Page 84 of Blind Luck

Kina

Ready?

Me

Go now.

I gave Dusk a nervous glance. “Time to find out if we’re right.”

CHAPTER 28

ARI

Jace’s phone rang. It was beginning.

At first, we’d been worried that if he left, he might move Kelsey to a meeting room downstairs, but he couldn’t, could he? Not when his dad—who was definitely not on his way to the airport—might notice her presence and ask why the hell she was estimating costs and getting ready to consult with a structural engineer.

Jace listened for a moment, then glanced at Kelsey and left the room. No matter, we knew what was being said. Right now, the daytime concierge at the reasonably upscale apartment building where he maintained a fuck-pad on the fourth floor was informing him that in just seven short months, he’d be a baby daddy.

Kina had tracked down one of the few sex workers who hadn’t blacklisted Jace, a girl named Dione. Jace had left Dione bruised and bloody, so she’d been only too happy to screw with him as long as we promised she’d have backup. The thousand bucks we were paying her was merely the frosting on the cake.

Originally, we’d planned to have a girl make a scene in the Neptune’s lobby, but the Neptune had security, soKelsey would only have had a few minutes to talk with Selene before Kina and Dione got thrown out, and that’s if we were lucky. Then Peggy had given us the goods. The new plan was perfect. While Jace hurried over to the Arts District, Dione was busy telling his “neighbours” how he’d fucked her without a condom even though he’d promised not to—that part was actually true—and now he was going to be a father.

Were we sure Jace would go? Ninety-nine percent. According to Dusk, image was everything to a narcissist.

He came back into his office.

“I just need to step out.”

“But we’re right in the middle of discussing the dining room configuration, and I have a meeting in the office at two.”

There was no meeting in the office. From the start of her time in Vegas, Kelsey had been making up meetings so she had an excuse to leave.

“Reschedule it.”

She tried a, “But wait…” as he hustled away, then gave us a thumbs-up in front of the brooch.

So far, so good.

Kelsey peered out the door, and I held my breath as she padded through the apartment, heading for the kitchen. The rhythmicalthunk, thunk, thunkas Selene chopped vegetables was audible through the mic.

“Hey.”

Selene looked up, knife in hand, a pile of onion rings on the wooden board in front of her. Tears ran down her cheeks, and I wasn’t sure whether they were food-related or Jace-related. She looked utterly miserable, but she quickly slammed on a smile.

“Oh, I’m sorry. Do you want more coffee?”

“That’d be great.”

“I’ll just check if Jace wants something to drink.”

“He left.”

Selene set down the knife and moved to the coffee machine. The kitchen was spotless.

“He did?”

“He took a call in the middle of our meeting and burned on out of here.”

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