I laugh a little. “Fine, but stay alert, and call meimmediatelyif you need anything.”
She gives me a two-finger salute. “Yes, boss.”
I smirk at her, then face the others. “I’ll stay here and try scouting the crowd for Timothy. Once the guests pair up, I’ll have more space to move around and assess them easily.”
“I like that idea,” Aras states.
“Perfect.” I let go of a breath and stretch my neck side-to-side. “Alright, then; let’s do this; let’s go find this asshole.”
Magner and Aras give me subtle nods, then head into different directions. My crew nods at me as well, then disperses into the crowd.
I push back my shoulders when the fabric of my shirt once again clings to my skin, then briefly survey the crowd. The music in the foyer stops suddenly, and a second later, a slow, melodic, fucking gloomy ass tune starts playing, making me groan under my breath. I rub a hand over my face, then sidestep a few upper classes when they brush past me to pair up in the middle of the hall.
“May I have this dance?” asks a familiar voice.
I turn, then grin when I see her. “Safiya.”
She faintly inclines her head at me. “Dorran.”
“I’m surprised you haven’t left yet,” I muse.
She clicks her tongue. “I haven’t got a human to torture and mutilate tonight, so I thought I’d stick around and enjoy the free alcohol here, bland as it may be. Better than being at my estate and attending endless meetings with my sister.” She shudders for emphasis, making me laugh.
“Must get boring for you – not having someone to skin alive, just for fun.”
She makes a sound that’s brief yet loud, then mock-gapes at me. “I’ll have you know that there’s so much more to me than the whole tormentor thing the media likes to label me with. I’m a multi-layered human being,tamam?”
I smile around a chuckle. “I’m sorry for being so obtuse in my assumptions, then.”
“Pssh.” She waves a dismissive hand at me. “Right, you’re sorry.”
I chuckle again, then tilt my head sideways. “So, do you really wanna dance to this dirge of a music, or did you make that offer out of pity?”
She laughs indulgently. “If you want to navigate the entirety of this room without catching suspicion, then yes, I do want to dance with you to this dirge of a music.Genuinely, and not out of pity.”
I arch a brow. “And why would I need to navigate the room, exactly?”
With a hint of a smile on her face, she walks over to me. Placing my right hand on her waist, she sets her left hand on my shoulder, then offers her silver clutch to me. “See if you can fit this in your pocket, please.”
I sigh as I take the clutch from her, then slide it into my pant pocket. It’s sticking out a little, but it’s small enough that it won’t fall out.
Safiya silently asks for my other hand, and once I’ve given it to her, she holds onto it. Raising our joined hands up and slightly outward, she then straightens her back and aligns her body with the music.
I follow her lead, stepping forward when she steps back, and vice versa. The music is downright irritating, and keeps distracting me, but I try blocking it out as I look at Safiya. “You didn’t answer my question,” I tell her, gliding us to the left.
She’s silent for a second, and then she shrugs. “I saw your friends leave a minute ago, so unless you’re a waltz enthusiast, I presume that you’re here for a significant reason. And, given the circumstance, it makes sense that you’re searching for someone. Also, before I approached you, you seemed a little on edge. Or maybe you were just being alert of your surroundings. I can’t tell the difference, but I knew something was off about you.”
“Am I really that predictable?”
She squeezes my hand, so I lift my arm and twirl her under it, just as the others around me do the same.
“It’s more about careful assessment than predictability,” she tells me. “I see someone, and I’m able to make deductions about them based on their body language. It’s become a habit of sorts, so it comes naturally to me now.” She puts her right foot forward, and on instinct, I move my left foot back.
“You dance really well,” she praises. “Were you drilled with painstakingly boring dance lessons at an early age, just like me and most of the guests here, or is it something you just picked up?”
“Solo taught me,” I say, then lower my voice as I continue. “Back in Riverside, most of our kills were high profile elites, and lemme tell you something: theylovedattending fancy events like this one. What better place to show off all that black money than a glamorous gala, right?” I scoff. “Anyway. So, the crew and I had to attend quite a few galas to get various kills executed, and sometimes, we justhadto get involved in order to steer off any wariness the elites might have had towards us. It’s why Solo made sure we knew how to dance – just enough so that we didn’t trip over ourselves while trying to fit in, at least.”
“Chris is a good man,” Safiya states around a small smile as we continue dancing.
