Page 39 of Knot a Thief

“Put the champagne in the fridge. No food. The only things that should be out today are the napkins and place settings.”

“Oh.”

I hear footsteps moving away.

I only need a little bite.

I lift the cover and reach for the note.

Opening it, I read:

The perfect dessert is a cherry and almond pastry accompanied with the perfect drink. A spicy rum with a dash of lime.

Cherry and almond.

Panic floods me as my eyes flash to the corner of the room.

“Ava. You have exactly ten minutes to get back to this fucking boat. Move it,” Seb growls in my ear.

“It’s not your scent,” echoes in my memory, a conversation about the tart in the coffee shop with the man whose watch I stole.

“Your scent is surprisingly not sweet.” A voice comes from the speaker in the corner. But it’s not his.

It’s not the man I met in Monaco and then Majorca.

This man is American.

Confusion washes over me.

I’m a scentless omega. I don’t have a scent.

Suddenly, a puff of something hits my face.

“Ugh!” I splutter as liquid spurts from the stand. A spicy yet zesty scent envelops me, and an ethereal sensation, like ghostly fingers, plays between my thighs.

I swallow hard, eyes flicking to the camera. “Welcome, Avaline Darling.”

It doesn’t sound like him—but somehow I know it’s the man from Monaco.

He set me up.

Alarms blare, getting louder and closer.

“Get out!” Seb screams in my ear.

I stand, rushing from the room, as metal gates crash all around me.

Chapter 12

Silas

“Where the hell is she?” I yell.

“She’s locked inside the building, but we can’t find her,” our head security says as I rush into Max’s office and stare at the screen, and see Ava diving underneath the last gate just as it crashed behind her.

“Find her!” Max screams at his security men as they dash around the island. They’ll get the message loud and clear through their earpieces.

He turns to me, anger curling his lip. A vein pulses in his temple.

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