by Piper Lawson
I cross the floor to her, and the knot in my chest eases with each step. “Barney wouldn’t sleep until you returned,” I say.
Her eyes search mine, relief filling them. “You raid Sebastian’s closet?” she murmurs, taking in my appearance.
I’m barefoot in shorts and a polo, and I chuckle.
“Dry cleaning day,” I contend, unable to resist reaching for her. My hands thread into her hair as I claim her full mouth.
Her hand finds my chest, pressing over my heart. She lets me part her lips with my tongue, moans when I take the kiss deeper.
I want everything deeper with her. I’ve always been the one to push, and she’s been the one to hold me at a distance. But she’s not holding me at a distance now. She grabs the back of my shirt, then strokes up my back. Her touch heats my skin instantly.
We’re alone in this house. I want to fold her over the kitchen table, take her until she’s gripping the sides and groaning into the wood. Then carry her upstairs and love her in my bed.
Before I can, she pries her lips from mine.
“What’s wrong?” I demand.
Her eyes turn glassy, and alarm sets in my gut. “Mischa wants me to play La Mer.”
I grip her arms, hard enough she flinches. No.
“He came to my show and—“
“He spoke to you. In person.”
She nods.
My heart accelerates, a horrid thudding that sounds like my past and my future colliding.
If he laid a hand on her, I would drive to him this second and rip every limb from his body.
“Did he touch—“
“Just my hair. I wanted to get the owner to turn on Mischa. But we were too late, if we ever had a chance at all. He’s selling.” She takes a slow breath. “The only thing I could think is Mischa saw me play at Debajo, and rather than turning him off, it made him…”
“Angry?”
“I was going to say jealous.”
Mischa pursued Eva because she was mine. Eva was beautiful and ambitious, though I now see she was a glittering facsimile of a gem.
Raegan is a different kind of jewel. The real kind. The rare kind.
Mischa is ruthless and arrogant, but he’s not stupid.
I knew he wanted to hurt Raegan in order to hurt me. But if there’s a chance that’s changed, and he wants her…
That’s a million times more dangerous.
I reach for the pins holding her hair in place. “You told him no?”
I finish unpinning her hair and drop the blond wig on the table with the pile of pins. I want to burn the wig. If Mischa breathed on it, I want it gone.
I turn back to the woman I love. I thread my fingers into her thick, silky hair, spreading it over her shoulders.
Still, she doesn’t answer.
The hairs on my arms lift. “Tell me you didn’t say yes.”
“This club is my dream.”
I grab her arms hard enough she flinches. “He’s doing it to fuck with me.”
“Not everything is about you.” The edge in her voice sets me back.
“This is,” I insist, thinking of the boy who hated me in school, the one who failed to recruit me to his cause, the man who’s never forgotten it. “You’re not playing for him.”
Her brows pull together, but she doesn’t try to move away. “What happened to you not making unilateral decisions?”
My laugh is humorless. “You’ve got to be kidding. I assumed you’d see the reason in not playing for a madman. One who knows you’re with me.”
“It’s the world’s most famous club, Harrison. I’ll be on stage. There’s nowhere safer.” Her chin juts out at me.
My abs clench, and the next breath I take is ragged. “I won’t sit idly by and watch you risk yourself for your career,” I whisper against her throat.
Raegan pulls back to look in my eyes. “You do it every day.”
That’s a low blow. A reminder there’s a double standard.
But I inherited this rivalry—she didn’t.
Last year, she was never in danger. Now, not only is she in Ibiza and playing for a monster, but he knows she’s mine. And there’s nothing the man lives for more than taking away what’s mine.
Minutes ago, I was handing this off to law enforcement and looking at our future. But I need to finish this first, and our timeline just shortened. I won’t let Rae play La Mer, not as long as that man owns it.
I can’t change her mind. I see it in the tilt of her chin, the warning in her eyes.
She’s the one forcing my hand.
Raegan starts to pull away, hurt. I don’t let her.
I lean in and thread my fingers into her hair, pressing my lips to her forehead. After a beat, her arms go around me.
I breathe her in, my heart a thudding against my ribs.
I will end him. I swear to God.
20
Rae
“Flying solo again?”
Ash’s comment has me looking up from where I’m working on the villa patio in a lounge chair.
I shift my legs to one side, and Ash drops onto the end.
“It’s been a week.” My fingers flex on my notebook, and I set it on the table next to the lounger. “Harrison barely eats. Toro won’t say where they go. Natalia’s worried.”
Ash sighs, scratching his chin. “He’s single-minded. Especially when he thinks you’re being threatened. He’s probably tearing his hair out at the thought of you playing La Mer.”
“Harrison’s turning into someone I barely know.” I stroke the bangle on my wrist and stare at the crown beneath, emotions clashing in my chest.
I can’t kick my excitement to play there. I’ve been thinking about my set every second. My publicist has been busy since I confirmed the offer, working with La Mer’s team on graphics and promotions. I told Callie I’m about to play the biggest gig of my career, leaving out the part about Mischa.
