Page 85 of Gathered Sparkle

“I haven’t slept with her.”

“Notice how he didn’t deny having a small dick?” Sylus chuckles against the side of my head, his breath stirring my hair.

“Guys.” I sigh.

“Again,” Nicholas states. “Ididn’t start it.”

“You’re right.” I nod at him, then turn to Sylus. “Sylus?”

“Yes, baby?” he replies, all faux innocence.

“Shut up.”

He snickers but doesn’t push it further, pressing a series of light kisses to my throat and nibbling playfully.

“All right,” Koen cuts in, dropping into the armchair opposite the couch. He tilts his head toward Ace, who settles into the other chair. “Let’s talk about the plan.”

“Should we wait for Ezra and Levi?” I ask, looking over to the door they disappeared through.”

“I…” Koen starts, then appears as if he’s thinking it through. “No, we don’t need them for this, they know, and I guess they need some time to talk stuff out.”

“Or rather fuck things out,” Sylus murmurs in my ear, making me bite my lips to suppress a laugh.

Koen steeples his fingers as his gaze sweeps over everyone in the room. “Okay, let’s lay it out. The plan we had was Ric’s, and it was perfect.Almost. But we’re going to need to adjust it now, refine it, and add a few new elements to incorporate the evidence we still need regarding Oscar’s death.”

“I’ll make sure to gather that.” Nicholas raises a brow, settling back into the couch. “But how about you start with what the plan was in the first place?”

Koen glances at Ace, who nods, signaling for him to proceed. “A Christmas show. We had Veronica, Belmont, Harold Foster, and Marcus Blackwood in the audience, and we—”

“Wait,” I interrupt, already lost. “Veronica and Belmont are clear, but who are the other two?”

“Foster oversees the casinos Veronica owns,” Koen explains. “But he’s also involved in prostitution, the kind that’s not consensual. Veronica is his biggest stakeholder.”

“My mother’s into sex trafficking?” Nicholas’s shock is palpable. “What the actual fuck?”

Sylus lets out a low whistle. “Delightful, isn’t she?”

I shoot him a warning look. “Sylus…”

“Sorry,” he mutters, though the smirk on his face betrays him.

“And Blackwood,” Koen continues. “Is her enforcer. The guy who makes people disappear. Firearms, knives, you name it. We suspect he’s the one who killed Oscar.”

“Wait, no. He’s the head of her security,” Nicholas protests.

“Sure…” Ace shrugs, his tone flat, “… he’s that too.”

“Fuck,” Nicholas mutters under his breath.

“I went out and found each of them the day the show was supposed to happen.” Koen picks up where he left off. “I hypnotized them and made them attend. That almost fell apart when I couldn’t locate Belmont in time.”

Sylus waves a hand. “That won’t happen again. We’ve got his private number now, thanks to Sparkle here, and I’ll locate him.” He grins at me, his arm still loosely around my waist.

“No, it can’t happen again,” Ace shakes his head. “That part of the plan was way too risky, and we all knew it. Who knows if they aren’t suspicious now? Asking themselves why they were at the show in the first place. We thought we could get them there and fuck the consequences, but now we’relivingthe consequences. I don’t want to bet on that working a second time.”

“Fine…” Koen raises a brow, “… but how do you plan to get them to the show? These people aren’t stupid and won’t just show up when we send them an invitation.”

“I’ll figure it out,” Ace replies, nodding to himself. “But hypnotizing them into coming again is the last resort. It leaves us too exposed.”

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