Page 72 of Beautiful Sins

But lately, I’ve been forced to step outside my comfort zone without that protection. And I’ve survived.

They want how you make them feel. But more than that, they want who you are.

I ignore the wigs and tug the elastic out of my own hair, scrunching it so it falls around my head.

If tonight is my last chance at getting to Wild Fest, I’m going to give them a show.

I’ll give them me.

21

Harrison

From the second I landed in London, the city that should’ve felt like home, I’ve wanted to get back to Rae. The posh flat I’ve spent hundreds of nights in felt empty without her next to me.

“I did what you asked,” my finance lead informed me from across the table in our London offices. “I have the bridge financing so you can increase your bid for La Mer. And we tripped up a new deal of Mischa’s to make it harder for him. But there’s a problem. He caught one of our men looking around after hours on one of his new projects. Apparently, faced with the prospect of losing something of value to him, the man talked. Which means he knows you’re behind it.”

I need to finalize the La Mer deal. And quickly.

That wasn’t the only bad news.

My investigator informed me he discovered records of a seven-figure payment more than a decade ago—nottomy parents, butfromthem. His hypothesis was it was an investment in the expansion of the Ivanov empire.

“They must have brokered a deal as part of their exit,” I told him.

“Except other stakeholders in the organization made the same payment. People who are working there to this day.”

I didn’t have an explanation for that, as much as I wanted to.

The words haunted me all the way back to LA.

My parents weren’t criminals. It’s impossible.

They were decent people. Everything I’ve done is for them—the business I’ve built, the Ibiza club I’ve done everything to claim.

Not everything, a voice says.

I had a chance at it earlier in the summer.

My future in exchange for the club.

In some ways, I’ve already pledged it. But it felt different pledging myself to Christian’s daughter.

At least, it did once Raegan Madani barged into my life.

We haven’t talked much in the past forty-eight hours thanks to work and traveling. But when she called me from New York after I finished packing, the night turned into one I won’t soon forget.

Her touching herself, letting me watch, fuckinggetting offon me watching…

It was the hottest thing I’ve ever seen.

I need to touch her. I’ve been rubbing myself raw since that night.

It’s not only her body I miss, it’s the snippy comments, the way she goes into a trance when she’s working hunched over her computer, the little sigh of contentedness when I pull her against me in the morning and she’s still asleep.

She’s scheduled to get back to LA today, too, and I have plans for her.

Unknown: Thought you’d be interested in this.

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