I want the man to be brought to justice—more than ever after seeing that poor woman die.
But this performance isn’t about Mischa. It’s everything I’ve worked for, and I’m not going to let him ruin my chance to do what I love.
I’m over letting men with their own agendas shape my life.
“Harry’s lost everyone who mattered to him,” Ash says.
“He hasn’t. You’re here. Leni’s here. Natalia and Toro and me.” I shake my head. “Today he’s in London doing God knows what. Secret meetings.”
Ash cocks a brow. “You’re not…” His gaze flicks to his brother’s bedroom window. “If my brother’s not delivering, the offer always stands.”
His slow smile has me rolling my eyes.
“That’s what Beck says. You’re into girls too?”
Ash shifts off the chair. “Nah, not really. I dated a couple. But this boy in boarding school made it perfectly clear what I want.”
“Dicks.”
“So many dicks, Raegan.” His blue eyes dance. “Do you know what you can do with a perfect dick?”
“I have a few ideas.”
Last night, I stopped by Harrison’s office after one in the morning.
I told him, “I’ll be in bed if you want to join me.”
His eyes swept over me, glassy and unfocused.
“If you don’t, I’ll take care of myself.”
In my bedroom, I undressed, then waited ten minutes before I started going through with it, and I didn’t hold back. Seconds after the first moan drifted from my lips, the door opened wide. He dragged off his shirt before kneeling between my thighs, yanking my ankles wide, and pinning me to the bed.
“Impatient woman,” he murmured as his mouth lowered toward my hips.
Then all my words were gone as his tongue and lips wreaked sweet havoc on my body.
But immediately after we finished, he crept back down the hall to his office to wage war on a man who isn’t under our roof but feels as if he’s in every inch of our lives.
I force my attention back to Ash. “Ho
w’s your guy?”
They’ve been staying together at the hotel.
Harrison’s brother’s smile is irrepressible. “He had a call with his lawyers yesterday. Said the arrangement’s going well.”
Gavin and the girl I met at the club event aren’t married, but they have a child together. Ash said Gavin has told his girlfriend he’s gay and that the relationship is over, but they’re working through the logistics of custody and their belongings.
It must be difficult, but I still wish Ash had more to go on. I don’t trust the guy after how he treated Ash before.
“Have you been in touch with the team?”
“Yeah. They want me to come back early next month to train.” He frowns.
“Your contract’s not at risk, right?”
“I’m secured another year. They can’t turn me loose without cause. And missing a few too many penalty kicks doesn’t count.”
It still sounds like a lot of pressure on Ash. I feel for him.
“There’s this place we’re planning to go to tonight,” he continues, leaning in. “Las Puertas Del Cielo. ‘Heaven’s Gate.’ It’s a lookout near Santa Inés.”
“Sounds beautiful.”
His smile fades a few watts. “We’re not flying off to Hawaii to say I do. But it helps when the person you’re into isn’t living with someone else.”
My chest tightens, and he kicks my shin lightly.
“Don’t let my situation drag you down. Or yours. My gloomy brother isn’t a reason to ruin a perfectly good day in Ibiza.”
“You’re right.”
He grabs my arm and drags me toward the door. “Grab your bathing suit. We’re going swimming at the hotel. We need to go somewhere to have fun.”
After swimming at the hotel with Ash, I do feel better. I change and stop by a café in town before swinging by Debajo with treats for the staff.
“Dibs on that coffee,” Leni says, swooping in to grab it when I carry the tray through the doors. “Thanks, Rae. Things have been rough.”
“Because of Mischa?”
“Because of Harrison.”
I set the rest of the treats on the bar, and the day staff descends on it.
Leni nods across the room, and I follow, folding my arms. She lowers her voice.
“This week, he bought more vodka than we would use in two months of high season so Mischa would run short. He paid staff not to work there. One of Ivanov’s Paris clubs had to shut down temporarily, supposedly due to a rodent infestation.”
“Harrison is personally sabotaging Mischa?” Things have escalated more than I expected. “Would that even put a dent in Ivanov’s business?”
“Maybe. But more than that, he wants to force Mischa to fuck up and show his hand, ideally before your show.” She sighs. “But in the meantime, he’s causing more problems for Echo Entertainment than for Ivanov.”
“He was in London today for meetings,” I prod.
“Damage control because he forgot to sign a lease renewal for one of his clubs, and Ivanov swooped in and made a better offer.”
Shit. This has gone further than I realized. Harrison’s taking his eye off his own business. He’s been so caught up in sabotage he’s hurt himself.
“Forgetting to renew the lease was a mistake,” she says as if reading my thoughts, “but he’s always known what’s best.”
I want to have the same faith as Leni that Harrison has things under control, but I can’t. He’s wielding his power recklessly, escalating what’s between him and Mischa when I had hoped he would back down.
I squeeze my wrist, a habit, and glance down when I feel only skin and not the cool metal I’ve gotten used to again these past few weeks.
My bracelet.
I had it on earlier, but now, it’s gone.
