Aidan balanced a tray of drinks in one hand while he stood to the side of the ballroom. Callum had somehow gotten them on the list to work the ball. He didn’t know how, but he wasn’t asking questions.
He scanned the large room. The women wore conservative ball gowns, all of which covered their arms and shoulders, while the men wore black tuxes. All except one. Elijah, who wore a white suit jacket.
If anything, it made Aidan hate the man even more. Did he feel the need to wear something different to show he was above everyone else or something? It was taking every bit of his self-control not to walk over there, kill the asshole and be done with it. The guy was a murderer. A rapist. Jesus, he regularly drugged roomfuls of people.
Since Aidan had arrived, the guy had worked his way through the crowd and touched almost every woman in the room. With a hand to the lower back. A graze of the cheek. Fingers around the wrist. The guy was a damn creep.
Aidan caught Tyler’s gaze. He also wore a tux and held a tray of champagne glasses. And just like Aidan, he wore a disguise. Contact lenses to change his eye color. A wig to change his hair. There was no doubt Elijah and his guys had seen Aidan and his team on the news. Their faces had been plastered everywhere. But even if they hadn’t, the guy had probably investigated every inch of Cassie’s life in the years before she returned to the cult.
She and Mia had yet to arrive. Aidan had instructed Callum to take the long route, possibly even create an “emergency” that required them to stop for a short while, if he could do so without making the guard following too suspicious. Not only did that give Aidan time to arrive first, it also meant less time for Cassie at the ball. He didn’t want her here any longer than she had to be.
Mia’s voice sounded from the earpiece. The woman had been talking nonstop throughout the drive. About flowers. Drinks. Music. That Sampson guy. He’d barely heard a word from Cassie.
He needed to stay away from Mia tonight. Even though he was in disguise, the woman might still recognize him from his time dating Cassie. He couldn’t risk it.
“Pulling up now,” Callum said quietly through the earpiece.
When Aidan spotted Elijah moving toward his brothers, who stood on the outskirts of the crowd, he crossed the room, offering drinks to people on the way. He stopped several feet away from the men. With the distance, an average man wouldn’t be able to hear a word, particularly over the music. He wasn’t average. And he heard every word they said.
“Is everything in place?” Elijah asked.
“Yes,” Joshua answered. “Cars are ready. It will take a while to get there, but everything’s good to go.”
A while to get where? And what was ready to go?
“Good. We’re already behind. We can’t have any mistakes.”
What the fuck were they talking about?
“Of course,” Isaac said.
He looked up to see Elijah plaster that big, fake smile onto his face and walk away.
“Something’s going on,” Aidan said under his breath. “Tyler, if Cassie’s with her sister, I’ll keep my distance, so I want you to stick to them like glue.”
“Got it,” his friend whispered under his breath.
“Liam and Blake, is it clear outside?”
“Guards on every exit, but no unusual activity,” Blake answered.
Aidan was moving around the room again when the door opened and he saw her. Cassie stepped inside. And just like in her bathroom, she looked so damn beautiful, his chest ached. Every part of him wanted to go to the woman and drag her out of there.
“Oh my Lord, this place looks even better at night.”
Cassie smiled at her sister’s words. The place was beautiful. The ball was held in a big mansion that had a huge, historic-looking ballroom. With external catering and music, it was extravagant, and so over the top.
Elijah never spent this kind of money on a party. What the heck was going on?
She touched her sister’s arm. “Mia, this is too much.”
“Don’t be silly! You deserve a big party.”
They moved further into the room. Cassie scanned the crowd for Damien. Where was he? Elijah had assured her she’d see him tonight. She needed to see him. If she didn’t, if Elijah made another poor excuse… Christ, she didn’t know what she’d do. She couldn’t do anything crazy before tomorrow, but she needed Damien to be okay.
A man holding a tray suddenly stood in front of them. “Champagne?”
She met the man’s eyes. Yet again, she was filled with a feeling of familiarity.
“No, thank you.” She said the words slowly, never moving her eyes from him. He held her gaze just as firmly.
Mia touched her arm. “Cassie, this is your party. You have to have a drink!”
She dragged her eyes away from the server and looked at her sister. “You know what alcohol does to me. I’m already going to be on my feet all night. I don’t want to pass out on anyone.” Thank God she could use her hypotension as an excuse.
Mia’s eyes softened. “A few sips to celebrate won’t hurt. And we’ll get you a chair. Besides, everyone here is family. If, God forbid, anything happened, you’d be safe.”
Yeah, right. She was about as safe here as in a pool full of sharks. Still, she smiled. “Okay. One drink.”
She turned back to the man and went to reach for a glass, but he was already passing her one. Her hand grazed his, her gaze traveling up what looked to be a very muscular arm under his black jacket.
Hang on…
She met his stare again, her lips parting slightly. Tyler. Another one of the men on Aidan’s team. Unbidden, her gaze shot around the room, looking for more. Aidan was here. He had to be. It was why he was wearing a tux earlier.
She continued to scan the room until finally, she found him, all million and one feet of him. Not only was he wearing a wig and contacts, he’d also donned a fake mustache like Callum. If circumstances were different, she may have laughed.
A warm hand pressed to her arm very briefly. Her gaze swung back to Tyler. “Enjoy your evening, ma’am.”
Was that his gentle way of telling her not to stare? Definitely. Hell, it was stupid of her to look for even a moment.
Mia linked their arms. “Come on. Let’s go have fun.”
A large screen was mounted on the wall across from them. It was flicking through photos of her. Of both her years at the compound, and the many years out of it.
She swung her gaze back to Mia. Her sister was watching her with a massive grin. “I scrounged up every photo I could find. It helped that Elijah kept a whole bunch at the compound from when we were kids.”
