by Victoria Zak
“One day, I hope you find your heart, and when you do, I’ll drive a stake right through it.” Kit pushed away from her and headed for his lab, leaving her behind—and thank the gods—speechless for once.
8
Mace Wrathmore stood in front of the tri-fold mirror, securing his diamond encrusted cufflinks and admiring his close shave. The white dress-shirt he wore was ironed just the way he liked it—crisp collar and crease free. Crawley, the butler, assisted Mace into his Italian-made suit jacket, smoothing out the fabric across his broad shoulders. “Sir, may I say you look like a million bucks?”
Mace shrugged into the dark blue sleeves. Damn, he wore the tailored pashmina like a true Business Vamp. “Just a million?” He turned from side to side, admiring his perfection. “Call Dario and tell him I’m not satisfied with his new collection. I need to look like a billion bucks.” He flashed his fangs at the butler.
Crawley scurried out of the walk-in closet to obey his master’s orders.
A snicker coming from outside the dressing room caught Mace’s attention. “You’re so mean to Crawley.”
Walking out of the closet, Mace met Asa, his go-to vamp, sitting on a couch with his legs casually crossed, flipping through a Diablo Life magazine. The male’s arrogance was irritating him this morning. Asa had fucked up and now he had the nerve to act like it meant nothing.
He pulled a cigarette from a case, then lit it. “I pay the man six figures. I expect competency. Is this too much to ask?”
“I guess it could be worse; he hasn’t been eaten…yet.” Asa smirked.
Mace took a long draw from his cigarette. “Please.” He exhaled, filling the room with smoke. “I prefer spicier blood.” He tossed the gold and chrome lighter on the table.
Needing something stronger to maintain his composure, he moved to the bar filled with soothing remedies. He’d kept Asa waiting for at least two hours as he primped himself. It was his way of getting his point across that he wasn’t pleased with the current situation. Six of his men were dead and one had barely made it through Asa’s interrogation. When a plan was put into action, he expected good results.
Wrathmore Enterprise controlled Diablo, Texas. His company invested in land development, commercial and residential real estate groups, the Diablo Sanitation Department for the times when he needed to take out the trash, and he always had a handful of lawyers in his back pocket. The more humans he corrupted, the more powerful he became.
Living in such a metropolis, resources were abundant. The more sin and debauchery he created, the more vampires thrived. The utmost powerful, well-respected and feared persona above-ground and the dark prince of the underworld, there was no resistance when it came to his demands. His lips curled up into a wicked grin, thinking about the influence he held.
But there was an ongoing battle with Roman and his coven. Their mission to save the half-breeds was laughable at best. No, it wasn’t a mission. It was a mistake and an act of treason against vampires. Their mess needed to be cleaned up, and now he was left to destroy Diablo’s half-breeds.
He poured two servings of Scotch, then made his way back to the couch. If he wanted something done right, he had to do it himself. That’s why Plan B had been set into motion two days ago. Mace handed Asa a tumbler and sat down next to him, crossing his legs.
“I’m troubled, Asa.” He sipped the amber liquor. “I sent out seven males under your supervision to take care of business and it doesn’t please me that six of my best are now dead.”
Asa leaned forward. “The operation wasn’t as simple as we thought.”
“She’s a human. It doesn’t get much easier than that!” Mace slammed his glass on the table, causing Asa to flinch. He closed his eyes and inhaled. Mace channeled his inner peace and composed himself. Control.
“We didn’t expect to be ambushed by a group of Hell’s Cowboys.”
Slowly, Mace opened his eyes at the mention of the half-breeds.
“The girl was with one of the Cowboys.”
“How many were there?” Mace asked.
“Four.”
The tension in the room was thick. Mace got off on making his men squirm, anticipating his reactions. He took a long drag of his cigarette. “You’ll need to replace those soldiers. Do you understand?”
“Yes, sir.”
Mace called out to a black cylinder speaker sitting in the corner. “Hilary, call Charlee Brysen.”
