Page 44 of Savage Roses
I should’ve anticipated this. Being in a room full of Neptune Society club rings would be potentially disastrous; it’d set off every anxious fiber of my being.
Stitches grabs my hand and tucks it into his arm. “Don’t worry about it. We’re in this together. How about we check in with Jonathan?”
Just as the anxiety began filling my lungs rather than air, Stitches’ reassurance chases it away. I breathe in relief and give a slow nod, grateful for his reminder.
We’re in this together.
Jonathan is Salvatore. I worried his alias was too obvious. He insisted it wasn’t so I dropped it.
Salvatore has a way of blending in when he’s on his own. It’s the loner inside of him. Though he’s a dominant man who leads a whole crew of men loyal enough to follow him to the pits of hell, he’s a lone wolf at heart. He and people typically don’t mix well.
A hindrance in most traditional social situations.
But also an advantage in unconventional ways.
Tonight happens to be one of those times.
We’ve fitted ourselves with earpieces and miniature mics that allow communication anywhere we go during the party. Another gadget Stitches and the computer guy worked on. Since we’ve made it through security and we’re submerged into the depths of the party, we turn ours on and check in with Salvatore.
“About time,” Salvatore says in my ear. “You’ve taken long enough.”
“How did you possibly beat us? We went in before you!”
“I have my ways.”
I search the crowd of socializing snobs dressed in formal wear. He’s nowhere in sight.
Part of me yearns to tell him I wish I were on his arm tonight—I wish I could feel his warmth as I navigate the sea of club members and their sapphire braided rings. I hold back only because it’ll drum up more emotions I don’t need to be feeling right now.
We need our heads in the game if we’re going to succeed.
Our objective is simple. Find my attacker and take him out.
Tonight is the best chance we’ve had. It might be the only real chance we have, where he’s in a contained environment. Who knows when we’ll be able to infiltrate another Neptune Society event?
“I’m scoping out a place called the Bidders Block,” Salvatore tells us.
“What’s that?” Stitches asks.
“A black market of some kind.”
“Then we’ll stay in the main room and see if we locate him.” Stitches barely moves his lips as he nods politely at a passing waiter. He accepts champagne from the next one who wanders by and hands me a glass. “Here, so we can use these to conceal our lips when they move.”
“Shit.”
“What?! What is it?”
I’ve spun around, turning away so that my back is to the front of the room. Stitches turns along with me after surveying our surroundings.
Thirty feet and at least a dozen people separate us, but it doesn’t make my heart pound any less inside my chest. I lower my voice to barely above a whisper, as though at any moment he’ll storm over.
“My father just walked in,” I say carefully. “Don’t look. He just entered with Lena.”
“Shit is right.” Stitches stands as still as I do, our backs to him.
A wall of people remain as our buffer, though the party ebbs and flows. The room is a constant migration of people shuffling around, coming and going. We’ll have to make sure we stay as far away as possible while not drawing his attention in our direction.
“Do you want to go to another room?” Stitches asks.