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Chapter Twenty-Five

Vivian

One week later…

Have you ever felt so in over your head that you can’t even think straight? Yeah, that’s me right now. My days are filled with digging through records and trying to catch up on my college classes while making sure Nova eats, showers and gets out of bed. I won’t lie, I am fucking nervous and worried about her which is why I have forced her to accompany me tonight to Lividica’s first ever masquerade night. All the girls and staff are decked out in masks, they range from sexy, scary, morbid and downright fear inducing but tonight we have merged the women’s den with the men’s and allowed everyone to interact as one.

Tonight is a huge test to see if we can combine the two areas every once in a while. We have had numerous requests from both sides to merge so that couples can finally have the threesome or foursome they have been dreaming about with their significant other. I have to admit though, I think the only reason I agreed to this is because I miss my own guys and how the time we spent as a foursome has ruined me for any other.

Security has been doubled here since the death of two of my girls—two days after Kim’s head was delivered to my house another one arrived. Since then, I have moved all my girls, Tate, Andre and the men into the hotel. Security escorts them to their rooms after shift. Tate still has no idea about what is really going on and I can tell she knows I am hiding something which has put a slight divide between us.

“Vivian?” I turn away from the crowd of people and face David. My brows raise in surprise, he’s dressed in an all-white suit with a red tie. The mask he wears is one of those fancy rich people ones on a stick.

“You look good.”

He waves off my compliment. “I have brought in extra men tonight to help with security in case something happens.”

“Thank you.”

“I’ve also instructed them to escort each guest out and to make sure they leave here safely. The last thing we need is for something to happen tonight and dampen the success of this venture.” I smile at that. I promised myself if tonight went off without a hitch I would consider David’s proposal to open another hotel like this near CHU where he is trying to push me to go. I also have plans to open a few more of these hotels in New York, Miami, Chicago and Texas.

“I found three other prospective birds.” David’s face morphs into one of pure malice.

“Send me their names, I’ll have the men take a closer look.” I nod and pull out my new phone and text him the names. When David had my house swept we found eleven bugs, none of them recorded audio thankfully but the fact the sick bastard has been watching me had my skin crawling. David and Nova tried to urge me to leave and stay at the hotel but I refused. I won’t let this bastard scare me out of my own home. I tossed my old phone, not trusting it to not be bugged and had David collect me a new one. I’ve had my home fitted with motion sensors, spotlights, state of the art security system, new locks and I’m currently having a fence built around the property. These are all measures I should have taken earlier but I thought I was smarter than my stalking bird.

“We have three weeks, David.”

He nods stiffly. “I know, do you think your friends could help out with tracking this person down?” I shake my head. After the bugs were found, I confessed all my secrets to David fully prepared for him to out me and have my head on the chopping block, but he floored me when he offered to help me achieve my goal.

“My friends won’t lift a finger until I turn over the documents. I can’t do that until we finish the last part.” David sighs tiredly and nods. “You know what they are like, I have to give something to get something.”

“On that note, I have things to attend to but there is someone at the bar requesting an audience with you.” I frown and turn to peer around the crowd to see who it is but I can’t see. “Go, I’ll keep an eye on Nova.” I smile thanks to David and tell Nova I’ll be back in a minute. She doesn’t say anything. I feel like a horrible person for making her come here, I thought getting her out of the house would help but I think all I have done is made it worse. She barely speaks and I don’t know what else to do.

“We’ll leave as soon as I get back,” I promise. She flicks her eyes to me and it fucking shreds me inside to see blame in her green eyes. I can’t fault her for being angry at me and blaming me for the death of her mother. When I refused to allow her to see her mother’s head, she went nuts and started throwing anything she could get her hands on, I just narrowly missed getting a saucepan to the head.

I leave her with David and head to the bar. When I finally break through the crowd I don’t see anyone waiting for me. I lean over the bar and call out to Tate who is run off her feet with the amount of people here tonight. She has three other’s helping her but Tate is the type of woman who likes to do everything herself and refuses to ask for help. She shoots me an annoyed look so I raise my hands and wait for her to finish serving her customer.

“What do you need?” Her tone is curt but I get the sense her sour mood isn’t because of me or work so I ask.

“Are you okay?”

She sighs and rubs her face in frustration before looking back at me. “Sorry. I just… I was supposed to meet my dad tonight?—”

“Oh, shit, leave and I’ll get someone to cover you?—”

“No, Vivian. I mean I was supposed to meet him tonight for the first time and he never showed up.”

“Oh,” I breathe out unsure of what else to say.