The robotic cyber voice responded. “Yes, Master Wrathmore, calling Charlee Brysen.”
“Thank you, Hilary.”
“My pleasure, sir.”
“See, Asa, compliance.”
“Hello?” Her voice was as sweet as candy.
“Miss Brysen, Mace Wrathmore.”
“Oh. Hi.”
“I haven’t caught you at a bad time, have I?”
“No, I’m good. How can I help you, Mr. Wrathmore?”
He almost felt insulted that a woman would forget about a date with him, but she was human. He’d let it slide. “Please, call me Mace. Are we still on for tonight?”
“Tonight?”
“Oh, don’t tell me you’ve forgotten.”
“No, no, I haven’t forgotten. It’s just a lot has happened in the past two days and—”
“Good, I’ll pick you up at eight o’clock.”
“Mace, I—”
“Until then, Miss Brysen.”
Mace ended the phone call and smiled in victory. Yes, he’d have to sacrifice his night to play instead of dealing with the stack of papers on his desk back at the office, which irked him. But in this case he was eager for his meeting with Miss Brysen and was confident he’d get the job done. It never hurt mixing business with pleasure when a beautiful woman was involved.
Normally he conducted business at night, downtown in his high-rise office, and preferred spending the day underground. It was safer that way, but not always productive, since most of his interactions were with humans. The way underground Diablo was constructed, most tunnels led to covered parking garages, making it easier for a vampire to travel during the day. In every office building and limo that Mace owned he had a special barrier installed on all windows that blocked out ultraviolet rays, allowing him to walk freely and function like a human. Only able to withstand the sunlight for so long, if he didn’t take care, his skin would blister and burn. Mace couldn’t run his business efficiently if he was hot under the collar.
Mace slipped on his polarized Aviator sunglasses, before he made his way into the dreaded sunlight. He needed to get to the office and attend to business before his date with the human. He stood and adjusted his suit jacket. “Asa, let this be a lesson learned. I always get what I want.”
“Yes, Sir.” Asa stood and left the room.
9
Charlee stared at her cellphone, wondering what had just happened. She’d forgotten about her encounter with Mace Wrathmore a couple days ago at the finance department of Diablo Central Bank. One last plea and one last hope, Charlee had met with her loan officer to go over her options. She was praying for a loan modification, but she was too far behind in payments, there was nothing the officer could do to help her.
Defeated, she’d gathered her paperwork, stuffing it into a folder and left the cubicle. She han’t been paying attention as she walked across the main lobby to leave, and bumped right into Mace Wrathmore, spilling late notices and foreclosure warnings all over the floor. To make the situation worse, she collided with his forehead as they both bent down to retrieve the papers. After an awkward introduction, he must have felt sorry for her and offered to buy her a coffee at the upstairs cafeteria.
She still didn’t know what had come over her, opening up like a punctured vein and bleeding out her troubles the way she had. It was strange how comfortable she’d felt discussing her problems with a stranger, which wasn’t like her at all. But he genuinely seemed to care and listened to her, unlike her loan officer. So when Mace asked her out for a friendly dinner to discuss her
options, the fight in her couldn’t resist the temptation to at least hear him out.
Charlee sat down at the kitchen table and wrapped her hands around a hot cup of tea. What was she going to do? She walked a fine line of desperation. More so now that the club was shut down and under investigation for the rest of the week. Seven days was a lot of potential money lost and meant another late payment.
She exhaled and leaned back into the chair. Yeah, two days had passed and no word from RC. Should it surprise her?
She’d really come down hard on him. She hadn’t realized how much she blamed him for her troubles, until he lashed out. He’d broken her heart and crushed her dreams the day he’d left her for the damn rodeo. All she wanted to do was love him. He’d pulled back his bow and released the fatal arrow straight to her heart, destroying her. At first the heartache made it unbearable to even get out of bed. Gran had told her once she moved into the dorm and settled into her course load, she’d forget that RC Reid even existed. She’d tried, but life wasn’t the same without him. And then he died.
