Page 1 of Thorns of Deceit
PROLOGUE
RAVEN
Present
The champagne fizzed against my lips, cold and crisp, a sharp contrast to the burn in my chest. I laughed along with Phoenix, Reina, and Athena as we raised our glasses high.
After the fashion show, the girls and I found ourselves celebrating at the nearby club. Seated around the table, we clinked our crystal glasses and drank alcohol like it was water. In between it all, we’d even found time to dance.
“To us,” we chorused, the clinking of our crystal swallowed by the roar of the crowd and the pulsing bass.
We’d done it. Reina’s show had been a goddamn masterpiece, and we were all so proud of her.
The sultry music drummed through my veins in sync with my heartbeat, and I let it guide me.
It’d been a long road, paved with thorns of deceit, ashes, and bodies, but it was worth it. I was free, alive, and happy.
Life was good.
Nightmares no longer plagued me constantly, and neither did a certain set of deep blue eyes. I firmly pushed any fears from my mind and focused on the good.
Tonight was all about our achievements and celebrating for hours.
Athena nudged her shoulder against mine. “Do you think Isla is off getting laid?”
We’d lost her somewhere along the way. She decided to entertain a man who wore an Italian suit like it was his second skin.
“We should have gotten his information,” I grumbled. “He looked like sin and danger all wrapped in one. That never bodes well.”
“She’s a big girl.” Athena wasn’t wrong, but he’d given off vibes that reminded me of another.My husband.I quickly pushed him into the darkest corner of my mind, determined not to think about him, much like I hadn’t for the past five years.
“Let’s dance,” I suggested, taking Athena’s hand.
We found a spot on the dance floor among the crowd and let our bodies move to the music, rolling our hips and laughing whenever someone tried to approach us.
Athena excused herself to go get a drink, while I continued dancing.
I closed my eyes, letting my mind wander to the man I’d been trying to forget for the past five years. Gosh, how long had it been since I allowed myself to even think of him? Today it seemed impossible to keep him out of my head. Was it before I left him and a small part of me felt guilty?
Actually, that wasn’t strictly true. One didn’t simplyleavean Irish mobster. Not alive, anyhow. So, naturally, I feigned my own death. It was the only way; I didn’t have any other choice.
That familiar pain caught in my chest, but it was no longer overwhelming. It no longer threatened to consume me. Instead,it was comforting. It reminded me that I was alive, and that was all that mattered.
I opened my eyes, my gaze traveling over the men in the crowd. But as always, I was devoid of any attraction. In fact, a part of me was repelled by the idea of being seen by them, let alone touched by them. It was a curse, because nothing came close to the intense chemistry I’d only ever experienced once in my life.
The mobster had ruined me for anyone else.
Still, there was no harm in a little innocent flirting.
Letting my hands glide through my hair, I soaked in the attention. I never gave the men more than a lingering look, but it made me feel carefree and desirable.
My gaze flicked from face to face as I sipped from my flute, the girls prattling on beside me, when my breath stuttered. Because there, towering above the masses wearing a dark three-piece suit, was the very man my mind had unconsciously wandered to. Ocean depths stared back at me, his gaze laser-sharp and trained on me.
Aiden Callahan.
I blinked, then blinked again, convinced he was a figment of my imagination.
You shouldn’t have been thinking of the past, whispered a voice from the furthest corner of my mind. Memories only served to play cruel tricks and create disturbing apparitions.
