Page 99 of Blind Luck

“So lovely, although I have no idea how you can stand in them all night.”

“Oh, I pregame with Tylenol.”

No doubt that was a regular thing for Selene. Her control freak of a husband probably dished the pills out two at a time so she couldn’t OD again. I glanced down at my own stilettos and pulled a face.

“I walked to the bathroom in the far corner of the ballroom earlier, and I’m not sure how I made it back.”

“There’s also a bathroom by the cloakroom. It’s closer.”

“I prefer the one by the stage.” A guy greeted Jace, and he half turned to talk. Good. “If you need to touch up your make-up, the lighting’s so much better.” I touched a finger to my left eye. “Although you’re so pretty that you don’t need make-up at all.”

The bartender returned and slid my drinks over. “One Lady Liberty, one Good Luck Charm. You planning to drink both of those yourself?”

“Not if I want to stay standing, honey. One is for my friend. Kelsey always gets me home safe at the end of the night.”

The pieces clicked into place. Selene’s eyes widened, and I put a finger to my lips, then quickly squeezed her hand.

“Enjoy the party, sweetie.”

“Thank you. Thank you so much.”

Then once again, we had to wait. If nothing else, I’d gotten a beautiful dress out of the evening, and the accessories to go with it. Marcel had shown up with a rack of designer dresses and scarves, purses, shoes, jewellery… He told me to keep whatever I wore. When I asked Sin who I should reimburse because my beautiful blue gown was far too expensive to be a gift, she rolled her eyes and said, “Have you seen the government budget? They don’t really pay four hundred bucks for a toilet seat and six hundred bucks for a carton of pens.”

Dusk and I were each other’s dates, which was socially acceptable these days, and Sin was on Priest’s arm. He’d ditched his Hawaiian shirts for a black suit, and he looked surprisingly attractive. Dusk said he scrubbed up well, but I hadn’t quite believed her.

Selene waited until after the appetiser to excuse herself and head to the bathroom. Sticking to her regular pattern? Worried her hopes might be dashed? As she walked across the ballroom, I rose too, following, and I noticed Priest moving in our direction as well. Sin and Dusk would stay to monitor Jace and intercept him if necessary.

Selene was pacing in front of the mirrors when I pushed open the door.

“Is it really true?” she asked. “Are we leaving?”

I pulled a dark-purple lightweight pashmina out of my purse and tucked it around her shoulders.

“Walk on my right. A man will join us, and you need to go with him to the exit. Kelsey’s in a car waiting to take you to a safe house.”

Waiting with tissues and a hug. With me in the way, nobody got a good look at Selene as we moved steadily toward freedom. Priest had transformed into a bodyguard, complete with earpiece, and he’d pre-cleared an exit route through the kitchen. He motioned for Selene to walk in front of him.

“Take it steady, ma’am. I’ll direct you.”

Two minutes later, Kelsey messaged to say they were on the way to Mav’s place, leaving Sin, Dusk, and me to witness the glorious meltdown of Jace when he realised his wife was missing.

We’d preempted that too. Nobody wanted him calling the cops, so fifteen minutes after Selene left the building, a waiter passed him a note. I’d been the one to write it.

Jace, it’s over. Don’t try to find me.

“Sir, a blonde lady gave me this and asked me to pass it to you.”

The blonde lady was Sin, now keeping a low profile in the corner, but the waiter didn’t know that and neither did Jace. In typical asshole fashion, he tried to shoot the messenger, well, punch him, but several partygoers pulled him off the poor guy and the police did show up after all. Jace got arrested, and that was the end of a glorious evening.

CHAPTER 34

ERIN

Once again, we played musical bedrooms. Sin had offered to sleep in the master suite, which was brave of her, and with Alexa monitoring both Amber Road and Jackson Fuller, we were no longer in danger of unexpected visitors using the yard as a shortcut to Cole’s place. So we put Selene in the back room. Sin and Dusk had offered to rotate on a nighttime detail for a week or two, just in case Jace managed to find her. Kelsey was the weak link. She didn’t want to go near the Neptune for obvious reasons, but the golf course project hadn’t yet been cancelled.

At eight thirty the next morning, Selene showed up in the kitchen wearing a pair of leggings and a loose sweater we’d left in her room. With no make-up, the bruises were all too obvious, and she also seemed several years younger.

“Hi,” she said, blinking slowly as she took in her surroundings. She looked the way I’d felt right after I escaped from the Promised Land. Shell-shocked. Confused. Waiting for someone to shake me awake and send me back into the nightmare.

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