Page 13 of Cruel Dominion

Instead, I forced myself to play the game.

“I’m flying solo tonight,” I told him.

“Shame,” he said, shaking his head. “Usually you’ve got the only pretty little thing worth looking at.”

He was usually right, but tonight, I sent my original plus one on a flight back to Prague. Katerina was supposed to leave after accompanying me to the gala, but I didn’t want her on my arm tonight. Truth be told, I didn’t ever want to see her again. I could still feel the foul press of her mouth against mine.

Though, even if Katerina had been perfect, I wouldn’t have invited her to attend with me, not after I learned Hudson Vaughn would be re-introducing his daughter to society tonight at this very same gala.

Anna.

My Anna.

The woman who had haunted me for the past six years, her memory lingering like a vengeful ghost.

The rumors had already spread. Before she even showed her face, Anna Vaughn was all any of the assholes here could talk about. They all seemed to have heard the same story: Oh, Anna’s been in Malawi, building houses for the less fortunate. None of them were smart enough to recognize it for the obvious bullshit it was.

Certainly not Nathanael Hsu, anyway.

“You heard Anna Vaughn’s showing up tonight?” he said. “She was such a hottie back at Langford Prep. I always wanted to tap that.”

My grip on my whiskey tightened so hard, I could practically hear the glass cracking. This asshole didn’t deserve to touch Anna. If he even got within breathing distance of her, I would take a pair of pliers and remove his fingernails, one by one. I’d consider it a fucking honor.

“Excuse me,” I said, before I did something I’d regret.

I peeled off and made my way into the crowd of guests mingling with fluted glasses of overpriced champagne, listening to them prattle on as if they truly thought they were making a fucking difference in the world.

The gala was a fundraiser held by the Yates Foundation. Darren Yates was the governor before Anna’s dad won his first term. Since then, he’d stepped back from politics and run the charity with his wife. They did a lot of underprivileged youth outreach causes. Get our kids off the drugs and into the classroom. That kind of stuff.

As a former underprivileged youth, I could barely stand the stench of bullshit. School wasn’t going to do much for me when my dad was beating me up every night and I always fell asleep in class because I needed to work two jobs.

Education was good, but it wasn’t the only way to get to the top. Once you found a foothold, it was easy to figure out that being smart alone didn’t help you climb. Being ruthless and cunning did.

It’s why I only came to these rich assholes’ parties when I had my own agenda to fulfill. Tonight, that was finding Derek Hobbes. A task that got bumped to second place on the list of priorities the instant I knew she would be here. But seeing as the illustrious Hudson Vaughn hadn’t shown his face yet, I figured I had time to get the second priority out of the way.

I scanned the crowd, trying to find the shorter man. He was the CEO of a small construction company in the area. Once upon a time, Hobbes Construction was a behemoth, one of the biggest companies in California. But decades of mismanagement had shrunken it to a tiny vanity project, worth only a few million. I could barely call it a competitor to my much larger construction business.

I wanted it anyway.

My people and Hobbes’ had been working it out behind the scenes for months, and as long as an antitrust suit didn’t pop us, the deal was all but done. Hobbes Construction would be mine, once Derek signed on the dotted line.

I came to the party tonight to make sure that happened.

Moving through the guests, I shook hands and exchanged pleasantries. I kept conversations as short as possible, looking over their shoulders to find either of the people I was really looking for. I knew for sure that Derek would be there.

Anna, on the other hand, might be little more than a rumor. The whispers said that Hudson Vaugn would be unveiling her like some sportscar tonight. His perfect daughter, back in town and ready to take up the Vaughn mantle again, be his precious doll.

I didn’t believe it.

Couldn’t seem to make myself.

She couldn’t be back after all this time. Just like that. After searching and searching. She wouldn’t just be here, in this room, so close I could smell her, touch her, see the way her hair would shine under the iridescent lighting.

I scanned the crowd for her furiously between handshakes, needing to put it to rest. To be certain that it was only gossip and she wasn’t back. Then I could go home and open the good bourbon to wash away the memory of her face for another night.

Every roughly 5’7” woman with rich brown hair made me do a double take.

Finally, I spotted Derek Hobbes at the dessert table, loading up a plate with passionfruit tarts. I moved smoothly toward him, greeting him with a hearty slap on the shoulder. He practically jumped out of his skin at the touch.

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