The Sculptor's Seduction (The Gentlemen's Guild Book 2)

by Dr. Rebecca Sharp

  “I’m sorry,” she let slip.

  “I know. It’s not your fault – you didn’t know. I just… fuck. I’m just so worried.” Cyn watched as his face contorted with fear and anger for just a moment before he covered it up again with his coolly handsome mask. “I went to Sloane and told him all this even though I’m breaking every rule in the goddamn book.”

  He didn’t have to say it and she didn’t need to ask – making sure Tash was ok was more than just part of the case he was working on; the fact that he cared about her was written all over his face.

  “So, I’m here right now because I think I’ve found something.” His eyes flared with determination. “But, I need to talk to Sloane.”

  Oh, no. She crossed her arms over her chest prepared to argue.

  “Cyn, please. I’ve already told you – told both of you – too much. I don’t want to put you in any more danger than you’re already in.”

  “Sebastian—” She began as Sloane stepped in between them.

  “Cyn,” he stared her down. “We’ve kept him out of the loop for Tash’s safety, now all he is asking is that you let him do the same.” She pursed her lips, hating to be kept in the dark. “I’m not saying that we won’t tell you, but let me talk to him first and hear what he has to say. We all want what is best for Tash here.”

  Their eyes locked for another minute – a silent battle waging as to whether she would let this go… for now.

  “Fine,” she grumbled. She moved her head to glance around the side of Sloane’s body and look Sebastian in the eyes, giving him a hard glare. “But, if any of this involves contacting Tash, I need to know. And if any of this requires Sloane to be involved, I need to know.” The way Seb’s eyes flickered at her last ruling told her that Sloane was for sure getting involved in his investigation somehow.

  She moved back in front of Sloane. “I’m going to head to the studio. Ellie is going to meet me so we can finish painting and installing the ballet bar.”

  He nodded, his hands reaching to clasp her face so he could take one last kiss from her before she left.

  “I’ll talk to you tonight, angel,” he whispered against her lips.

  She sighed into him, grateful for the comfort from his words – knowing that he would share with her anything that Sebastian was going to tell him.

  “I love you,” she whispered back.

  “I love you, too.”

  Chapter 30

  As soon as the door closed behind Cyn, he turned to give GQ his infamous ice-cold stare.

  “Smooth.”

  “Fuck me.” The model-agent groaned in response, leaving back against the couch and covering his face with his hands.

  “I thought you said you weren’t gay,” Sloane retorted sarcastically, grabbing two water bottles from the mini-fridge and holding one out for the other man to take.

  Sebastian glared at him, but made no move to reply to his comment.

  “I didn’t know she would be here. I wasn’t thinking… obviously,” he grumbled.

  “How did you know I would be here?” Sloane asked. No one outside the Guild knew that this was his personal studio.

  “Seriously? I work for the FBI. I could find out the last place you took a shit if I wanted to.”

  Now that pulled a laugh from Sloane. “Right.”

  “Moving on. I thought about what you said the other day… about the real estate aspect.” He paused to pull out a sheet of paper from his pocket, handing it to Sloane.

  “What’s this?” he asked, opening up the slip and scanning the lines. There wasn’t much on the page except the name of a company.

  Apothic Subsidiaries, LLC.

  “Heard of it?” Seb asked.

  Sloane shook his head; it didn’t ring any bells.

  “That’s the company that bought three warehouses by the docks last year. You mentioned real estate, so I started digging.” He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees and clasping his hands in front of him. “Apothic is one of Julian’s – many – corporations. Honestly, the man is so paranoid, his businesses are like fucking Russian nesting dolls; you open up one only to find another shell waiting underneath.”

  “We originally passed it over because it was registered to his father who died a few years ago. There’s a long story with more details that I’m technically not allowed to discuss with you right now about other members of the Sanchez cartel and family, but what’s important is that this corporation was dormant for many years. When you mentioned the docks, I looked into who purchased buildings there within the past two years and, sure as shit, Apothic showed up. Honestly, if you hadn’t said anything, we never would have looked back into that company since nothing had been done under the name for years.”

  “So, Julian purchased those buildings through Apothic?” Sloane clarified.

  “Exactly. Now, we’ve known the Sanchez cartel has been trying to grow their operations and I think that this is part of Julian’s plan to do it.” GQ stood and began to pace again.

  “So, where do I get involved?” Sloane interjected. “Because I’m assuming that’s why you sent Cyn away. You need me to do something and you think she’ll say no off the bat.”

  Sebastian’s mouth thinned. “Something like that.” He ran his hand through his hair, which fell perfectly back into place. “The cover that I’ve assumed for this job, well, it’s not one that has been very interested in business aspects as far as Julian knows. Maybe that’s why I haven’t been able to breach his inner circle; I thought if I was a gay model who just cared about going to parties and living that lifestyle it would seem less threatening to him and more likely I would get to see a personal side. Regardless.” He shook his head. “While I looked into Apothic and large real estate that’s been bought or is being sold anywhere near the coast, I came across two buildings that are being listed as going up for sale in the next coming months. There is already a pre-contract in place stating that Apothic has the intent to purchase as soon as the warehouses are completed.”

