumping.
“Fuck, you think someone got to it before us?” Dog asked.
“We’re the only ones hunting this thing, right?” The wariness in Milk’s voice didn’t escape me.
“The client was vague with their email. They didn’t exactly give anything away, just that we needed to get it,” Upper informed.
“It’s 9:49, Zahra,” Devil said. “You have to leave that vault in three minutes.”
I stood there, at a loss for words. “I don’t know what to do, maybe we should—”
“Sport.”