“Yeah.” Her tone is sarcastic. “For months he has been messaging me like fifty times a day and now when the time finally comes for him to meet in person, he blows me off.” Anger thrums inside me for my friend.

“He is an asshole for blowing you off. I’m sorry, I had no idea that happened.”

“I told him not to be late and when my break was. He thinks I work in the hotel as a manager and he said he was proud of me for making something of myself, so I don’t get it.” She looks a lot younger than her age right now, I would even go as far to say she looks younger than me.

“I can relate to feeling disappointed in a father you didn’t know. Mine died before I could really remember much about him, but the things I have found out about him aren’t good. I hope he has a really good reason for blowing you off tonight because you are fucking amazing, and if he can’t see that he has a kickass daughter, then that’s his loss, babe. Not yours.” My words seem to erase some of the sadness in her eyes.

“Thanks, Vivian.”

“Don’t mention it…” I let my sentence trail off when Tate’s eyes widen and her mouth parts on a silent intake, gone is the upset look on her face as she stares at someone over my shoulder with a strange look.

“Hello, Vivian.” I splutter and whirl around at the sound of his voice. Without thought I squeal and throw my arms around his neck and hug him. It takes him a second before he awkwardly returns my embrace. He’s the one to break the connection and take a step back, he looks flustered as he rubs the back of his neck. I take in the sight of him and marvel at how different he looks. He wears a black suit and even has a tie on, but rather than looking sophisticated, he looks like a punk kid ready to crash prom. His hair is tied in a bun which just showcases the tattoos on his neck, he looks effortlessly handsome.

“I can’t believe you’re here!” I breathe out, then cock my head to the side. “Wait, how are you here ?” I dart my gaze around the room, worried someone was going to come rushing in to take him away.

“I was released two days ago. Turns out your lawyers are better than mine or I guess the fact that the judge is buddies with Vance didn’t hurt either.” I can’t help but just stare at him. God, how fucking crazy is this moment?

“Come, have a drink with me.” I offer and motion for him to join me at one of the tables. He follows my lead but when I raise my hand to signal Tate, he shakes his head.

“I don’t drink.”

“Really?” I blurt.

“Yes. If my sources are correct, you are underage as well.” I snort and roll my eyes which has him smirking.

“I own the place, that kind of gives me certain perks.”

“Hmmm,” is all he says, then looks around the room. His lips pinch to the side and I find myself worrying that he doesn’t like Lividica. “You designed this place?”

“The interior yes, but not the architectural side obviously.”

He nods. “You did a hell of a job.”

His praise has me preening. “Thank you. Now, I have to ask, how did you get in here?”

A sinister look enters his eyes. “Halo is fucking deadly at what he does and getting my hands on a membership to this place wasn’t out of his reach.”

“The membership is a hundred thousand dollars!” I whisper shout, I don’t know why I am so outraged he paid the fee when I was the very person who set the damn price.

Alex shrugs. “Money isn’t an issue, Vivian. Never has been and I don’t foresee it ever being one.” The intense way he looks at me has me squirming. “You seem… different.”

“I haven’t exactly been partying and living the life of a normal nineteen year old,” I admit bitterly.

“Why not?”

I shoot him a deadpan look. “You know who I am and what I do. Given the title I carry, I don’t exactly get much free time. I mean for fuck’s sake, I’m taking college classes online rather than attending in person.”

“You can change all of that.”

“How?”

“All you have to do is walk away.” I open my mouth to argue but he pushes on. “It’s that simple. Turn your back on your past and grasp your future with both hands and you would be surprised at what you could achieve without your past holding you back.”

“Are we still talking about me?” I counter.

“I guess not.”

“Why are you in town?”

“Omen and Vatican have been tracking you.” I jerk in surprise. “I tasked them both with keeping an eye on you but it appears the fucker was smart enough not to show tonight.”

“Huh?”

“Vatican thought for sure that he would show tonight.”

A cold shiver runs down my spine. “Why would he think that?”

“It's a masquerade ball, you could be anyone tonight and no one would know if you were telling the truth or not.”

“He’s grown bolder.”

“How so?”

I look around to make sure no one is paying us any mind. The only person who seems to be watching is Tate but her attention is focused on Alex, not me. “He took out two of my girls and sent me gifts .”

He nods his head. “I know you have upped your security and altered things at your home, those measures are putting a wrench in his plans.”

“Why do you sound so angry about that?”

His eyes darken and I suddenly feel severely outmatched. “Because it means he will grow desperate. Desperate men do stupid things and that doesn’t bode well for you.” Whatever he sees on my face has him reaching across the table to place his hand on top of mine to ease some of my worries, but then a tingle of awareness shoots through me and the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.

They’re here.