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Eden

Lights adorned the terrace area, casting a warm glow over everyone standing around. Music played through a sound system set up, and outdoor seating and tables had been placed at intervals on the grassed area at the bottom of the wooden steps.

In front of the sound system, a makeshift dance floor had been laid out, and there were already people swaying to the low music.

Servers dressed in white shirts and black pants or skirts moved amongst the guests, carrying trays of champagne and canapés. When one stopped beside me, Bishop reached out and took two glasses, handing one to me.

He lifted the glass to his lips and took a sip. “Not bad.”

“Not bad?” I took a suspicious sip of my own, the bubbles tickling my nose.

“Tallulah is notorious for not wanting to overspend. Crosby is a self-made millionaire. His mom spent many years holding down two or three jobs to make sure there was food on the table and clothes on her kids’ backs. Some habits are hard to break. She doesn’t see the point in spending a lot on expensive things without a good reason.” He took another swallow of champagne. “This is her way of saying that celebrating her son getting engaged is a good reason. It’s her silent blessing on his choice.”

“That’s really lovely.”

“Crosby will be breathing a sigh of relief. It could have gone either way. Tallulah would never say anything to him if she didn’t like Dana, but she wouldn’t have paid out for decent champagne. If she didn’t like Dana, we could easily have been drinking vinegar right now.”

I laughed. “She wouldn’t, surely?”

“Oh, she would. Don’t be sucked in by that sweet smile of hers.”

“Bishop, don’t you be scaring Eden off, now!” The woman in question came up from behind us, shaking her head.

Bishop smiled and dipped his head to kiss Tallulah’s cheek. “Just telling it how it is.”

“I would never serve vinegar to all my unsuspecting guests.” She patted Bishop’s chest and winked at me. “I’d just make sure the people I didn’t like were served it.”

A shocked laugh escaped me. “Should I worry?”

“No, dear. But if Bishop doesn’t behave, he should.”

“I always behave.” The words were delivered in a dry tone.

“You forget I knew you as a teenage boy. Behaving was something you struggled with on a daily basis.” She reached up to pat his cheek. “He was in trouble all the time for backtalking the teachers or fighting.”

I found that hard to imagine. Bishop was far too in control of himself to say anything without considering all the likely repercussions first.

“I can see from your face that you don’t believe me.” Tallulah laughed. “The man you see before you right now is not the wild teenage boy who Crosby brought home one afternoon. There was a time when I thought he’d never be housebroken.”

“He still isn’t housebroken. You should see the mess he makes when he comes to my house. Clawing the furniture, chewing the table legs …” Rook’s words heralded his and Magdalena’s arrival.

Tallulah threw Bishop’s brother a look that needed no words. His eyebrow rose and she peered at him. I stifled a laugh.

“This from the boy who carved his name into my kitchen table and threatened to stab anyone who sat in your chosen seat?”

Rook shrugged. “I’m territorial.”

“You all are. All these smart suits and smooth words are just masks that hide your true natures.”

The two men laughed, unconcerned by her words. I wondered how true they were, though. I knew Rook had been a hitman, taking contracts to kill people. Bishop had access to a network of people who could wipe a person’s existence from the world and replace it with a new one. People who were dangerous in their own right. Yet they both moved in those worlds with confidence, ease, and a distinct lack of fear. Standing here amongst movie stars, supermodels, and rock stars, it would be easy to believe they were CEOs or important executives. But the truth was vastly different and far more deadly.

“Anyway, my darlings, I need to go and hurry Dana and Crosby along. There’s a difference between making a fashionably late entrance and missing your own party.” She reached up to kiss Rook and Bishop’s cheeks, hugged Magdalena and then I found myself engulfed in a hug of my own.

“Don’t let Bishop’s distance and cool nature put you off, my dear. There’s a lot of passion hiding beneath that mask. All it’ll take is a small spark to light it. But you married him, so I’m sure you already know that.” She whispered the words in my ear, kissed my cheek, and was gone before I could respond.

“What did she say to you?”

I dragged my gaze away from the woman’s retreating back to look at Bishop. “Just that beneath that cold exterior, you’re a hothead.”

“A hothead?”

I nodded.

“You know,” Magdalena said, “I could see that.”

Bishop’s gaze turned to her. “You think I’m a hothead?”

“Not now. But when you were young, I could see that. It would explain why you’re so in control of yourself now. Rook’s the same.”

Her boyfriend rolled his eyes. “You break one man’s fingers and you’re labeled as a hothead.”

Magdalena laughed. “ That’s your claim? You killed a man two days after we met.”

I gaped, then snapped my mouth closed. Retired hitman , I reminded myself. But Magdalena said it so matter-of-factly.

“He was going to kill you. I don’t see the problem.” He draped an arm over her shoulders. “And it was three by the end of the day, I believe.”

He said it so casually, like killing people meant nothing. I don’t know if I made a noise or pulled a face but the next thing I knew, Bishop had leaned close to me.

“I killed two people the night we met and left the third unconscious as a message for the person who’d dragged me out of my hotel room in the middle of the night,” he whispered in my ear.

My head snapped around to find him mere inches from me, a smile playing about his lips. His eyes were gleaming as they met mine.

Time slowed to a stop.

I couldn’t look away.

Why didn’t his admission fill me with horror? I thought back to his suggestion to have Chester killed, and my horrified reaction to it. What had changed? Why didn’t the thought chill me as much as it did?

On the outskirts of my attention, I heard Rook murmur to Magdalena that they should leave us alone. I couldn’t turn my head, couldn’t acknowledge them.

I was trapped in a dark-eyed gaze with no means of escape.