He’d faked his own death? The tears she’d shed over him had been wasted. He’d lied. Abandoned her and anyone else who cared. The guilt she carried for staying away from home had been wasted time she could never get back. Precious time away from Gran. A lump formed in her throat. All along he was alive and well. Denying that she was happy to see him alive would be a lie. As soon as their bodies touched, she’d remembered why it hurt so much to lose him before.
Obviously the attackers from the club wanted him dead. But why? Did he fake his own death to escape those men and now they’d finally caught up to him? People just don’t rise from the dead—he wanted to be forgotten.
She recalled leaving RC’s place. Kit had blindfolded her before they left the parking garage and warned her, “If you value your life, you won’t peek.” Who lives in a place so secretive?
Thinking about how scared she’d been sitting blindfolded in the passenger side of Kit’s truck, still made her heart race.
She had to find out what kind of trouble RC was mixed up in. She deserved an answer—closure.
Charlee glanced at the clock on the microwave and flew out of the chair. She hadn’t been on a date in a long time. She needed to check her closet for a dress to wear and hopefully she’d have shoes to match.
She started up the stairs, then stopped when someone knocked. Hank, her blue Australian cattle dog, jolted from his bed next to the fireplace and ran to the door barking.
“Hank,” Charlee called out as she approached the door. She peeked out the curtain and smiled. Jackie. Excitedly, she unlocked the deadbolt and opened the door. She charged with open arms and hugged her tight. “Girl, you don’t know how happy I am to see you.”
After seeing Gia dead, Charlee had been worried about Jackie. She hadn’t heard from or seen her since the shooting.
Jackie hugged her back. “Me too. I was scared to come over or call. I’d go country real on anyone who tried to hurt you.”
“Come in.” Charlee closed the door behind them. “You want some tea or something to eat?”
“I’d love a hot cup of tea.” She placed her bag on the couch and looked around.
“Have you heard anything about the investigation?” Charlee asked from the kitchen as she placed the kettle on the stove.
“An officer stopped by the other day. I told him everything I knew, though I’m not much help. I didn’t see the men enter the club, and by the time the shots rang out, the place was in chaos. Have you?”
Charlee paused as she reached into the cabinet for a mug. That night flashed before her. She was standing aiming her smoking gun at the attacker’s face, watching blood pour out of a bullet hole in his forehead.
“Charlee?” Jackie called.
“What?” She set the mug on the table.
“Did you talk to the police yet?” Jackie stood in the doorway now.
“Oh, right.” She shook free of the bitter memory. “No one’s been by to take my statement.” Charlee sat down across from Jackie.
“You know what I heard?”
“What?” Charlee’s brows creased.
“I heard that six of the seven shooters were shot dead and no one can find their bodies. It’s like they never existed.”
“Who told you that?” Charlee didn’t believe it.
“A friend,” Jackie said nonchalantly.
“A friend? And what did the officer say about the shooters when they took your statement?”
“They wouldn’t say anything, just asked questions.”
A shrill whistle caused them both to jump. Charlee got up and took the teapot off the stove. “I don’t believe it. Bodies don’t just disappear.”
“I know it sounds crazy.”
“Well, the investigation is still ongoing. I’m sure the detectives are still piecing the evidence together.” Charlee placed the steaming mug down in front of Jackie.
“I guess you’re right. It’s probably one of Val’s deals gone bad.” Jackie blew through the steam and sipped the tea. “Anyway, how are you?”
“I’m good.”
Jackie raised a black brow, calling bullshit.
“Fine.” She rolled her eyes. “I have a date tonight.”
“Eek!” Jackie clapped her hands. “Oh girl, I have to do your hair. And makeup.”
“And what’s wrong with my makeup?”
“You know I love you, right? But you could use a little—you know—help with lining your eyes. A nice winged cat-eye would bring out the blue in your eyes.”
“Um, thanks…I guess.”
Jackie cocked her head to the side and smiled. “This will be fun. So, when is he picking you up?”
