by Amelia Wilde
I come out onto the border of the cold and take their hands. “Come in. Come inside.” Cash allows himself to be pulled inside. Gerard closes out the night and steps away while I kiss their cheeks. “Thank you, Daddy. I’m so glad you’re here. Both of you.”
They’re in suits and overcoats, dressed for the party, but my dad stops. “If you want us to leave, Haley—”
“I don’t.”
“I’m sorry.” His heartbreak shines in his voice, but he doesn’t waver. “I’m sorry for so many things, Haley, but I shouldn’t have agreed to help Caroline, no matter what she did to me. I shouldn’t have tried to get you to stay home. I don’t blame you if you can’t forgive me.”
“I’m sorry too, Hales.” Cash’s cheeks are an ashamed red, and I can’t stand it.
I pull them both into my arms, as much as I can. “No more apologies. Okay? You’re my family. You’ll always be my family. I want you in my life, and I want you at my engagement party and at everything else. All of that’s in the past.”
My dad tilts my face up so he can see my eyes. “You’re happy here? You love him?”
He’s never judged me. Not once. And there’s no judgment in his voice now. “I love him so much.” I let him see me smile. Let him see my happiness. “He’s the only man I’ll ever want.”
He grins. “Then you’ve made the perfect choice. I’m so happy for you, sweetheart.”
“Me too.” Cash sticks his hands in his pockets. “I mean it.” He leans in to hug me. Then clears his throat. “Is everything settled, then? With Caroline? With the cops?”
“Yes. It’s all okay now.”
Another knock at the door, and Gerard reappears to open it.
My sister comes in alone, her eyes huge, looking over everything in the foyer. Her face lights up when she sees me. “Hey, Haley. Am I late?”
“You’re early. I wanted you all here early. Where’s Jeremy?”
She shakes her head. “I came alone. He didn’t want to come.” Petra shakes her head. “I’m sorry, but nevermind about him. You look gorgeous.”
My heart squeezes. It’s a big deal for Petra to come against the wishes of her husband. He won’t approve, but she came anyway. For me. For family. “Thank you,” I say, my voice hushed.
“Of course. This is a beautiful house.” A shy smile. “I’d love to see it, if we have time.”
We do have time. It feels good to show my family around my home. It feels better to have Petra ooh and aah over the decorations and have my dad appreciate the den and have Cash joke about the size of the kitchen.
I have a moment of nervousness when we arrive back at the foyer and find Leo waiting there with Eva and Daphne. Leo’s shaking his head, breathtaking in all his gorgeous black. Daphne’s laughing at him. They’ve made peace, for now, about her stalker. About the collector.
Eva could be a glamorous runway model, also in black.
Leo sees me first. I’ll never get used to the way his face changes when I walk into a room. Sometimes his expression sharpens with want, and sometimes it softens with relief, but his eyes always, always burn with love. My nervousness feels ridiculous now. I lead my family to him and pull him to my side, where I want him. Where I always want him. “Leo, you’ve met my dad and Cash before, but I thought we could start over. This is my dad, Phillip. My brother, Cash. And my sister, Petra. Family, this is my Leo.”
He shakes their hands like the prince that he is.
“Leo, we have to talk,” my dad says. “Have your lawyers looked over the paperwork yet? My inventions are languishing. I always knew you could see the vision.”
“Dad,” I say, scandalized. “I can’t believe you.”
Leo laughs. “He’s right, Haley. We’ll talk after the party, him and I.”
I shake my head, but I won’t stand in their way. The truth is that Leo does have the money. And the vision. And my father’s inventions could change the world. It’s not lost on me that my dad saw Leo for what he was even before I did. Focused, he said. It was the truth.
Leo introduces Eva and Daphne to my family, and then Lucian barges in with Elaine and they’re the first of the many, many guests who arrive to celebrate our engagement.
I’ve never seen so many people in his house before. Leo and I stand at the door, greeting person after person in beautiful clothes and smiles that seem real enough to trust, at least for tonight. The rest of his siblings arrive.
His parents arrive.
There’s one frosty moment when they step in the door, but Leo’s presence overwhelms it. He shakes his father’s hand. He kisses his mother’s cheek. He introduces me to them as his fiancée, and then he sends them to the party. I only realize afterward that he’s kept me slightly behind him the entire time.
More people are coming, but Leo puts his hand on the small of my back and pulls me in close. “We’re supposed to make an entrance now,” he murmurs into my ear.
“We could run away instead. We could hide in the bedroom.”
He laughs. “My sisters would never stand for it.” Leo catches my hand in his and kisses the loop of thread he put there after he asked me to marry him. “Come, darling. Let’s go to the party.”
Gerard waits at the entrance to the ballroom. The sound of the party flows out into the hall and over us. Old nerves make me squeeze Leo’s hand harder.
He clears his throat. “It’s not too fancy, understand? Not like the Constantine parties.”
