by Olivia Harp
She gasped, her eyes widening in shock.
“Boring?”
“Oh, God. You did not just say that.” Her friend said.
“Let’s get out of here, before she explodes.”
She grabbed Mark’s hand and got lost in the crowd.
“I mean, not boring boring, just like…”
“You said it, not me.”
“Are you always this hostile?”
“Oh my God! First I have to deal with Trey over there and then—”
“We’re here to see what’s this about,” he blurted out, “a friend of my family is an artist… a good one, and he kindly shared an invitation.”
She looked at him, examined him, really. Was he telling the truth this time? He was.
“Who is he?”
“Maori.”
Her jaw dropped to the floor.
“Jonathan is your friend?”
“Friend of the family, yes.”
“I’ve been trying to get him to come to these parties but he always refuses!”
“Well, he’s a recluse, you know that.”
“I love his work.”
“I can set up a meeting if you want.”
“No, thank you.”
“Why not?”
“I don’t want to use you to get to know him, I was just impressed.”
She thought about that for a second or two.
“Thank you, by the way.”
She didn’t need to tell him Trey wasn’t with her, he noticed from the other side of the room, it was an opportunity he had to take.
“No problem.”
“So Joseph Maori gives away his invitations to my parties?”
“Nah, just this one. You know the man, he doesn’t care about these kind of things.”
“I don’t know, haven’t met him.”
“Invitation’s open, any time.”
She nodded.
“So,” he said, “who are you?”
“Well, just an art dealer, I guess.”
“How come I’ve never seen you before?”
“What do you mean?”
“Well… I don’t know. Sorry, I’m rambling.”
She smiled, “don’t worry. I just got here, I studied abroad and worked for two years in Florence.”
“That sounds great.”
The music was getting louder and louder, going into a crescendo that seemed to be the climax of the piece. He leaned closer to hear her.
“I don’t know. I mean. Yeah, it’s cool, but I needed to get back home.”
He nodded.
“I’m glad you did,” he whispered in her ear, and he could have sworn he felt the heat radiating from her body. It turned him on.
This was the girl who would change his life. He knew that already.
Chapter 4
Julie
She held her breath and turned to him, they were inches apart. It was stupid but she thought he was going to kiss her… and she didn’t move away. She wanted him to. Her whole body wanted him to.
Who is this guy?
The music stopped and only the clinking of a spoon with a glass of wine remained. It came from upstairs, on the balcony looking down on them.
She completely forgot.
“Good evening, everyone,” a deep voice said from above.
“Shit,” Remy gasped, his eyes bulging out of their sockets, his body stiff, his hands balled up to fists, the veins in his arms popping out as if he was holding a great weight, “that’s Charles—”
“I’m Charles Crawford, head of the Crawford Group, I’m glad you’re all here.”
***
People clapped.
This was a fucking atomic bomb. They had their suspicions, but seeing the mafia baron himself pretty much confirmed everything.
“Laureley’s opening night was a success, all of her pieces sold out!”
People cheered, the older woman they passed a few moments ago was enjoying the moment, a spotlight shining down on her.
“She was also kind enough to donate two of her pieces to the Children of Chicago Foundation.”
More clapping.
The motherfucker was laundering money doing this. Using art to clean everything quickly. It’s an excellent idea, if you really think about it.
Remy looked around. Security was eyeing him. He wouldn’t have noticed them if it weren’t for the earpieces they wore.
Four of them.
They’d found him, somehow.
You’re just being paranoid.
“We couldn’t have done it without my daughter,” the old bastard rambled on, keeping all in the family. Of course. They wouldn’t let anyone else handle their business.
“Come up here, dear,” he said, and the spotlight changed from Laureley to somewhere else.
Suddenly, everyone around was clapping, looking at him.
“What the fuck?”
“Dude,” Mark said, grabbing his arm through the crowd, “we need to leave.”
How the hell did they found out about them?
Then he realized. The spotlight shined on him. Or more like, right next to him.
He saw Julie’s dress shining brightly in the dimly lit hall. She was blushing, looking at the man on the balcony.
“Come on up, darling.”
She turned to him and smiled
“I’ll be right back,” she said in her beautiful voice, and moved forward, towards the stairs.
“My daughter, ladies and gentlemen! Julie Crawford!” The man said triumphantly.
“Let’s get the fuck out!” Mark said.
Remy knew he was risking his life, now that he saw Charles himself attending the party. But he didn’t care about that. He couldn’t stop thinking of Julie.
She was his enemy’s daughter.
She was his enemy.
Chapter 5
Remy
He and Mark shouldered their way through the crowd, walking as fast as they could.
They had to act normal, though, so they just smiled as they walked to the big double doors that led outside.
“Holy fuck, man,” Mark said, half surprised, half nervous, “you were right, it’s them.”
“How did you know?”
“The girl, Nina told me.”