  “Well, that type of thing doesn’t necessarily mean much if you know what you are doing,” Sloane said. “You could go in and outbid them and see what shakes out in the mess.”

  “Well, that was my thought, except Sanchez will know something isn’t right if I try to do that. I’m a ‘model’; why would I need a warehouse, let alone two?”

  So that’s where the hammer was going to fall.

  “You want me to do it.”

  “Well, RSP,” he smirked. “You both had competing bids on a building there last year. It won’t look suspicious if you jump in and try to out-bid him, not just because you ‘want’ the building but because he ‘stole’ the last building from you last year.”

  Sloane’s mind was immediately running through the scenario.

  “How does this help you?”

  “Sanchez always has a plan and nothing has ever really gotten in his way. If you step in now, when he thinks this building is in the bag, it will throw a giant wrench in his plans because I can tell you right now, whatever he plans to use that building for is already in the works. He is literally chomping at the bit to get into that space. If you hold it up, he’s going to have to think outside the box – and outside the box leaves room for mistakes. My other thought was that maybe if you insinuated to him, when he confronts you – because he will, that what you are putting in there is going to be highly profitable… If he thinks that you might be encroaching on his business, he might try to bribe you out of it.”

  “Or he might just try to kill me.”

  “Well, that is also a possibility.” Sebastian at least had the decency to grimace. “But, I’m banking on the fact that RSP is pretty well-known that he wouldn’t want to outright murder its founder and CEO if it’s public knowledge that that CEO was in the middle of trying to outbid him for a property. If I had to bet, I would bet that Julian will want to handle this as quietly as possible with as few hiccups – which killing you would certainly create.”


  “Yeah,” Sloane scoffed. “Easy for you to say when you’re betting my life.”

  Sebastian just stared at him and Sloane knew that there wasn’t much more to discuss; it was his decision if he wanted to get involved on this level.

  “Shit.” He chugged back a quarter of the bottle of water. “Fine.”

  “Great—”

  “But I have conditions,” he cut Sebastian off. “I’m telling Cyn – not just because it could be dangerous for me, but because this is going to be several months while this plays out; I will not lie to her for months.”

  “Agreed.” He nodded. “But, I have conditions of my own.”

  Sloane raised an eyebrow. “You mean risking my life isn’t all that you want from me?” He semi-joked.

  “I can’t tell you exactly where to draw the line, but I will tell you that the more that you tell her, the more danger you put her in. Remember, now she’s not only Tash’s roommate, but she’s your girlfriend; if Julian finds those things out – if he makes that connection – well, yours won’t be the only life that you’ve risked.”

  Sloane’s eyes darkened, hating that GQ had a point; Cyn would have to understand that he could only tell her so much.

  “No one else can know about this, Sloane; and if, for some reason, you feel like someone else needs to be brought into this, you need to run it by me first.”

  “Ok.”

  “Ok.” He stood and reached out his hand for Sloane to take. And with a firm handshake, the next phase in Sebastian’s operation began. “I’ll need you to get in touch with Pierce or whomever Tash is with over there and either ask her or have them ask her if she can remember anything else about Sanchez or the boat or anything that he said that might not have made sense at the time, but that could give us clues as to what his next moves are. I’m going to do my best to figure out why the hell he needs those buildings, but anything to give us a head start…”

  “I can get you their phone number if you want to call,” he offered.

  The look Sebastian sent him was as if he had just asked him to cut off his hand. He quickly recovered, shaking his head. “No. I told you, no one else can know about this… about me. Even Cam can’t know what I’ve told Cyn and what you are about to tell her.”

  “I got that. But you could talk to Tash; you are the one she opened up to.”

  “No – I can’t,” Sebastian replied harshly. Sloane’s eyes narrowed. “She can’t know who I am. She can’t know I’m an agent. She can’t know that I’m not gay. None of it. Do you understand? Not a single fucking thing.”

  “Yeah – got it…” Sloane raised up his hands in mock surrender. “Just thought it might be easier.”

  “For who…” Seb mumbled underneath his breath. Sloane didn’t respond – he wasn’t looking for an answer.

  There was something more going on – especially with how GQ felt about Tash, but it wasn’t his place to pry. Tash was not only Cyn’s friend; she’d been brutally abused and if this is what it took to put an end to this guy, he would do it.

  “Alright, I’ll call. But you’ll need to get me a list of questions you want answered; I’m only a sculptor – you’re the spy.” He sighed. “Pierce is going to have a fucking field day.”

  “He can’t know—”

  “I heard you, GQ. But if I had to pick anyone in my acquaintance to be a spy – it would be that asshole. So, no, I will call Morgan; I will do my best to not even give him a whiff that I’m involved in something, but I’m telling you right now that it won’t matter.”

  “Well, he’s the whole reason they are going to London anyway, right? I’m sure there will be other things to keep him busy.”

  What the…

  Sloane eyed the other man, wondering just how much he knew about the Guild, about Pierce, and about the painting.

