Page 5 of Imperial: The Corvidae Family
Baylyn Andrews.
Them pretty ass eyes and those full lips immediately had my attention. She was listed as an event coordinator, and when I tapped her name, it led to a brief bio. Nothing personal, just professional details, but that was enough to find the rest of what I needed.
Found your pretty ass.
I copied her full name into the Quest search engine and her profile popped up on Skroll.
Public profile. Rookie mistake.
I clicked on it, scanning through selfies, food, drinks, travel pics, and nights out. She didn’t post a lot, but it was enough to get a feel for who she was. There was also a recurring face in her pictures. A woman who based on their interactions looked like a close friend. They had inside jokes in the captions, birthday tributes, and random pictures of them drinking at the same two apartments.
Probably the person she was closest to and the person she would confide in about tonight if she couldn’t keep secrets. I clicked the tag in one of the photos and memorized her friend, locking the details away for future use if needed.
I leaned back, finishing the rest of my beer before hitting the follow button from one of my dummy accounts. It was a basic profile with nothing traceable to me, so she wouldn’t suspect anything even if she did a deep dive. I scrolled a little more,locking my phone when I was done, and lay back, folding an arm under my head.
Tomorrow, I needed to pull up on Ms. Andrews. She had seen me and I needed to knowhowto handle her but she would damn sure be handled one way or another.
Chapter
Three
Baylyn.
The past couple hours had me stressing. My thoughts spiraled through the rest of the event circling back over and over again to that one moment…
I watched a man get shot.
And his body was still here cold, stiff and undiscovered while I smiled at people like I hadn’t been there when it happened. I witnessed a murder, and the man who pulled the trigger saw me…
My feet were rooted to the floor and my fingers were frozen around the edges of my iPad. My lungs refused to function properly and my heart was still slamming against my ribs likeit was trying to break free. I knew something was off about that man when we locked eyes in the alley earlier and fuck, now I had physical proof.
He was a killer…
I saw him do it then his sexy ass walked right past me like I didn’t even matter. Like literally no warning or anything. Just that damn smirk and shit, it was sexy.
Why do I keep acknowledging how sexy he is? What is wrong with me?
I closed my eyes briefly, trying to force my brain to find some damn sense. I witnessed a murder and was crushing on the man who pulled the trigger.
Because why the hell wouldn’t I?
I was damn sure feeling the arrogance of how he adjusted his suit jacket before walking away like he had simply finished a business meeting. Yep, I need to seek professional help…
My stomach twisted but for the wrong reasons. I focused on the voices that drifted from the ballroom and pulled my life together. I stepped back into the main event space, moving toward the staff entrance, trying to control the way my fingers kept clutching my iPad like it would ground me. No matter how sexy that man was, he was a walking red flag.
People were still doing their thing inside because they had no idea that down the hall in a private access area a man was lying in a pool of his own blood. I damn sure wasn’t going to be the one to tell them and have to answer questions about how he ended up there. I didn’t know shit and wasn’t saying shit.
That’s a lie, Baylyn. You know his face, those intense eyes, those pretty lips, and that damn beard that had my fingers itching to drag through it.
Exhaling a sigh, I rolled my shoulders back and looked around the event space. Cami was near the catering station so Icrossed the room needing someone to keep my mind offhimand she frowned as soon as her eyes locked on my face.
“You look like you just saw a ghost.”
Close.
Fake it. Pretend nothing happened.
“I’m fine. It’s just been a long night.”
