The Nightingale Trilogy: An Alpha Billionaire Romantic Suspense
Page 31
The only person not frowning – for Maggie looked like she was about to light the place on fire – was Xavier Crow, standing up to applaud both Hawk and Starling as if nothing was amiss. Nala had to remain stiff in her seat so she wouldn’t smack him next.
“I don’t know about the rest of you,” he said, much too jovially, “but I’m starting to feel the mood of the evening. Why don’t we retire?”
Usually the “mood” was a lot less sinister than this. Nala could tell that most of the other couples – especially Joseph and Starling – were interested in doing anything but retiring to a bedroom and leaving the door open.
“Yes, indeed,” Hawk reiterated. She raised a glass of champagne. “Here’s to everyone having a fine time tonight.”
Everyone, including Nala, raised their glasses and chimed that they hoped to have fun too. Where is Vincent? Granted, it hadn’t been long since he went to the bathroom, but Nala wasn’t comfortable being in the middle of this foray without her “Master” to protect her. Lucian winked at her again as he led a giggly Robin out of the salon. Maggie flashed her a stern look as she and Jay left the room as well. The only person Nala willingly made eye contact with was Starling, who put on a brave face and tried to walk as if her ass wasn’t in serious pain. Joseph led her carefully, their low voices discussing what they should do that night. “Don’t touch me down there, please,” was all Nala heard on Starling’s end.
Soon she was left alone with Crow and Hawk, two of her least favorite people. When Xavier saw her sitting alone, he came over, sending nauseous chills down Nala’s spine.
“Why, Nightingale, it appears that your Master is not back from his sojourn. You can stay here and wait for him, if you want, but my butler will also show you to your assigned room.”
When she saw the way both he and Hawk leered at her, Nala was fast to get on her feet. “I’ll wait for him in our room,” she said, channeling her inner Nightingale so she would think of nothing but Vincent and his hands all over her. Don’t actually get horny though. “I have to, um, get ready.”
Wrong thing to say. Both Hawk and Crow looked at her as if she were suddenly a piece of food on a sampler plate. Run, girl! The last thing she wanted was for Hawk to make her the next anal victim while Crow watched. Where the fuck was Vincent?
The butler saved her by offering to escort her down the hall. Nala went immediately, following the spry old man and downing the last of her champagne. She hoped there was more alcohol in the room. She needed it.
Nala went in and instantly tried to close the door as the butler walked away. However, she found out that the door did not close all the way, let alone latch. Making sure the open door policy remains in effect. Nala looked around the room, searching for cameras. She didn’t doubt there were some in there, but did they have sound?
I guess this means Vincent and I really have to do something. Maybe she could get him to bind her to the bed with more artistic, elaborate designs. No actual sex, but by now people might start thinking they both got off on it. They don’t have to know the truth. The truth that Nala kinda did get off on it…
She sat on the edge of the bed, out of sight from the door. Nala opened her satchel and checked the contents. Makeup. Wallet. Notebook and cell phones. The spare key Vincent gave her to his loft. Everything was still there. She wasn’t sure why she was so worried. Who would have had the chance to steal from her so far?
“You here?”
Vincent’s voice wafted into the room. Nala stood, alert, her satchel plopping to the bed behind her. “I’m in here. Hurry up before that crazy lady comes and breaks my ass too.”
He did enter, also trying to get the door to close behind him. Once he realized it didn’t, he turned around with a huff. “You okay?”
“Barely. Wasn’t that awful?’
Vincent sat next to her on the bed, readjusting the buttons on his jacket. “It wasn’t pleasant. Definitely not arousing.”
“Blech.” Nala squished her legs together for emphasis. “Did you have fun in the bathroom? Thanks for getting up and leaving me there with that mess. I was almost afraid they would pick me next for mandatory volunteerism.”
“I didn’t go to the bathroom. That’s what I told them.”
“Then…?”