“Eight.”
“Well, we better get to work.” Jackie winked.
Hours later, after many failed attempts, Charlee finally agreed to Jackie’s feline eye creation so long as she got to wear her hair down. Taking the hand-held mirror from her friend, she turned and checked the blonde waves of hair cascading down her back in the bathroom mirror behind her. “Wow, Jackie, it’s gorgeous.”
Jackie looked at the black eye-liner pencil in her hand and blew on the end. “Yes, I know. Celebrities are pounding down my door for my sexy, seductive cat-eyes.”
They shared a laugh.
Charlee went to her room where the outfit Jackie had chosen was laid out on the bed. She cringed at the shoes and tight-fitting dress. She wanted to look hot, but not like she was going to work. If she wanted Mace to take her seriously, she had to dress properly.
“Okay, Char, this is when I leave you.” Jackie hugged her. “I’ll see my way out.”
“Thanks for everything, Jackie. Seriously, I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
Jackie smiled and rubbed Charlee’s shoulder. “Be careful out there.”
“I know.” Playfully she pushed Jackie out of her room.
As Jackie reached the top of the stairs she called out, “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”
Charlee rolled her eyes.
“Call me,” Jackie called out again.
When she heard the front door shut, Charlee turned her attention back to the strapless, too short dress. And forget about the shoes…no way.
Remembering a cute floral sundress she’d seen Jackie pass over, Charlee went to her closet and took it off the hanger. She dropped her robe and slipped the silk fabric over her head, tugging it into place. The front of the dress was cut shorter than the back and showed off her long, slender legs. Even though this was strictly a business date, she’d use her assets to grab Mace’s attention, and hopefully save her Gran’s ranch. At least she’d be comfortable in her clothes tonight. The thought of constantly pulling and fidgeting with that black spandex made her want to put on her nightgown and crawl back to bed.
With a last makeup check, she grabbed her pink cowboy boots and jean jacket, then headed downstairs. If her sneaking suspicion was right, Mace would promptly arrive at eight and she didn�
��t want to keep him waiting.
Hank lifted his head a few minutes later, alerting Charlee of her date’s arrival. A loud knock sounded.
She was right…eight o’clock.
She opened the door and suddenly couldn’t form a word. Her mouth went dry and her body went numb as she took in Mace Wrathmore standing in his tailored suit on her front porch. Bona fide, sexy billionaire sophistication at its best. Chiseled, clean-shaven jawline, suave expression, and charcoal eyes. Mace sure knew how to make a woman squirm in her panties. Even his disheveled hair appeared to be perfection.
“Are you going to invite me in?” God, even his tone was somewhere between velvet and chocolate—deep and smooth.
“Of course, come in.” Embarrassed for staring too long, Charlee shook her head as she stepped back to let him pass.
Hank stood at attention next to Charlee, growling.
“Um, your dog isn’t going to attack me, is he?”
What? Oh, for the love of… “Hank,” she scolded. “Go lay down. Mr. Wrathmore is our guest.”
“Mace, please.”
“Yes, I’m so sorry. I’ll grab my jacket and we can go.”
“Not so fast,” Mace smiled, teeth gleaming. “These are for you.” He offered her a bouquet of red roses.
Charlee stepped forward and took the roses, smelling the buds. “These are gorgeous, Mace, thank you. I’ll go put them in some water.” Feeling awkward, she turned on her heels and went into the kitchen. As she moved away from Mace she felt the fog of lust lifting and she could think straight. What was going on? She’d dealt with many businessmen at the club, she knew how to handle them; yet Mace had a different effect on her.
He exhibited power to the fullest; his stance was dominating, dripping with sex appeal, the typical appearance one would expect to encounter from a high-profile man. However, danger lurked behind those dark eyes; something haunting, soul-shaking. Red alert warnings were going off left and right. She just hoped the first responders could resuscitate her, because a man like Mace Wrathmore could chew her up and spit her out without blinking an eye.