Page 29 of Decadence

He’d fucking lied to her.

Gods, she’d been so dumb and trusting.

With her reputation and career in tatters, she’d used her entire life savings to go traveling for a year. It was easy enough these days with the public skyflyers.

A year was long enough to make people forget all about her, and the places she’d visited had been pure escapism on Earth.

In this day and age, there were still places on Earth that felt like they were trapped in some beautiful past; where the pace of life was different, and where technology didn’t dominate every single damn waking hour of people’s lives.

She’d put pictures of those magical places up on the walls just to remind herself. She’d taken the photos herself, using a hyper-resolution three-sixty angle immersion camera.

An autumn sunset over vineyards in Italy.

Monsoon rains amongst the coconut trees in Goa.

A balmy evening in the ancient street markets of Marrakesh.

Hong Kong looking surreal and mysterious, shrouded in mist on a foggy morning.

That had been her year of freedom and inspiration.

And now she was starting to feel like she needed another one just like it.

Sienna stalked through the auto-doors at the front and found three cocky black-coat wearing gangsters sitting on the sidewalk under the black-and-white striped awning that shielded them from the gently falling snow. Between black-gloved fingers, they cradled delicate glass mugs that held caramel macchiatos with cream and syrup on top.

Gangsters and macchiatos. How ridiculous. But that was Connor’s favorite drink, and the boys would always have to have whatever the boss was having.

In the aerial street beyond, a flotilla of drones and flying passenger craft drifted past amidst the gently falling snow, the sound of hundreds of motors combining to produce a hum that reminded her of a swarm of bees.

The sun wasn’t up yet and it was freezing, but you would hardly know it, thanks to the ambient sidewalk heaters and light from the neon holo-signs.

“Connor,” she said flatly, meeting the grey eyes of a man she’d once found charming. “What are you doing here?”

Now, she felt nothing for him; not even a shred of warmth or fondness.

She was just annoyed.

Why can’t you all just leave me alone?

“Sienna.” Connor Ryan leaned back in his chair, regarding her with a cool gaze. “A little birdie told me you’d disappeared into thin air. I’m glad that’s not the case.”

“Are you really?”

“Believe it or not, I am.”

Sienna bristled. “Are you stalking me, Connor?”

“Just keeping an eye out for an old friend.” He smiled, his perfect white teeth gleaming against his neatly cropped tawny beard. “Don’t worry, Si. I’m not under any illusion that anything will ever be rekindled between us. You’re far too decisive for that, and we both moved on a long time ago. To be honest, I was just worried, so I thought I’d look out for an old acquaintance.” His expression turned serious. “There’s been some bad shit going on around this town.”

“Bad shit?” Sienna’s heart skipped a beat. Her irritation dissipated a fraction. Connor might be an arrogant, self-entitled asshole with a vicious temper and an empathy deficit, but he wasn’t evil. She’d seen evil, and he wasn’t it.

“Girls going missing without a trace. No bodies, no clues, no nothing. You heard about anything like that?”

“No,” she said slowly, carefully. “I haven’t.”

“So you’ve been on vacation this past week or something?”

“I didn’t realize you were keeping tabs on my whereabouts. Where I’ve been is none of your business. I’m here and I’m not going anywhere, so you can go get back to whatever it was you were doing now. Leave my shop, Connor.”

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