The doors open to let us in. I’m not planning to cry, not at all, but the tears spill over immediately, ruining the makeup I spent so long on. “It’s perfect.”
It’s not like the Constantine parties. It’s better. Leo is warm and solid at my side, and the ballroom is breathtaking. Eva and Daphne have themed it in black and white and pink and gold and everything is delicate and strong under a candlelit, starlit glow.
And the windows—
The giant picture windows look out over a courtyard that is illuminated with falling stars. Small lights over Leo’s bench and his tree and everywhere. The middle panes of the window, which were covered when he brought me here before, are on display. It’s a larger version of the stained-glass door leading to his courtyard. A brilliant rose, set against the night and glowing with the light from our party. It’s a vision, and it serves as the backdrop for another vision, which is a ballroom full of beautiful people in dark tuxedos and jewel-toned gowns who burst into applause and cheers at our presence.
The music that had been quietly running underneath all the conversation gets louder, and Leo takes my hand. “About the dancing,” he says.
I freeze. “We are not dancing in front of all these people.”
“It was Eva’s idea, and everyone’s looking at us.” There’s laughter in his eyes, and I can’t believe it. I can’t believe he would agree to this like an easygoing person.
“And you’re just going to go along with it?”
Leo shrugs. “I want to dance with you. I don’t care who sees.”
He doesn’t give me any more time to argue. Like always, Leo takes charge. And it doesn’t matter that I’ve never had dancing lessons like my Constantine cousins. He makes a frame with his body and I briefly float out of mine to see him move me around the ballroom in front of glimmering stained glass.
He’s stunning. He’s mine. And together we’re the center of this party. When he spins me off to the side of the ballroom, the volume of the party crests. But we don’t disappear into it. Leo introduces me to person after person. Everyone wants to see us. To see me. It’s a good feeling, but it’s not the best one. The best one is looking at him. I don’t know why I wished so hard to be the center of attention at a party when what I want more than anything is to be able to stare at him. Maybe that makes me lovesick.
I’m okay with it.
Someone calls his name a while into the party. Leo leaves me by a standing table near the stained-glass window with a kiss on the temple and a promise to be back before I know it.
Eva’s had the window backlit for the occasion. The colors fall over the white tablecloth and I trace them with a fingertip while I sip champagne. It’s the first chance I’ve had to really look at the party.
It brings tears to my eyes. There’s my dad, talking animatedly with Eva. Leo’s parents hold court in one corner of the room. They don’t look thrilled, exactly, but both of them wear small, party-appropriate smiles. Cash stands with one of the Constantine cousins, who frankly looks shocked that the party is so nice. Petra has found two other women to talk to. Her face is pink, the corners of her lips lifting in a smile I know means she’s genuinely pleased.
“You’re all alone.” Daphne abandons her empty champagne glass on the table, and it’s instantly whisked away by a server. “You don’t feel nervous, do you? Because of all the Morellis?”
“No, they’ll be my family, soon. I’m people-watching.”
She makes a humming sound and turns to face the crowd, her dark gaze going over the guests in their finery, the smiles, the glittering jewels and glasses of champagne.
“It’s the best part of any party, don’t you think?”
She laughs, turning to get another champagne flute from a tray flashing by in a uniformed waiter’s hands. “Winston Constantine is here.”
“What? Where?”
Daphne points him out with a nod. I can’t place him here. Can’t believe he’s here. He puts a card into a basket set up in a floral arrangement near the door. The floral arrangement is accompanied by a framed photo of Leo and me. Daphne took it at my birthday party. We’re both in the glow of the candles from my cake, and I look beside myself with happiness, cheeks pink, hands clasped at my collarbone, leaning into Leo. I’m beaming at the cake with stars in my eyes. Leo’s looking at me. My joy reflects in his face, in his eyes, in his grin.
Winston looks at the photo for a long moment, then continues into the ballroom, his shoulders relaxed. He nods at Cash. Turns. Leo’s there, crossing nearby, and I stop breathing.
A confrontation between the two of them would be a disaster.
But neither man moves to attack the other. They size each other up for the longest heartbeat of my life. And then Winston speaks. His hands come up in front of him, a quick gesture that says I tried. Leo nods once. Twice. I’m not sure which one of them offers his hand to shake first. But they do, Winston leaning in to say one more thing. Leo replies, and then they both continue on like they haven’t just sidestepped a disaster.
“Okay,” says Daphne. “That’s not how I thought it would go.”
I finally exhale. Things will never be fully resolved between the Morellis and the Constantines. There’s too much pain in the past. But tonight, at least, for my engagement party, no one has killed each other. No one has even thrown a punch. And Winston and Leo shaking hands?
A tenuous, unprecedented peace.
I lose myself in the glow of the party. The shine of fairy lights on Eva’s dress. Leo’s parents’ faces in candlelight. They all have his dad’s dark hair, but there’s more of his mother in their features than I imagined. The delicate fall of white and gold fabric. The way white is nothing without the contrast of black. The way gold shines best when there’s night behind it.
