Page 77 of Diamonds

I sigh, check my watch.“All right.It’s a little late to go tonight.So we’ll get there right at opening tomorrow night.Everyone will be bringing dates for Valentine’s Day.Some people—the upper ups—get to bring more than one guest.The place will be packed.”

“So Rouge will be distracted?”

“If we’re lucky, yes.”

She grabs my right hand, gives it a squeeze.“Then it’s a date, Valentine.”

24

ALISSA

Saturday.

Valentine’s Day.

I’ve never had a date for Valentine’s Day.

I’ve dated, of course, but no relationship of mine has ever crossed paths with the fourteenth of February.

Until now.

I don’t know if you could even call what I have with Maddox a relationship, at least not in the traditional sense.We’ve known each other for a little over a week.Not even ten days.

But I feel like we’ve lived a lifetime since then.

Valentine’s Day is not quite the spectacle in the UK that it is here in the States, but spouses and lovers still traditionally exchange cards and gifts.My Welsh cousins carve wooden spoons for each other.

But it’s never been a big deal for me.Because I’ve never been with a man this time of year.

The tragedy is that I can’t truly enjoy my first Valentine’s Day with Maddox to the fullest, because we’re using it as a cover to peer into the grimy underbelly of Aces Underground, see what secrets Rouge is hiding.

I took another day off work.I have over a month’s worth of sick days accrued, and apparently I’m going to burn through all of them trying to figure out exactly what happened to May.

Aces opens at nine p.m.on Saturdays.It stays open until three in the morning.We’ll have six hours to get Rouge distracted, peek around, and see if we can find anything that connects her to Svetlana’s disappearance or May’s murder.

I dug deep into my closet for the dress I’m going to wear tonight.It’s a light-pink off-the-shoulder gown that flares out as the skirt reaches the ground.I’ve accentuated it with off-white heels, some gold jewelry I inherited from my mother, and arm-length gloves the same shade as the dress.

Light pink seemed appropriate for Valentine’s Day, but it’s not the reason I chose this outfit.

The last time I wore this gown was the last time I truly felt like an artist.

My master’s recital at Northwestern.The last time I played my own choice of music to an audience of people I loved on the instrument that took me away from my terrible mother.

The flute.

The last time I felt truly whole was that wonderful night.

Yet how quickly I sacrificed the music that gave me such life.All because things didn’t fall into a neat little line like I’d hoped.

Tonight, I’m taking that part of me back.

I’m not picking up the flute, of course.Bianca Montrose, Rouge’s sister, headlines the Hearts section of the club, and she’ll certainly be performing with her band.I doubt they’ll need a flautist to complete the ensemble.

But I’m taking the part of me that glowed like a fiery ember the night of my recital.

The part of me that takes what she wants, that laughs at the risks.

Because Maddox and I will be entering Aces Underground tonight.