“It really is, isn’t it?!”
“It’s so freeing, Dante. I don’t know why I haven’t done this sooner!”
“Just needed to find the right person!”
“Weeeeee hooooo!” she exclaimed.
The thing you had to understand about the life I led was that, in order to do what we do, most things had to be compromised. Family had to be left in the dust, which wasn’t too hard for me in the first place. Friends had to fall to the wayside, which again, wasn’t too hard for me. I had been a quiet child. One that kept to myself and never really made friends. I preferred to watch people instead of interacting with them, especially my drunkard father.
But that was another story for a different day.
Anyway, the point was, the life I led had a tendency to be isolating. Happiness was harder to come by with the dark looming so closely over our heads. Don’t get me wrong, I utilized the darkness to my benefit. I slunk around in it as if it had been my first home, and some of my brothers might argue that the darkness was, in fact, my first home. As Brielle laughed, however, that bubbly sound made my heart skip a beat.
Something it hadn’t done in, well, ever.
“Focus on the goal, Dante,” I muttered to myself.
“What was that?!” Brielle asked above the sound of rushing wind.
“Nothing! Just talking myself through the evening!”
“Ah!”
I had one goal tonight, and that was to get this twin of hers in custody so that we could deliver her to the contract holder. I was ready to get paid. Hell, we all were. The trick would be making sure none of my guys killed her before we could ante up on our end of the deal. Six mil was nothing to shake a stick at, and yet that was what we stood to gain with turning her in. A cool six million, split between all of us, netted us a little over six hundred thousand.
Enough to keep all of us going strong through the end of the year, and then some.
“All right,” I said as I eased into a parking space in front of the hotel, “we’re here.”
“The party is at a hotel?” Brielle asked.
I slid off my bike, put down the kickstand, and offered her my hand. “It’s in one of their ballrooms, yes.”
She slid her palm against mine. “That makes a bit more sense.”
I linked her arm with mine and ushered her into the building. With a nod of my head, my guys let us through, though I noticed that Rocker got a bit too ballsy staring at Brielle’s ass in her dress. I shot him a look, letting him know that I was watching him, and that seemed to straighten his gaze out long enough to clock the people behind us and ask for some identification.
Which freed us up to go through the side entrance to the ballroom.
“Wow,” Brielle said breathlessly, “this place is incredible.”
I patted her hand with mine. “Itisone of their nicer rooms.”
The vaulted ceilings gave way to black chandeliers with flickering lights mimicking firelight. The marble floors had black skating through them to match the glimmering lights, and the marble pillars providing support all the way up into the rafters sparkled with the lights that shone down from above. Heels clicked across the floor in all directions, accompanied by women dripping with their most expensive items. Jewels and diamonds. Gemstones and tailor-made rings. Men showed off their watches and gabbed on about their tailored suits. Silver trays rushed about by silent figureheads donning black-and-white outfits to blend in with their surroundings.
And as I walked the outer perimeter, checking in with my guys while I escorted Brielle around, I felt it.
Her sister was there.
“Keep an eye out,” I muttered as I leaned down to the shell of her ear. “I feel her presence.”
Which only made her stiffen before her head set itself on a swivel.
Gazing in every direction she could while I kept my eyes peeled for any sign of that murderous bitch.
18
BRIELLE
