Page 63 of Law Of Love

I could only make out the faint markings of four numbers clustered together, and the sight had made me almost topple over. The dress had cost thousands of dollars, and judging by the condition of it, Kaleb hadn’t picked it up second-hand.

“I can’t afford this dress,” I told him for the fifth time as we stood at the entrance to the hotel ballroom, the glorious wooden doors inscribed with meaningless Latin, the ceiling high and glistening as the setting sun beamed through the crystallised stone.

“Well, it’s a good thing you didn’t buy it then, isn’t it?” Kaleb answered.

He looked incredible. My heart was still racing at the sight of him all suited up—but he didn’t wear it like the other bodyguards I’d seen lingering around the foyer. He wasn’t pristine like them. His shirt wasn’t buttoned all the way, and his blazer sleeves were bunched up, revealing his heavily tattooed forearms. He wasn’t putting on a show for anyone. He wasn’t trying to fool people into thinking that he always dressed so immaculately because, frankly, he didn’t care.

“We won’t be here long, right?” I said, my voice laced with anxiety. This wasn’t the sort of party I was used to, and I didn’t know how to trick people into perceiving me as majestic and poised.

“Not with you looking like that,” Kaleb whispered into my ear, leading me into the ballroom.

He hadn’t been able to take his blazing eyes off me since I slipped into the dress and fastened my heels around my ankles, his grey pools imprisoning me and holding me captive.

There was a buzz in the room. Everybody was sipping wine and mingling—some seated on red leather couches pushed into the corners of the room and others hanging by the bar.

“Freya, you look gorgeous!”

I turned my head at the sound of Kaylee’s excited, high-pitched voice, and I smiled, engulfing her in a hug. Her blonde hair was curled to frame her face, and she was dressed in a long, cobalt blue, strapless dress that hugged her body perfectly.

“You look beautiful.” I stood back and admired her.

“Well, don’t you scrub up nicely?” Brent teased me, raising a brow and turning his attention to Kaleb, nodding over to two older men sitting at a table in the corner of the room. They looked to be in the middle of a pretty deep conversation, their eyebrows caving in as they clasped their hands together in front of their stiff forms. “They want you over there.”

“I’ll be back,” Kaleb told me, but Brent shook his head, gripping his friend’s arm.

“Both of you.”

I gulped. I knew there wasn’t a need to be nervous, but the men looked intimidating, permanent frowns scarred onto their faces as they nodded at one another, taking tentative sips of their drinks.

Kaleb placed his hand on my lower back. “These guys can be obnoxious. Just a warning.”

I nodded, plastering a fake smile on my face as we approached the table, and both men turned to us with curious expressions.

“Kaleb,” one of them uttered, nodding at him and holding his hand out for him to shake. “You took my advice and brought someone.”

“It wasn’t so much advice—more a demand.”

He’d been asked to bring someone?

“This is my chief, Reggie,” Kaleb said as he gestured to the short, stubby man before shifting his attention to the beefier gentleman beside him. “This is his boss, Frederick.”

Frederick was a large man—with what appeared to be an even larger ego. He didn’t smile. Instead, he leaned back in his chair, tilting his drink towards me as he downed the rest, keeping intense eye contact.

I shivered uncomfortably under his gaze.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Freya,” Frederick finally said, his lip curling as he smiled.

I arched my eyebrow, meeting the man’s intense stare.

“She didn’t tell you her name.”Kaleb's jaw twitched.

Frederick’s brows lifted in surprise, and he nodded towards Brent and Kaylee, who were busy dancing to a smooth jazz song. “Your partner over there clued me in.”

Kaleb ground his teeth together, releasing a heavy sigh.

“Now, I know we’re not here to talk work,” Frederick said, leaning forward. “But I have to know. There isn’t any new information on the case, is there? Freya, I assume you know all about this since you’re Kaleb’s other half?”

“Well, if she didn’t, she does now,” Kaleb huffed, running his hand through his dark, tousled hair.

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