21
Rae
I’m still agitated from the conversation with Leni when I try calling Ash but get no answer.
So, I head directly to the hotel, speaking to the staff by the pool in case anyone found my bracelet.
No luck.
I head upstairs and quietly let myself into Ash’s suite with the key he insisted I keep in case something came up.
There’s no sign of the jewelry in the kitchen or living room or bathroom, the only spots I was in when I was here.
But something else is off.
Ash’s door is open a crack, but there’s no sound from within. Not even his light snoring. Alarm bells go off in my head.
I throw open the door of Ash’s room, see his stuff still there. No Ash. No Gavin. In fact, I don’t see anything to indicate anyone other than Ash has been sleeping in this room.
But on the bedside table…
There’s a collection of bags and pills.
No. Shit. Shit, shit. Has he been using the whole time?
I try Ash again. Still no answer.
Next, I hit a contact on speed dial.
“Harrison, it’s me,” I bite into the voicemail. “Ash is gone. Something’s wrong.”
I head downstairs and get into the car with my driver and security.
“Where to?” the driver asks.
That’s when I realize I have no idea.
“Where would he go?” I mutter, thinking back to the room. There were no suitcases. No shoes belonging to anyone but Ash.
I know what happened. “Where is Heaven’s Gate?”
“It’s difficult to get to.”
“I don’t care. We’re going.”
When we arrive, the driver stays in the car while security accompanies me through the pine forest to the secluded lookout. Tripping over roots, I second-guess this idea more than once.
“Ash!” I call through the dense brush.
I curse as I scrape my knee. Once I emerge from the trees, I find a hunched form sitting near the edge of the lookout.
I wave off security, motioning for them to stay back.
My racing pulse steadies a few beats as I approach him.
“It’s a hell of a view,” I comment.
Ash turns. “That’s why people come here. Americans. Brits. Everyone. They say they come for the party, but they come for this. To feel free.”
He’s high. Dangerously so.
I sit next to him. “Is that how you feel?”
His shoulders tighten. “Not so much, Raegan.”
The heaviness in him breaks my heart. “He left, didn’t he?”
There’s no answer for a few minutes. All I hear are the waves far below, the insects in the forest.
“His girlfriend showed up. He left with her.”
The raw anguish in his voice rips me up inside. Emotion rises up my throat, and I swallow it back down.
Ash inches closer to the edge, and I grab his arm. “Let’s stay back.”
“But you can see better the closer you are. It’s like you could fly off into heaven.”
“It’s not so bad here. People love you and need you. The rest of your team. Me. Harry.”
“He’s here?” Ash turns quickly, as if hoping for his brother’s presence.
“Not right now.”
I wish he were here. For me, for his brother.
But he’s in London. Not because of something important—because no matter what he promised me about focus on our future, his vendetta is once again taking priority.
“Come on,” I say. “Let’s go back to the villa.”
After I get Ash to the car, I check my phone. Still nothing from Harrison.
I send off a text.
Rae: We need you at the villa. This is not a fucking drill.
HARRISON
“My hands are tied, Mr. King.” The man across the conference table in the London boardroom taps a pen on the desk. “Ivanov offered us a better price, and the deal has been inked.”
My efforts to interrupt Mischa’s operations the past few days have been mildly entertaining, if not even wholly satisfying. The rats in his Paris club were especially vindictive. But yesterday, my efforts caught up to me when I
learned my real estate team was waiting on a signature to renew a major lease and couldn’t reach me.
Because of it, I lost my lease on a fucking club.
Now I’m negotiating to ensure one of my more profitable venues—one of a handful of which I don’t own outright—continues.
There’s no way I’m giving it up.
I survey the executive at the property management company. He might be responsible for billions in real estate, but so am I.
“What if I tell you Ivanov won’t be in any business in a few months?”
“Forgive me if that’s hard to believe.”
The windows in the historic building let in filtered light, and I shift out of my chair to cross to one, getting a view of the street below and the park on the far side.
“You don’t have to believe it, but know this—it’s easy for you to review paperwork and file deals and cut checks, but when you sign on to work with Ivanov, he’s not interested in those things. He’s a gravedigger.”
“And he’ll fall into one of his own graves by mistake?”
“No. The next one he digs could be yours.”
Whatever he sees on my face has him blanching.
“Tell him,” I start, “that you were mistaken about the dates on Echo’s contract. The venue is no longer available. For your inconvenience, I’ll ensure your son’s tuition is covered at Eton next year.”
He extends a hand and we shake.
I leave the boardroom grimly satisfied.
On impulse, I pick up my phone and leave a voicemail as I head down the hall.
“You can’t beat me. Whatever you do, I will watch you. And cover you. I won’t forget what you did.”
I click off and take the three flights of stairs down to the main level.
It feels good to stretch my legs after a day of travel. The past week has been hell, but I’m on my way back to Ibiza, where I can hold Raegan in my arms.
The limo is waiting at the curb to take me to the airport. But before I shift inside, I pull up.
The rear tire is flat.
I knock on the driver’s window and motion him over.