He leaned in, champagne-laden breath touching Nala’s ear. “I went looking for Crow’s office. I found it. Only a few doors down from here. Looks like a standard lock, which is low-key for a man of his standing. Here.” Vincent plucked a pin from Nala’s hair. It happened to be the pin holding some of her hair back, so now it fell, obscuring her face and making it difficult to see Vincent right next to her. “I’m sure there are cameras in there, but if it’s like any other watched room, they probably focus on the center. Stick to the sides.”
“If I’m caught?” Nala held her pin between her fingers.
“Tell them you got lost and thought that was the salon.”
“Wow. Nobody is going to believe that.”
“I don’t know what else to tell you, Nala. This is one of our only chances. You want to go find evidence or not?”
When Nala fantasized about this moment, she always imagined her busting down the door and seeing a file folder on Crow’s desk labeled, “People I Had Killed.” This was different. It was real, and it wasn’t anything like her fantasy. Not the fantasy where Nala Nazarov was like those hot Russian spies every man her age thought she should be. Not even the fantasy where the Nightingale in her head could get her way with a bat of the eyelashes. What would happen if Hawk caught me? Crow would surely start making the rounds later, looking for couples to spy on as they did their thing.
“I want to go. I’ll be quick. I even brought these.” She pulled out the final items of her satchel – two leather gloves she picked up on her earlier shopping spree. “When I get back, Nightingale wants a kiss.”
“Do a good job and not get caught, and she might get more than a kiss.”
Nala sat back. “What are you saying?”
“You know what I mean.” Vincent affectionately pulled her hair back from her face, letting his hand cup one of her cheeks. “I don’t want you to get caught… not just because it would incriminate me too, but because I don’t want you in too much danger. I don’t want you in any danger, to tell you the truth, but it can’t be avoided. Do a good job and get out of there. Use the camera on your phone to take pictures of evidence, if you find any, and if you don’t… well, we tried.”
Nala was a fool if she thought she could revel in this moment. Vincent, concerned for her safety but still willing to let her go out and do what she set out to do. Vincent, touching her as if she were the most precious thing in his life. What if I am? Nala couldn’t dwell on that. She needed to leave now.
She kissed Vincent, her head turning so she could taste the whole of his lips. He froze beneath her touch before gradually lifting his hand and stroking the side of her head. He really does care about me. This man with his guarded heart, his inability to let go and move on… he was graciously accepting her tender kiss and not expecting anything more in the moment.
Nala didn’t want to break away from him. She wished they were back in his loft, where she could take her time exploring this moment between them. Don’t fall in love. That was the most dangerous thing that Nala could not afford to do. Falling in love with Vincent was more dangerous than attempting to break into Xavier Crow’s office.
As Nala was about to end their kiss, however, the bedroom door flung open and admitted two of the least – okay, most – likely people.
No, it wasn’t Crow and Hawk, thank God, but it wasn’t much better. Because how did one react to two supposed friends stumbling in, tipsy off their asses, and declaring it was “group fun time?”
Both Nala and Vincent stared before them, still wrapped in each other’s arms. Good thing, too, because Robin was halfway to falling over already. Lucian wasn’t faring much better himself.
Oh my God.
Chapter 9
> A whole bottle of champagne landed on the bed. Thankfully, it was unopened, but Nala felt compelled to jump off the bed anyway.
“It’s a good thing we… good thing we didn’t drink anymore…” Robin sat in Nala’s place, holding out her arms as if she couldn’t protect her balance any other way. Lucian wasn’t far behind her, flopping down near the pillows and jostling the whole damn thing. “Because I want this to be awesome.”
Nala stood near the wall, keeping her satchel close to her chest. “What are you guys doing here?” That was all Nala, not Nightingale – because Nightingale knew damn well what “group fun” meant. They want to have group sex. I can’t believe this. No wait, yes I can believe it. That sort of kinky shit was right up Lucian and Robin’s perverted alley.