“And you just left her?”
“I said I had to go to the bathroom. She’s gonna keep waiting for me I guess.”
The crowd around began to notice them. They were the only ones going in that direction.
“Wait,” Remy whispered, “play it cool, people are staring.”
He smiled at a trio of girls who stood in their way, then turned back. Charles Crawford kept on talking, then Julie. Everyone clapped.
He grabbed a glass of wine. Mark asked the server for the bathroom. Good idea. The man pointed to a corner of the room and they moved there more slowly.
The doors opened to a huge garden. He could practically hear the sounds of exterior, they were so close now.
Three men, each at least seven foot tall stood before the exit. They’re just security, they’re not in to you.
The man in the center looked directly at him. He looked like a Samoan, dark skin, buzz cut hair, Asian features, and easily double his weight. He stared at him coldly.
Remy finished the wine and finally stepped away from the crowd.
“Let’s go,” he told Mark, who tried to remain calm, but his body language said it all. They were in enemy territory, their lives were worth nothing here.
Remy put his hand in his pocket, he needed to let them know he was not a threat.
“Sir?” Said the big Samoan guy, standing before the door.
Mark took a deep breath, Remy eyed him and gave him a quick smile, we got this, his friend was too emotional. He had to stay cool.
“Is there any problem?” He asked.
The Samoan cleared his throat, his partner stepped forward, just to let him and Mark know who was in charge.
“It’s come to our attention that you wer
en’t invited,” he said, his voice a contrasting his look, “do you have an invitation with you?”
Yes they had one. Not on their name, though. He didn’t want them to suspect, so he smiled.
“As a matter of fact, we were just leaving.”
“Thing is, sir, we cannot let anyone not explicitly invited inside.”
Mark touched his elbow, Remy looked at him then followed his gaze.
On the other corner of the room, that douchebag, Trey, stood, looking at them, sipping wine, with a smile on his face.
He probably looked for them on the guest list, then ratted them out.
“Julie Crawford invited us,” Remy said.
“And Nina,” Mark followed.
“We have an emergency,” Remy continued, “and you have to do your job, can you ask her?”
The Samoan held his breath. He had to either call his bluff or let them go.
“I can’t let you go—”
“Listen,” Remy interrupted, “why don’t we give you our ID’s, you jot down our information, then ask her? That works for everyone, right?”
The big man licked his lips, thinking. He looked back at his friends, who shrugged.
“All right, that would be fine, sir.”
“Thank you.”
Not the best way to do things but what else could they do?
He took out his wallet and handed him his ID, then eyed the edge of the room. Trey was not there anymore.
Chapter 6
Julie
His face.
That was the only thing in her mind from the moment they put the spotlight on her.
The face when he saw his father. Did he know him?
She thanked everyone and tried to find him in the crowd but couldn’t. She couldn’t focus, and almost forgot Laureley’s last name. Dubois.
That would have been incredibly embarrassing. In front of everyone! I need to be more careful.
She saw Remy and Mark going outside. They moved smoothly through the crowd but come on, when his father spoke, people listened. Why were they leaving?
People clapped and cheered and laughed and then Laureley gave a quick speech and she was free to go. She could see them clearly from the balcony.
Soft lights filled the room again and she saw them leave the building. For some reason, her heart felt heavy. Like losing a major client to a competitor. That, times a million.
She bit her lip. Damn. I was enjoying the conversation.
She didn’t have his phone or email or anything else to contact him. This had been a fun night but as usual, business got in the way.
Nina waited for her at the base of the stairs, clapping, happy for her. She was a true friend.
“Nice speech,” she said, “you stumbled a little—”
“What happened to Mark?”
He might have told Nina why they were leaving.
Her friend shrugged, “he went to the bathroom, I guess he takes a while.”
“Nina,” Julie said, “I just saw Mark and Remy leave.”
Her friend’s face twisted in surprise as Julie’s words sank in. She’d just been dumped, in the worst kind of way. It wasn’t only indignation, it was the fact that no one had ever done that to her. She was a goddess, used to attention. And now—
“Are you sure?”
“They just left.”
“But—”
“I know.”
“What the fuck? I should be the one dumping him! Who does he think he is?”
Julie didn’t reply, Nina looked at her, a tinge of worry in her eyes.
“Are you all right?”
“Sure, why?”
“I don’t know… you look sad.”
She laughed.
“Not at all.”
“Oh my God, the Ice Queen finally warmed up his heart for a bit and—”
“Stop it, I—”
“At least you’re not gay.”
“Nina!”
She laughed.
“Listen. I like those guys, but come on, there will be others—”
She didn’t want anyone else. She felt something… different with Remy. Something extraordinary.
It was the stupidest thing she’d thought in years, but it was true.
Infatuation. Put it behind you, you’re better than this.
People talked idly around, and as much as she tried to continue with her evening, she couldn’t. Then she saw Trey going out the door with four of his douchebag friends behind.