  Before he could figure out just how to respond carefully to that loaded statement, Sebastian stood. Reaching inside his jacket again, he pulled out his phone.

  “I’ll message you the things that I want to know.”

  Sloane laughed. “Well, I guess if you found this place, I should have known that you had my phone number as well.” GQ shrugged. “Although, you might have tried calling earlier instead of just showing up; might have saved you some trouble.”

  “I told you – I tried. Safe to assume you were a little preoccupied.” His brown eyes flared. “Then again, I would have been too.”

  Sloane immediately felt the urge to punch his perfectly chiseled face even though he knew the man just said it to get a rise out of him for being snarky. “Watch yourself, GQ. I don’t care what agency you belong to – you look at her like the straight man that you really are and you’re betting your own life.”

  Sebastian burst out laughing, heading towards the door. “Calm down. She’s not my type anyway.” He paused. “And stop fucking calling me GQ.”

  Sloane held on for a moment before he let a smile onto his face.

  “I’ll call Morgan this afternoon. Let me know what you want to know.”

  Sebastian nodded and then walked out of the studio.

  He let out a huge sigh, stared at the sculpture that was going to be finished before tonight, and then walked into the small bedroom to grab a shirt and finally make it into his office today.

  He had a warehouse to buy.

  Chapter 31

  Cyn left her dance studio with a smile on her face and her heart swelling in anticipation of seeing Sloane. In spite of everything that had happened with Sebastian that morning, all she wanted right now was to see him… kiss him… be held by him… and convince herself that this all wasn’t a dream.

  She’d felt so guilty seeing Ellie that morning. Even though they’d texted the previous day and Cyn had let her know that she was ok, she could see just how shaken up her new friend had been when she hadn’t been there yesterday morning. Ellie had walked right up to her today and hugged her and Cyn saw her wipe away a tear as they pulled apart.

  “I’m so sorry, Ellie. I wasn’t in my right mind. I just had to see him…”

  Ellie shook her head, attempting to put a smile on her face. “Don’t apologize. It’s my own fault for leaving my phone at home otherwise I would have gotten your message. I was just so worried about you. After seeing what happened to your friend, Tash.”

  She swallowed over the lump in her throat. They hadn’t known each other for very long, but at the same time, she felt like they’d been friends forever; and the way Ellie responded to this whole miscommunication said that she felt the same.

  There was a minute where they both ended up in tears that then morphed into soggy laughter as they wiped their face and set to work. To ‘move past the lingering anxiety,’ Ellie demanded – as much as Ellie could ever ‘demand’ – to hear what had happened with Sloane.

  So, Cyn told her – minus a few details. She didn’t need to know about Sloane’s past or the many different… delicious… ways he’d made up to her; but she could know the important things – that he had taken her advice and decided not to live in fear of the past.

  They were just putting the finishing touches on the wall when her phone buzzed with a text from Sloane.

  - I have a surprise for you, gorgeous.

  Her stomach flipped.

  ~ What is it?

  - A surprise… which means I can’t tell you; you’ll have to see for yourself. When will you be here?

  She glanced around. As much as she wanted to leave, they were so close to having the basics of everything done.

  ~ We are so close to being finished… Maybe an hour?

  - An hour. Or I’m coming to get you.

  Cyn smiled herself, her body warming all over.

  ~ Don’t get your panties in a bunch, Mr. Sexy Sculptor. I’ll be there.

  - Don’t worry, vixen. Yours are the only panties that are going to be in a shredded bunch on the floor.

  “I take it someone is wondering where you are?” Ellie asked with a knowing smile of her own.


  Cyn clicked off her phone quickly, biting her lip trying to refocus her mind from the desire that just shot through her body.

  She nodded. “But, I told him that he had to wait since we are almost done.”

  Ellie nodded with a small smile of her own and they began to make quick work of the last few pieces of hardware that needed to be installed around the room before calling it a night.

  She hugged her friend one more time. “Thank you for everything,” she began. “And not just everything that you’ve done here and for me, but for everything that you said to Sloane. I don’t know if he said thanks or not, but I don’t think he would have put that faith in himself if it hadn’t been for you.”

  Ellie beamed at her. “Of course. But, for you, I have a feeling he would most certainly have found a way; I just sped up the process.”

  Cyn smiled, wanting to disagree, but knowing it would be pointless. “I think I’m going to take the day off tomorrow to figure out what my next step is. I’ll text you and let you know.”

  “Sounds good. I should probably start calling venues tomorrow anyway. This whole wedding planning stuff is overwhelming…”

  “Well, let me know if you need any help. It’s the least I can do.”

  They each called an Uber, both eagerly heading home to the men who were waiting to love them.

  Cyn took a deep breath as she walked up the stairs towards Sloane’s studio, wondering if she would ever tire of the lavender scent that radiated throughout the building.

  The door was already open and when she walked inside. It was just like the first time that she’d been there – the room softly illuminated with the small lights all along the ceiling; their warm glow reflecting in the mirror giving the space a magical feel.