Page 44 of Sweet Deception
Seeing him in the same style I’m in flicks on a lightbulb in my mind.
Are these…his clothes…I’m wearing right now?
Darren doesn’t say anything for a while. He just gives my body the once-over. Very slowly. His gaze lingers on all the right—wrong!—places. Everything in me screams to cover my face or my breasts, even though I’m fully clothed, but I know if I do that, he’ll understand how destabilizing his gaze is.
And that can’t happen.
Saving Lucy depends on my ability to keep my shit together, especially in the face of this chaotic, unpredictable, and alarmingly disarming man.
When Darren speaks again, his voice is softer, like he’s trying a new tactic. “While I was out, I spoke to my boss.”
That can’t be good.“About what?”
“The men who paid you a little visit earlier this evening.” His eyes are almost black in the dimness of this room. I neverbothered switching on a light, and it would be weird to do so now. “They were Red Hill Mafia soldiers.”
Red Hill?I swallow but don’t say anything.
Unfortunately, that name rings a bell. I’ve been researching them, too, in connection to Lucy’s disappearance.
“Who is she? The missing girl.” A muscle in Darren’s jaw tightens. “And what’s her involvement with Red Hill?”
I clamp my mouth shut again. I don’t have an answer to his query, but I’m not obligated to tell him that.
Darren gives me a dazzling, sinister smile. “Does this have anything to do with Troy Sullivan’s upcoming summit?”
My gaping mouth gives me away.
Darren knows about the summit?
Does that mean he’s involved? What if there are Kings on the guest list?
Though he did sayTroy’s summit…not the Kings’.Does that mean anything?
All I gather from this tense exchange is that Darren currently has more information than I do. And it’s imperative I learn everything I can.
Instead of continued stonewalling, I clear my throat and decide to share a little truth…in order to get a bit more from him.
It’s my best bet, especially since I damn near pulled one over on him a few minutes ago.
“Lucy’s one of my oldest friends. She went missing after a modeling audition a few weeks ago.” I drop my eyes to the floor between us, Lucy’s face blazing in my mind. “The only summit I know about is the modeling summit she was talking about.”
“What the hell would Troy want at a modeling summit?”
“Isn’t it obvious?” I cross my arms over my chest, unsure of whether to go on. Darren fixes a hard gaze on me. “It’s a humantrafficking front. He’s… I’m betting he’s planning to sell the women at the summit.”
Saying the words out loud gives the horror of it all even greater weight.
Darren doesn’t say anything more, but the expression on his face shifts to something pensive.
I’m wary that this might be a trap, but I can’t pass up any opportunity to uncover more information. So even though I don’t trust him, I’ve got to operate like I do, just a tiny, tiny bit.
Besides, deep in the dark, cobwebbed corners of my mind, there’s an itty-bitty inkling inside that maybe the confusion I see in his eyes is genuine, and maybe he and the Irish Kings really aren’t involved in Lucy’s abduction.
Squaring my shoulders and lengthening my spine, I exhale slowly, preparing. “How about a temporary truce?”
Those five words get his attention. “I’m listening.”
“You want information, and so do I.” I shift to my power stance, lowering my hands to my hips. “As you already know, I’m good with technology. Get me a laptop, and we might be able to figure out exactly what’s going on with this summit.”