Her stomach felt hollow.
“Fuck,” she said, moving towards them. She knew this wasn’t going to end right.
Chapter 7
Remy
They got away scot-free, it’s just a matter of keeping your cool.
Now, they walked to their car on the parking spaces by the outer wall.
“Damn, for a second I thought they had us.”
“They do have us. They know we were here.”
They had arrived early, there were a bunch of cars lined up after them when they went inside the mansion, but this was ridiculous. He didn’t realize there were so many.
For a second, he couldn’t find his own. The rows of cars seemed never ending. There, next to the lamppost.
“Yeah but Morgan’s a popular last name,” Mark said, “easy to miss. They might figure out we were there uninvited but not—
“But not what?” Someone said to their right, coming from the other end of the row. It was Trey. God damn it.
Remy eyed Mark and his friend stepped back, his hands closed tight, ready for anything.
The asshole moved towards them, his demeanor like a high school bully. But this wasn’t high school and he wasn’t going to be bullied for the first time in his life.
“What do you want?” Remy said, trying to keep calm, taking the bite out of his words.
Fighting here would bring more attention to him than he needed. And that would fuck him over badly.
“What do I want? I want a couple of uninvited guests out of here.”
He had to hold back laughter. Really, from the moment he saw him he knew this man wasn’t the sharpest tool in the shed, but this was something else.
He shrugged.
“It’s a good thing we’re leaving, then.”
Four other guys came out of the shadows, two to their right, two following Trey.
“Shit,” Mark whispered.
He eyed him again. They would have to do this as cleanly and as silently as they could. But first, try to avoid conflict.
“You think you’re smart?” Said Trey.
God damn it. What was the right answer to that? Who would reply with a “no”?
“Nah, man,” he said, taking out his keys and pressing the button to unlock the doors, “just stating a fact.”
He signaled Mark to get in the car.
Mark nodded and edged to the passenger side, Trey was still a few yards away.
Mark opened the door but did not go inside.
“You’re not going anywhere before you answer some questions.”
He blocked the way out. Remy had two options now: either get in the car and run the fucker over, the world won’t be missing much, anyway, or getting into a fist fight right then and there.
Option A involves the cops. Option B… fuck, the Crawford’s. He couldn’t decide which option was worse.
“Fuck you,” he spat. He was tired of this game, tired of being polite. Mark closed the door and stepped forward.
“Five against two,” Trey said, “you’re not very smart, after all, right?”
Remy walked to him, not replying.
“I’m gonna fuck you up if you don’t leave right now.”
Trey stepped back, looking at his friends. It was far too late. He had to play the tough guy now, even if there was fear in his eyes.
“You’re gonna fuck me up?”
Remy knew: stupid, ignorant people were the most dangerous. Especially when they were scared.
And Trey had something to p
rove now.
He was ten feet away from him. Music reached him from the manor.
This was the moment. Trey had to decide whether to back away or fight.
Mark stood by the car, his eyes glinting in the darkness.
“Okay,” Trey said with a grin, “okay you’ve been good. We’re going to let you go.”
All the adrenaline suddenly began to waver. Trey knew he wouldn’t come out unscathed from a fight. Maybe he was smarter than he seemed.
Five on two is never good. As much as he wanted to beat the crap out of this asshole, this was a much better solution.
“Cool,” Remy said and turned to Mark, “let’s go—”
Bright, burning pain on the side of his face, he crashed against the trunk of his car,
Trey had taken a swing at him.
Remy was dizzy, he connected a good overhand punch directly on his chin. Shouldn’t have looked away.
Half a second later the chaotic screams and yells and the sound of earth being pressed beneath shoes and boots filled the air, and he was out of breath. Trey kicked him on the stomach while he was on the ground.
“Don’t fucking come back,” Trey yelled, his voice full of anger and frustration.
He turned away just in time to avoid the second kick, but it still got him good.
Not good enough.
He grabbed Trey’s leg and got on his knees.
Trey punched him on the back of the head, but not very hard, he had to keep his balance, and that helped him.
Trey tried to grab his shirt but he stumbled back, giving him leverage, helping Remy stand up.
Remy put his foot behind Trey’s and pushed forward, dropping him to the ground. He screeched, surprised.
Someone else came closer, to his right. Remy pulled his guard up just in time to avoid getting knocked out. This was a better fighter. He kept going, hitting him again and again, but the rush of adrenaline was at its peak now, and he was no longer dizzy.
He moved to the side right on the moment the fucker hit him, then stepped forward and grabbed his arm. Another step and a turn and he had him in a lock. The bastard screamed as Remy kept on pushing forward until his arm cracked, then slammed his head on the trunk of his car as hard as he could.
Mark crashed his back on the other side of the car, one of the fuckers tried to kick his gut but he moved away. Then another guy hit him in the eye.