Page 15 of Devilish

I bit down into my lip, remembering the way he’d watched me from across the dining room table as I tried the teas he’d made for me. When I finally told him which one I liked, his eyes had almost…sparkled at me.

I shook my head. There I went again, imagining things. What would Lucien care what I did or didn’t like? He didn’t know me.But he sure seemed interested intryingto. Something Rupert had never done.

Not wantinghimto invade this cozy spot I’d found for myself, I refocused on the book in my lap and started to read.

As I got caught up in the tale of competition, a chivalrous knight, and courtly love, the minutes passed by and the comfort of the couch had my vision starting to blur. Last night’s activities hadn’t led to much sleep, and as my body relaxed and my eyes fell shut, I drifted off into a dream where a dark-haired knight had come to save me.

7

LUCIEN

“HOW THE HELL did he get in my club?” I glared at the screen, where Malcolm had pulled up the video of Rupert and Kai at The Veil’s entrance. The rage that simmered beneath my outwardly calm façade came boiling back up to the surface.

What a piece of shit.

I watched as he waved his credit card around, obviously not pleased that he had to wait. It was required that a current member had to vouch for anyone new. As the man who’d done just that came into view, I cursed.

“Mike Vance,” Malcolm said. One of the richest investment bankers in the city, and someone who should know better.

“I want him gone,” I said.

Malcolm nodded. “Done.”

He’d be stripped of every membership to every club I owned in the world, which also meant he’d be banned from reputable competitors’ establishments as well.

None of us put up with that shit.

A few taps on the keyboard and Malcolm pulled up an entire health and fact sheet on Rupert McGuire and guest.

“Fifty-seven years old, the only child of world-renowned artists. His mother did theLady of the Nilethat hangs in the Louvre, so naturally the son, with no creative ability of his own, went into management instead. He jumped around to different galleries before landing a job at the Manhattan Contemporary Gallery, but it looks like he was on his way out before suddenly being granted the top position.”

“Let me guess. His parents promised their work to the gallery before they passed in exchange for Rupert gaining director status.”

Malcolm leaned back in his chair. “Reads like a clichéd novel, doesn’t it?”

“It does. But you left out the part about becoming a narcissistic sociopath who preys on young men.”

“I was getting to that.” He scrolled down a few pages until a few candid photos of Rupert with other twenty-somethings—perhaps even younger—popped up. All with slender builds, all attractive. All with the same vacant look in their eyes.

“He just switches them out,” I murmured, shaking my head. “Are there any photos of him with Kai?”

“He doesn’t seem to take these guys to events. At least, there’s no evidence of that. No professional photos. No sight of them at gallery events or even mentioned anywhere.”

“Huh. You would think he’d want to show them off. He’s rich. Unattractive. Getting older. He doesn’t want to prove he can get a hot young thing? Why not?”

Malcolm rubbed a hand over his buzz cut and shrugged. “Because they don’t come from money?”

That was definitely part of it. Could be he was keeping his playthings on the side so he could catch a bigger fish. Or keeping them to himself so they wouldn’t realize they were getting the shit end of the stick with him.

Fuck that guy.

“I want to know everything. Leave no rock unturned. Got it?”

“You got it, boss.”

I shoved back from my desk, disgust running through my veins as I remembered the frightened way Kai had looked sitting on the couch in here the other night. I might not know everything right now, but I would get to the bottom of who Rupert McGuire was, and when I did, he was going to be sorry he ever set foot inside my club.

By the time I got back to my place I had about as much intel as Malcolm was going to be able to get the legal way. So anything else I wanted to know about Rupert, I was going to have to get vialess-than-legal ways.

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