“This bed is way more comfortable than the one we got,” Lucian revealed. “That one is all squeaky. This one is nice and sturdy.” He patted it to reiterate his point. “You’re a lucky guy, Lane.” Lucian’s attempt to put his hand on Vincent’s shoulder ended with him landing on his stomach in the middle of the bed. I can smell the alcohol over here. How plastered are they? Robin she could see being a lightweight. Lucian, on the other hand, either set a record for a guy his size or had nearly drank Crow out of his home.
“Hi.” Robin attempted to climb in Vincent’s lap, but was met with a firm hand against the shoulders. “Wow, you smell good, Master Vincent. Doesn’t… doesn’t he smell good, Lucian?”
“Like roses.”
Nala briefly met Vincent’s eyes from across the room. “Don’t you dare,” Vincent’s said. “Don’t you dare leave me with these crazy people.”
“Um, I gotta go to the bathroom first,” Nala announced, shuffling toward the door. “Little girl business. You three go ahead and get started!”
She ducked out of the room before Vincent could otherwise forbid her.
Uh oh. Nala stood in the hallway, alone, looking back and forth for anyone who might be watching her in turn. Yet not even the butler was there, although she did hear the occasional voice of a reveler somewhere in the hall. Luckily, none of them were Hawk or Crow.
Vincent had told her that the office was a few doors down. Well, she still had her satchel and the pin in her possession. There was no reason for her to not make a go of it, assuming she could find the office.
Look for a room closed all the way and with a normal looking lock. If pressed, she could say she was looking for the bathroom around there. Nala started to shuffle, trying to be quiet, but also convinced that the echo of her heartbeat could be heard from Timbuktu.
She looked all around, stopping whenever she heard a loud voice pounding through the hall. With so many doors ajar, it wasn’t hard to hear someone get spanked or someone else cry out in pleasure. She was pretty sure, as she passed one such bedroom, that she witnessed Quail being stripped of her clothes – again – and pulled upside down onto the nearest bed. Someone was about to get very lucky.
Nala shot her eyes away and continued her search. She was reaching the end of the hall. Had she gone the wrong way and Vincent meant the other direction?
As she thought that, she came upon the final door before another one marked RESTROOM on a gold plaque. No wonder Vincent had been able to find the office so easily. As Nala searched, she realized that it was the only unmarked door closed all the way. It also had a key-lock that was prime for picking.
Nala forced herself against the hall wall. She looked behind her again, making sure the coast was clear before jamming her hair pin into the lock and jostling it about.
What the fuck was she doing? She had no idea how to break a lock! All she knew came from the movies. Spies were able to put in hairpins, fingernails, pretty much anything and break into a room with nary a sweat broken in turn. Except this was Nala. This was real life. She couldn’t jam a hairpin into a key lock, let alone the lock to a billionaire’s primary office, and…
Something clicked. Nala turned the handle and watched the door miraculously open, admitting her without a second thought. Oh, shit!
She looked around again, convinced that at any moment the police would come storming down the hall and arrest her for breaking and entering. That was the kind of kinky shit she really wasn’t into. She also doubted that Vincent liked the gruff handcuffs as opposed to his silky ropes.
When she was sure that nobody had seen her, Nala stepped in, keeping to the wall. The lights were off, which was good for cloaking her – although any security cameras were probably night vision. Regardless, Nala stayed close to the wall, pulling out her cell phone and using it as a light to see her way around the office.
It wasn’t that big. In fact, it was almost sparser than Vincent’s downtown office. This doesn’t look right… Had Vincent gotten it wrong and this wasn’t Crow’s main office at all? Nala thought it was suspicious that such a place was so close to the happenings of a party. Wouldn’t he keep that far out of the way from where anyone may be snooping around? Like her, for one.
What am I doing? Her cell phone and the light coming through the window picked up few things, mostly furniture and decorations on the wall. Still life paintings. Race dog photos. Old pictures from Crow’s childhood and before even that.
