“Sir, do you have the time?” I ask. He gives it and keeps walking. I scan farther down, searching out the right male. I see one sitting on a bench sucking on a vape. I soften my face and lock eyes with him for a brief moment before letting them fall away, uncertain and meek.
“What’s happening?” Bonte whispers to Mac.
“Not a fucking clue.”
I turn around to face them. “You.” I point to Bonte. “Get me a wheelchair.” Then over to Mac, “I need these cameras down.” I motion to the one along the side of the building.
“There is one there too,” Mac points out. “But I got you.” She adjusts the strap on her bag.
“Like now?” Bonte asks.
“Yes, now.”
“Come on.” Mac loops her arm into Bonte’s.
“I’m not sure we should leave her alone.”
“Nah, that’s essentially what we’re going to do.” I watch them go, keeping a dejected expression on my face before turning and slipping into the alley. It doesn’t take long for my new boyfriend to follow after me.
Men, so predictable. Except the one that is actually mine. I can’t predict him at all.
Chapter Eleven
PAXTON
People can always have a bit of luck on their side, an occurrence or combination of circumstances that can be either fortunate or unfortunate. Lucky or unlucky, people would say. It’s a chain of events. This is understandable.
What I have never bought into is fate. That there is an inevitable course of events beyond one’s control. However, when it comes to Naomi, things do seem more than just luck. So many pieces falling into place without having to put your thumb on the scale.
Then again, this could all be a trap I have stepped right in, but there are few people who knew I was searching for this piece. And not a soul who knows what it means to me. What are the odds that I have finally secured it on the same day that Naomi took off to California, where I needed to be to collect it?
I stare at the piece that most believed went up in flames during World War II.The Two Lives of Alessiaby the artist Giorgio Benetti. I came across it when I was doing research. I did find it interesting when some pieces of art that people thought were long gone would pass through one of my docks.
Every now and then, I’d look them up out of curiosity and my fascination with history. It’s always good to understand the things that pass through your hands. To have a grasp on it.
I’d seen it when searching the history and worth of a few pieces of art from Giorgio Benetti that had passed through. One was thought to be long gone, and the other was stolen a decade ago in a heist. When scrolling through his work,The Two Lives of Alessiacaught my eye. It reminded me of Naomi.
The piece shows the same woman sitting next to herself. Two versions but still the same woman. One side of her is wrapped in emotion that could be all but consuming; the other is poised, how she presents to the rest of the world. It isn’t a small contrast between the two but almost two separate people.
It appears to be almost painful. Even to herself, she is these separate people. She slides into one or the other. It might be selfish, but I want to see the Naomi that can be all of who she truly is, even if only with me.
“Where should I have it stored or taken?” Nico asks. I pull out my phone and send him an address. His brows rise when he sees it, but he only nods.
“I have somewhere to be.”
“Consider it done.”
When I slide into my car, I check my messages to see that Naomi has checked into her suite and left moments ago with Mac and Bonte in tow. I book it over toward the hospital, sending my sister a heads-up.
I hadn’t accounted for Naomi’s jealousy. She might not call it that, but I will. I enjoy it far more than I should, but I’d never tell her that. I don’t mean to make her jealous; I want her to need me in a way she doesn’t need anyone else. That is how I can bind her to me.
I park in the garage, pulling out my badge to enter the back of the hospital. The docks are not the only place where I haveinvested my time and money. You invest in things people will always need. I slide my badge again when I get to Sloane’s office. When I step inside, she is waiting for me, already with the camera feed up.
“Why is she here?” Sloane asks.
The feed is of the main emergency bay. It has a 360 view of the area. You can open and close glass doors and curtains for privacy, but most are open, and I know Sloane made sure the room she put Naomi in was indeed open for me to see in.
“She wants to know who you are.”
