pit, where every hiss would feel like praise and every bite like a deep, hot kiss. The venom would flow like honey, too thick to swallow, but too sweet to entirely resist.
I knew how extravagant and generous the syndicates could seem when they wanted something. I also knew it was all a lie. The party was an illusion, from every plunging neckline to each glass of chilled champagne. It was a show. A seduction. I was being courted by the Tower syndicate because I had something they wanted. And I would play along because they had something I wanted.
Heads turned to look when we entered the party. Hands shook mine and voices called out greetings, but the faces all blurred together. The names were a jumble of syllables I didn’t bother to untangle. These weren’t the important names. Not the important faces. Remembering would be a waste of effort.
So I smiled and nodded in the right places, agreeing when it was convenient, changing the subject when it wasn’t. I sipped from the glass placed in my hand and ate the hors d’oeuvres Nina insisted I try. But I tasted nothing and hardly heard the words that came out of my own mouth. I was too busy scanning the crowd for the faces I’d studied. The names I’d memorized. The important ones, not necessarily in power circles, but vital to my purpose.
And finally, nearly half an hour after I arrived, a soft buzz spread through the crowd and I looked up to find Jake Tower coming down the main staircase with his wife on his arm and two black-clothed bodyguards at his back. The host had arrived, late enough to demonstrate that he lived life on his own schedule, but not so tardy as to be truly rude to his guests.
“Let me introduce you to Mr. Tower,” Nina said, taking my arm again. She led me through the crowd toward the stairs as Tower and his small entourage descended into our midst.
At the base of the stairs, a glass of champagne was pressed into Tower’s hand, but he handed it to his wife before accepting another for himself. A heartbeat later, his gaze landed on Nina, then slid to me, and I swallowed a lump of eager rage before it could shine through my eyes and give me away. Tower wasn’t my target, but that didn’t mean I’d cry at his funeral. When the time came, I’d be raising my glass to whoever finally put the vicious, arrogant bastard in the ground, as would everyone else he’d ever tried to put his mark on.
“Mr. Holt, may I introduce Jake Tower and his lovely wife, Lynne. Mr. Tower, this is Ian Holt, your guest of honor.”
Tower offered me his empty right hand and I shook it, making eye contact for the first time. Trying not to show that I knew more than I should.
I shouldn’t know that Tower’s first name was actually Jacob and one of his middle names was David. His wife was really Gwendolyn, and before she married, she’d been a Pierce, a great beauty by all accounts, but not burdened with enough brains or initiative to ever get in her husband’s way.
“Mr. Holt, so glad you could join us. I hope you’re enjoying yourself so far?” Tower’s brows rose, and I nodded in reply.
“Of course. You have a lovely home, and an even lovelier wife.” I took Lynne Tower’s hand briefly, and she smiled, then silently sipped from her glass.
Over their shoulders, the bodyguards watched me, and their surnames filtered through my memory, triggered by faces matching the photographs and notes Aaron had fed me for days. The taller, darker man was Clifton, and the shorter, paler, broader one was Garrett. Their Skills, like their first names, were unknown, but based on their size alone, either could break a man in half.
The group around me shifted to accept a new couple into our power circle, and I realized with one glance at the newcomers that they weren’t a couple at all.
“Mr. Holt, this is my brother, Jonah, and our sister, Julia.”
“My pleasure,” I said, shaking their hands in turn, and Julia’s left eyebrow quirked over one deep brown eye, like something in my reply amused her.
Jonah only scowled. He was dressed like one of the guests, but even if I hadn’t known from my research, I would have known from his bearing alone that Jonah would have been more comfortable wearing all black like the rest of Tower’s muscle. He didn’t like dressing up, and he didn’t like playing nice. And he didn’t like me—that much was obvious in his first glance my way.
Almost as obvious was the fact that his dislike of me would be very much mutual.
“Mr. Holt, if I may say so, that was quite an impressive show you put on at the arena a couple of months ago.” Julia—Lia—raised her glass just a little, offering her own personal toast to my Skill.
“Oh, thank you, but it wasn’t intended as a show at all.” Lie. “I was just trying to help out where I could.” That part was true, but intentionally misleading. I was trying to help myself into Tower’s power circle.
“Still, you made quite an impression,” Tower insisted. “Lynne and I were impressed, anyway.”
“Unfortunately you weren’t the only ones. The news clip got quite a bit of airtime, and it’s been viewed on the internet ad nauseam. If I’d known there were cameras aimed at me, I might have done things a little differently.”
Another lie, and a big one that time. I knew there were cameras. The arena was chosen for that very reason. For my Skilled coming-out party. For the exposure that would bring me to Jake Tower’s notice, during his favorite sport.
“And you’re uncomfortable in the spotlight?” Julia asked.
“Or maybe scared of it?” Jonah added. “Darkness is more your thing, right?”
“I’m most comfortable in the absence of both light and attention, but scared of neither.” I faked a nervous laugh. “However, I will admit to being unnerved a bit at first by interest from organizations like this one.”
“You’ve had offers from other syndicates?” Tower’s frown was small, but telling.
“Let’s just say I’m keeping my options open for now. Though no one else has gone to quite this much trouble to impress me before.” I gestured one-armed at the entire party.
“Obviously we don’t stand around drinking and talking every day, but I thought a party would be the best way to introduce you to the syndicate as a whole.”
“And what an introduction it is,” I said, as one waiter took my empty glass while another replaced it.
“This is only the beginning.” Julia smiled, dark straight hair framing a pretty face I couldn’t quite read. “By the end of the week, you’ll understand that no one else can offer you the benefits, security and career advancement potential that the Tower syndicate can.”
“And here is the woman for the job.” Tower smiled coolly at someone over my shoulder and I turned as he waved two more women into our widening circle. The first was a small, delicate-looking woman in light blue, her platinum curls tumbling over pale, bare shoulders. She was smaller and fairer than my personal tastes ran, but I’d requested an escort of her exact description, and when her brown-eyed gaze met mine, some small bit of tension inside me eased.
“Mr. Holt, this is Kenley Daniels.”
I took her hand to shake it and couldn’t help smiling in relief. There she was, my target, hand delivered to me by one of the most dangerous and powerful men in the country, though he had no idea that he’d played the very card I wanted most. All
