For now, in order to keep our son safe, we can’t confirm anything. The public can talk, they can whisper, they can judge, and they can point, but at the end of the day, no one really has anything except a rumor.
And we’re going to keep it that way.
The amount of ironclad, life-ending NDAs my lawyers had to distribute to make sure no one on my team talks could make a stairway to heaven.
Oni and my new assistant are walking ahead of me in simpler red gowns of their own, and I follow them into the ballroom where there’s already a crowd gathered, the cheers of the crowd outside fading with each step.
There’s music playing, and I realize like an afterthought that it’s mine—the song I wrote for my mountain men with Houston’s heavy-handed help. I should call and thank him. It turned out to be a huge hit. It wasn’t my goal at the time other than hoping that it would reach my mountain men.
I should have known they wouldn’t wait nearly that long before coming after me.
I smile to myself and hear a throat clearing behind me, our signal that one of them wants my attention. I’m still smiling when I glance over my shoulder, and Khalil looks pleased as he traces the edges of my grin.
“Now that’s more like it,” he says.
“You could tell I was smiling?” I ask incredulously. “How?”
“Because you glow when you smile,” Seth answers, and I shift my gaze to him. “You’re sunshine.”
I’m robbed of my chance to respond when a woman calls out my name. I shift my attention to the voice and see that it’s none other than Tania fucking Bradshaw. She’s wearing a green dress that clashes horribly with her skin tone and has a lot of fucking feathers. She’s wearing a blond curly wig cut into a bob that doesn’t quite mesh with the dress, and her makeup looks as if the artist was commanded to make her skin paler since it’s about three shades lighter than her neck or chest. My mood sours instantly, especially since I know she’s now being managed by my uncle. I’m pretty sure he’s screwing her too—if the rumors are to be believed.
“Aurelia, hi! I’m so glad we finally had a chance to run into each other.”
“Why?” I ask dryly, feeling like this exchange is a mirror of the one that started all of this a year and a half ago. The one that turned Tania and me into enemies and landed me on a plane to Canada.
She blinks her big, round eyes, playing the part of stupid perfectly, and I immediately see why my uncle signed her. Other than the fact that it would piss me off. “What do you mean?”
“Why are you glad we ran into each other? I don’t like you. I thought I told you that.”
I feel my mountain men close in on me, and Tania’s gaze rises to meet them and sparkles with interest. “Is that them?” she whispers in a hushed voice as she tries to inch closer. “The photos do not do them justice. Way to go, Aurelia.” I stare at her. “Unless, of course, the rumorsaren’ttrue. In which case, are they single?”
“Let me introduce you,” I say as I shift a little until she can get a better look at my guys. “This is Khalil, Thorin, and Seth.”
“Why, hello,” Tania greets with invitation in her tone.
None of my guys speak or even glance her way as they scan the room. Some of Tania’s confidence wavers, so I quickly say, “Seth likes entrails, did you know that? He’s fascinated with them. Hopes to see some one day.”
The color leaks from Tania’s face. “Um…okay.”
I tilt my head to hold her gaze when she starts looking around for an avenue of escape. “I was thinking later you can join us somewhere private and I can show him yours. What do you say? Are you still glad you ran into me?”
“I think I’m going to go.”
“Yes, you do that.” She starts to walk off, but I stop her after only a couple of steps. “And hey, Tania?”
She reluctantly turns to face me while frowning nervously. “Yes?”
“Make that the last time you try to take anything of mine.”
Nodding quickly, she hurries away, and I hear several throats clearing behind me, so I turn to face my guys who are all watching me with amused eyes. “What?” I say with an innocent shrug. “I’m not sorry. She had it coming.”
“Indeed, she did,” Thorin says.
The rest of the evening happens uneventfully with me mostly dodging questions about my security team. Halfway through the night, an emergency alarm sounds, drawing everyone’s attention, and I use the cover of the commotion to break away to head to the bathroom. It’s likely a pap or an overzealous fan of one of the countless celebrities in attendance. When I reach the bathroom, I manage to convince my guys to stay out in the hallway andnotfollow me in since my uncle still hasn’t shown his face.
And he won’t now since the gala has a strict late-arrival policy.
I’ll stay another hour and then I’ll go, I think as I look around the fancy bathroom. There’s another door at the other end that I dismiss as a supply closet while I head inside the largest of the three stalls. Once I’m inside, I lift up my dress, but the heavy material strains my arms, and I can’t seem to get it all over my hips at once. This is the reason why relieving yourself is not an option when attending one of these things, but I recently had a baby, so…nature calls. After several failed attempts of trying not to ruin the custom dress I got on loan, I call out for one of my guys, and Seth appears inside the stall in a flash.
