Page 20 of Sweet Deception (Irish Kings #4)

Chapter Seventeen

Veronika’s light, flighty footsteps echo as she hightails it upstairs and back into her bedroom. The second she’s gone, I reopen the laptop and find myself staring into a stunning woman’s bright brown eyes.

This must be her missing friend.

The picture is connected to some thread Veronika was sifting through about that modeling agency she mentioned.

It doesn’t take me long to develop a fuller picture of what’s happening, though I admit I’m still lost on why this woman traveled to Vegas and cloned my phone.

When I perform an image search in the Kings’ secure persons database, only a few seconds tick by before a police report of her friend’s abduction pops up. The missing woman’s name is Lucy Marlow, and Veronika Kotova and Maya Marlow, the victim’s older sister, filed the report.

I sit back on my bar stool, confused as hell.

With a few swift clicks, I download the report to the desktop of this laptop, along with everything else I’ve found. The process still isn’t finished when my phone buzzes in my pocket.

A text from Finn.

My eyes swipe over the several lines of his message.

Apparently, Rory O’Conner, spymaster and another one of my closest friends, found some intel confirming Troy Sullivan’s involvement in this so-called modeling summit. The overkill in the event’s security measures gave it away.

I hit the call button.

“What have you learned?” Finn’s gruff voice shakes the line.

“The hacktress started talking. She’s heard of the summit.

From her end, she believes there’s a modeling agency that acts as a front.

Someone she knows went missing after an audition.

” I remember the bitter expression on Veronika’s face from earlier.

“She thinks Troy or whoever’s running it is trying to sell the models, who will be on display at the event. ”

“High price human trafficking then…” Finn trails off. “I’ll circle back when I know more. See what else you can get out of her.”

Finn and I don’t bother with goodbyes. The call drops, and I jump to my feet. I grab the laptop before striding toward the staircase.

Upstairs, I study the closed door to Veronika’s room and replay her reaction.

I’ve seen enough people in pain to recognize genuine distress, but something doesn’t add up here. I just can’t figure out what.

She helped until the moment she saw that photo, and then she shut down completely. She cares about her friend. Hell, she’s allegedly risking her life for the girl. Shouldn’t seeing her face have motivated her to keep going?

Isn’t time of the essence for her too?

There’s only one way I’m going to get any answers.

When I open the door to her room, Veronika’s standing by the window, moonlight highlighting the graceful line of her neck.

She jerks around, suspicion animating her delicate features.

Her guarded eyes slide to mine the second I’m through the door, and that well-kept mask snaps back into place. She’s got her shields up.

I forgot what this room is like at night. The bars on the window create cross-shaped shadows across her face.

She’s fucking gorgeous.

In the moonlight, her pale blond hair appears silver, and the contrasting navy walls cast her skin in a luminous glow.

“Tell me about Lucy Marlow.” I enjoy the way she stiffens as I wade into the room. “And this time, princess, try the truth.”

Somehow, I sense that I’m close to discovering what’s actually going on, but the real question is, will she be honest?

Obviously, the woman is a vault. I just need her to open up. Not much. Just enough to determine that I don’t have to kill her.

She shifts to face me. Even with the shadows, I can see the visible exhaustion in every muscle of her body.

“I already told you the truth,” she insists. “Lucy is my friend’s sister. She disappeared after a modeling audition. Somebody abducted her and nearly killed Maya when she tried to stop it. Turns out other women were taken the same way.”

The reservation in her tone is impossible to miss. She only offers me what I already know, and I can’t help but wonder if she’s holding something back. Maybe she’s testing me, curious to see how I’ll react to the information she’s concealed.

“What does Lucy’s abduction have to do with why you hacked my phone?”

She shrugs and rolls her lips together. Guess I’m back to being stonewalled.

“Do you work with Troy Sullivan?”

Veronika stiffens. “I have absolutely no idea who this Troy Sullivan is or why he and his men were shooting at us at my apartment.”

“Did he tell you to say that if you got caught?” I gravitate toward her as though some invisible force is pulling me.

Veronika shakes her head, but her hardened eyes are unyielding.

She could still be lying. Despite her reticence, though, something in my gut tells me that whenever she does speak, it’s the truth. She’s not exactly forthcoming, but neither am I.

We’re both out on the same wire, doing our individual best to balance and keep from tumbling to our deaths.

As I continue my advance, a grim smile props up my face. “Neither of us knows if we can trust the other, huh?”

I place the laptop on the dresser and glide into her space.

Right now, I’m like a snake, closing in on her body heat and preparing to strike. She backs away, an instinctual and self-protective impulse. Her back hits the wall behind her, and now, I’m a wall in front of her.

Standing inches away, I do something that surprises even me. I lift my hand and gently trace the side of her face.

She tips her head back at my touch like she wants more.

Fuck, the riot in my chest definitely wants more of this too…

“Kind of exhausting, isn’t it?” Her voice is low and raspy.

I can tell that being this close is a struggle for us both.

I nod, the muscles in my back flexing. My whole body’s raring to go at her. “I know one thing for certain.” If I let my eyes slip down from hers, I can see her trembling beneath the oversize t-shirt she’s draped in.

“What’s that?”

“I want to fuck you again.” My whole body vibrates with sexual energy. This woman drives me crazy. I drop my head to her ear and murmur the rest. “That’s what you want, too, isn’t it?”

When I raise my head, despite the shadows, I glimpse her eyelids sinking down to half-mast and lust coloring her expression. Her breath shudders, and she whispers an almost unintelligible, “yes.”

I hear it loud and clear.

My hungry lips descend on hers and draw the truth straight from her beautiful, lying mouth.