Nala was about to turn and rummage through the desk when she came upon a series of recent photographs that piqued her interest. Mostly because the first photo was of Robin and Lucian, embracing as they smiled for a more candid than not photo. Since Robin was wearing a glittery red mask, Nala had to assume that it was taken at an Aviary party. Perhaps one hosted here in Crow’s house.
There were others. Every couple, including one of Maggie and Jay looking more stoic than usual, hung on the wall wearing sexy outfits and the masks of The Aviary. Little printouts beneath each photo held their names. Not the women’s real names, of course, but their code names as plain as day.
What intrigued Nala the most, however, were the older photos of couples no longer in the club. There were only three of them. One, called “Lewis and Bluejay,” featured a man with tan skin and an Asian woman vying for Maggie’s stoic title. Another, of two red-heads, was called “Othello and Sparrow.” The last photo was missing, but the tag remained, too ominous to bear.
“Xavier and Raven.”
Whoever Raven was, it certainly wasn’t Hawk, and she must have once been Crow’s partner in the Aviary, perhaps when he founded it over a year ago. Nala hurried to punch these names into her notes before moving on. There was one last space on the wall for a new couple. No doubt Crow would soon be asking for Vincent and Nala’s photo to hang on his wall of deviants.
Nala moved away from the wall, focusing on the desk behind her. It was all but empty, with only a leather office chair and a comfortable pad for writing longhand on. An ink well was filled, and plenty of pens stuffed together into a simple box. There wasn’t even a computer to snoop on. Nala put on her gloves, however, and started opening any drawer that didn’t have a pesky combination lock on it.
Most of them were empty, aside from some candies and extra legal pads that had hardly any scribbles on them. Nala grumbled, dropping her satchel and hurrying to pick it back up again.
She was about to give up and get out of there when she found a few printout papers in the bottom drawer. At first they weren’t anything out of the ordinary – a few business receipts from a week ago that Crow probably had yet to file with his other receipts. Nala wished there was something incriminatory, but the best she found toward the top was one receipt for chauffeur services around downtown Portland.
Dinner receipts. Tech receipts. Even his phone receipt. Nothing was out of the ordinary. Not until Nala unearthed one piece of paper that had two familiar names on it.
RE: Othello and Sparrow.
Funds transfer status is confirmed. $5,000,000 has been cleared from primary account ending in x679 and deposited into account ending in x4535. Awaiting further orders. Please advise. New target location: Hamburg, Germany.
RE: RE: Othello and Sparrow.
Nala didn’t understand any of this, but it sounded shady as fuck, so she snapped a picture with her phone and hurried to close the door.
Now she had to get out and hope nobody could see her coming out of the office. She pressed her ear to the door, listening for footsteps or voices in the hall. When she was fairly confident that everything was clear, Nala slowly opened the door and stared into the bright lights of the hallway.
When she didn’t see anyone, she opened the door wide enough to let her slip through and was sure to close it behind her. She kept close to the wall until she was near Quail and Sebastian’s room again.
“Fuck me, sweetheart, you have the best pussy in Portland.”
Nala hurried past their door and veered into the middle of the hall…
…And right into Xavier Crow as he emerged from her and Vincent’s room.
“Nightingale!” he greeted, almost relieved. “I was asking Vincent where you were, since I noticed he was all alone in there.”
Nala’s heart beat so furiously that she worried it would pop out of her chest. “I, uh, was in the bathroom.” She pointed behind her.
“That’s what Vincent said. Hope everything is fine.”
“Yeah. Things are fine.”
He continued to stare at her, as if attempting to peer into her soul and read the lies painted upon it. I haven’t done anything, I swear! That was the message she broadcasted from her brain, hoping someone as business shrewd as Xavier could pick up on it.
“Do take care, dear Nightingale. Please excuse me. I must tend to something.”
She let him pass, bowing her head so she wouldn’t have to look at him. Don’t go in your office. Don’t go in… Sure enough, Crow pulled a key out of his pants and opened the office door before going inside.