The smile almost slipped from her lips. It took a lot to keep it there. “Thank you. For all of this.”
“Of course.”
They spent the next hour moving around the room. Talking. Laughing. In her case, holding a fake smile that made her cheeks ache.
When they stopped at a tall bar table with Lydia, Olive, and a woman named Jodie, Cassie’s heart thumped. She tried to meet Olive’s gaze, but the woman kept her eyes firmly on a glass of what looked like water in front of her.
“Happy birthday!” Lydia moved around the table and hugged her. Jodie did the same.
Olive remained where she was, offering a tight smile. “Happy birthday.”
She swallowed. “Thank you, ladies. This party is… Well, it’s something else.”
Jodie gushed. “I know. I can’t believe how big this is!” She looked to Mia. “This is your doing, isn’t it? You’ve always had a way of twisting our leader’s arm.”
Argh… she hated it when people called him that. He wasn’t a leader. He was a dictator. An evil one.
Mia blushed. “I mean, I did a lot of the organizing, but it was all Elijah’s idea. He wanted it big, so we made it big.”
“How’d you pull it off so last minute?” Lydia asked.
Mia shrugged. “Elijah spoke to some people. It helped that it was a weekday, so nothing was booked.”
Lydia’s gaze went to Cassie. “And how are you doing?”
She gave a small nod. “After lots of rest, I’m starting to feel like myself again.” Less so due to the rest, and more so due to the tall, dark and handsome man who’d made her feel human for the first time in years.
Cassie scanned the room one more time. “I haven’t seen Damien yet.” She’d been searching for him since arriving, but so far, nothing. Maybe these ladies knew something more?
“I haven’t seen him since I was at the compound on Saturday morning,” Jodie murmured. “Is he still away doing aid work?”
Her heart sank. She gave what she hoped came across as a warm smile. “Elijah said he’d probably be here tonight. I haven’t had a chance to talk to him yet, but when I do, I’ll ask him.” And he’d better materialize the man.
“Aid work?” Lydia made a face, as if to say that didn’t make sense. Yeah, it didn’t make sense to her, either. Elijah hadn’t put much thought into this lie. No one would question him, though. Not to his face.
“Oh, I almost forgot.” Mia pulled out a small card from her purse. “Here’s your birthday card from all of us.”
Cassie gave another tight smile and took the card. God, her cheeks hurt from all these forced smiles. She was about to slip it into her purse when Mia shook her head.
“No, open it now! I want to see what Elijah wrote.”
She almost groaned. She didn’t care about the note. She cared about tugging Olive away and talking to her privately. But she tore open the envelope. Inside was the usual check to a charity. It was the same charity she always chose, for fire victims.
Next, her gaze skittered over the card. Elijah always wrote in them on behalf of everyone. People loved it. That their leader would put time into writing a card and hand-selecting a Bible verse.
Happy thirtieth birthday, my child. May these words fill you with comfort.
“He reached down from on high and took hold of me; he drew me out of deep water.” Samuel 22:17.
Mia leaned over her shoulder and sighed. “Oh, what a beautiful verse. And just what you need.”
Really? She felt like she needed the card as much as she needed a kick in the head. “It’s very thoughtful.”
Suddenly, she caught sight of Aidan walking toward them from her peripheral vision. Not directly toward them. On a path that would take him behind her. When he passed, his arm lightly brushed her back. She swallowed, and her back tingled and heated.
She hadn’t thought she needed him or his team here. But now, she felt so much safer and couldn’t imagine being alone.
She glanced back to the group just as Olive pushed away from the table. “If you’ll excuse me, I just need to go to the ladies’.”
The knot in Cassie’s stomach tightened. “I think I’ll go too. I’ll be back in a second.”
She left her untouched glass and the card on the table and moved through the crowd. Only, while Olive slipped through undisrupted, Cassie was stopped at every step. With touches to her arms. Hugs and “happy birthdays”.
By the time she made it to the bathroom, Olive was already drying her hands.
Quickly, Cassie scanned the stalls—all open and empty. Good.
She stepped beside Olive and lowered her voice. “You haven’t responded to my messages. I wanted to check that we’re still on for tomorrow.”
Olive’s bottom lip disappeared between her lips, and the sinking feeling that had been gnawing at Cassie’s gut expanded.
“I’m sorry, Cassie. I can’t.”
Bile crawled up her throat. She grabbed the woman’s arms. “Olive, please! Don’t pull out on me now. It’s all set up. You just need to sit with me and talk like nothing’s going on. No one will know.”
Olive’s voice lowered and an almost desperate look came over her face. “You were kidnapped, Cass. There are extra eyes on you now. If I meet you, there’ll be extra eyes on me, and we run the risk of being caught. I can’t do that. I already lost my brother—I won’t put my mom at risk.”
“You’ll be saving her. Saving others from losing their brothers. Saving women from becoming Elijah’s victims.”
She shook her head, fear like a dark cloud in her eyes. “I-I can’t.”
“Do it for your brother, Olive. He deserves justice.”
She swallowed, and guilt warred with the fear in her eyes. “I just… I can’t tomorrow. Maybe once all this stuff settles.”
No! She didn’t have time. Aidan would never let her stay longer. And even if he did, she’d drown if she had to keep living this lie. “Olive, it needs to be now.”
The woman stepped back. Her words were so quiet, they almost didn’t reach Cassie’s ears. “I’m sorry.”
She’d just touched the door when Cassie spoke. “If you change your mind, text me.”
There was a glimmer of tears in the woman’s eyes, but she quickly blinked them away. “I won’t, Cass. Not for tomorrow’s meeting.”
Then she was gone, along with Cassie’s hope.
