Page 43 of Vicarious

21

Dele

As planned, Viper and Cres disappear and hopefully Pray and Cres’s father buy that they went and found some alcove to have a quick fuck in. If Eileen has done her job, they’ll never think anything else.

I don’t really have a job here. Honestly, this is probably something Viper and Cres could have pulled off without me. But I add to the authenticity of the entire charade as the designated maid of honor to a wedding that is never going to happen if Viper and Cres find the evidence we need. Also, in these situations, it’s always good to have someone else who might be able to complete the objective if the opportunity arrives or stall if needed.

“Oh look,” Pray says. “It looks like we’ve lost Adrian and Cres.”

It’s only been ten minutes. He wasn’t supposed to notice this quickly. So I begin to do what the socialite Addy Bianchi does best. Socialize.

“I’m sure they didn’t go far. They probably just went somewhere to test Mr. Blake’s physical stamina.”

I expect him to laugh, pat me on the back, and lead me through the rest of the tour to give the couple time to finish up. Maybe even roll his eyes in irritation at them disregarding that he took time out his day to benevolently show us his property.

What Stephen Pray does is gives me a smile. Not an amused one. Not even an annoyed one. But a cold one that doesn’t meet his steely brown eyes.

“Oh, yes. You would know all about that, wouldn’t you Miss Bianchi.”

“I’m sorry,” I reply.

“Oh, don’t play dumb with me, Addy. You know exactly what I’m talking about.”

I don’t. There are a myriad of things that he could be talking about. That’s the thing about men like Stephen Pray. It’s impossible to know if you’ve offended them.

Men like Viper are easy to tell that you’ve offended. They can’t keep the steel out their eyes. The tightness in their tone. Can’t suppress the air of danger they exude.

But men like Pray? You can offend men like them, and you’d never know it because they’d just continue the conversation as normal and allow you to be none the wiser. Then they’ll come after you when it’s too late to prepare because you didn’t know you had to prepare.

Just like Pray has done with me.

I decide to play it cool. He can’t know about the plan to kill him and take over his empire. If he knew about that, he wouldn’t have wasted any time on any of this pretense to show his estate for Cres’s and Viper’s wedding. We would have been dead as soon as we got here. He wouldn’t waste time on this game.

At least, I hope he wouldn’t.

He might know that my beauty line isn’t just a line of beauty products and that it’s a front to distribute cocaine in the US. That might be something he wouldn’t want to kill me for or take me into custody for immediately.

Maybe.

But it might not be.

And because it could be anything and not either of the biggest things, the only way to play it is to not admit to anything. For him to tell me what I did to offend him.

Finally, trying to keep the tremble out my tone and maintain Addy Bianchi’s Italian accent at the same time, I say, “I don’t…

“Oh, Addy, dear. Don’t make me to have to embarrass you.”

I frown. “Embarrass?”

One of his security guards comes forward with a laptop in his hand.

“Now, Addy. I’m going to give you one more chance to get this out in the open or…”

I resist the urge to look over at Revnor and wonder if he knows what the hell is going on. But that would give away yet another secret that I’m not sure if Pray knows right now.

“I. Don’t. Know. What you’re talking about,” I say with a little more edge in my voice than I mean to have. But it’s the only way I can control my nerves.

“Stubborn. Just like a Bianchi.”

---