“Whoa.” Daphne’s eyes go wide. “Which Constantine cousin is that?”
I follow her eyes to the opposite side of the ballroom, and it’s obvious who she’s talking about. The man stands inside the doorway, dressed in impeccable black and very tall. He’s blond and beautiful the way a knife is beautiful. Sharp enough to cut. There’s something familiar about his features, but something’s off. Something is wrong.
And then there’s the dog.
A gorgeous black dog, huge and lean, waits at his side with a stillness that makes me think it’s a service dog of some kind. Meticulously trained at least. People are starting to notice the man. People are starting to notice the dog. A shiver drags a fingernail down my spine.
“He’s not a Constantine,” I tell Daphne.
“He looks like one. Blonde. Tall.” She grins. “Handsome.”
“Believe me. I’ve been to Constantine parties since I was a baby. He’s a stranger.”
He’s definitely not a Constantine, but he’s interesting nonetheless. There’s something arresting about him. A magnetic pull that everyone in the room feels. Leo has noticed him, too. He approaches the man and his dog with an expression of bemused surprise. A flicker of uncertainty. A flicker of worry. Then they speak to each other, and Leo’s shoulders relax.
“This night is so weird,” Daphne says. “But it’s good, don’t you think?”
“It’s the best night.” Someone calls to Daphne. It’s one of the women Petra was talking to. All three women approach the table in a flutter of gowns and laughter.
When I resurface from the conversation, Leo’s gone.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Haley
I wait twenty minutes before I go looking for Leo. It’s harder to extract myself from the party than I thought it would be. When it’s your own engagement party, it turns out, absolutely everyone wants to talk to you. It’s warm in the ballroom. Crowded.
It can be slightly overwhelming, being so happy. And so loved.
Getting into the hallway is a sweet relief. The lights are lower here, the temperature cooler. I follow the decorations down the hall and around the corner.
Leo’s in his office. Light angles out the door. More than firelight, less than the big recessed ceiling fixture that Leo rarely turns on. His door was closed earlier for the party. Eva and Daphne made several spaces for guests to go if they needed a break from the ballroom—five or six different rooms, each re-staged for the occasion. Leo swore he didn’t care who saw his furniture. Eva ignored him. “I don’t like to give out more information than I have to,” she told me.
I move toward the half-open door. My heart runs ahead. It’s not like Leo to leave me, so if he has, it must be for something important.
At his office door, I shift my position to see in.
That breathless, shimmering sensation sweeps down over me, stronger than I’ve ever felt it. Goose bumps rush from my fingertips to the tops of my shoulders. I’m simultaneously desperate to understand what’s happening and secure in the knowledge that it’s okay. That I’ll know soon enough.
Leo leans against his desk, one foot crossed over the other. Arms folded below his chest. Head bowed. One small lamp burns in the corner of the room, but otherwise only firelight illuminates him. He was standing just this way when I came back to him the first time. I didn’t know what he was doing until he made the sign of the cross. I didn’t understand. Maybe I still don’t. Maybe understanding is overrated. Maybe there’s something to be said for faith.
No Ronan now, tapping his gun against his jeans and waiting to shoot. The man from the party sits in one of the chairs by the fire, facing Leo. He’s turned on an angle to the door. I can’t quite see his face, only glimpses of his profile. He strokes the dog’s head absently. Affectionately. I’ve never seen another person so at ease in Leo’s office.
I’m not looking in on an uncomfortable silence. I’m looking in on a sanctuary.
Leo makes the sign of the cross, lets out a breath, and opens his eyes.
“Catholic?” the man says. His voice is not like Leo’s. It reminds me of ice under a dark sky.
“What gave it away?” Leo says.
The man laughs, and a chill works over my spine. “I visited a Catholic church with my brothers not long ago. It seemed to me that all the ceremony and ritual had become part of the stone.”
“I can’t imagine you sitting through Mass.”
“We did not. We were looking for a woman’s grave.”
“Did you find it?”
“Yes.”
A silence falls, broken by a quiet tapping at the window. Leo glances toward the bird. “Go away, busybody.” Then he turns back to the fire, to the man. “How long now?”
“Fifteen minutes. We should wa
it another five to be sure.”
A hand on my elbow very nearly startles me into screaming, but I don’t. It’s Gerard who’s come looking. He escorts me away from Leo’s office. “You’re missed at the party.”
“I’ll go back,” I say quickly. “But what—who—”
“A friend of Leo’s. Powerful in another part of the country.”
“Perhaps I should go in. Leo might need me.”
“He’ll be all right,” Gerard says, and I believe him. Enough to go back to the party. People miss Leo, too, but we’re reaching the point of the night when everyone is delighted and slightly tipsy, and no one questions my excuses. I keep an eye on his office window. The light coming through the pane. I can see the round, feathered shape of the bird in the corner. I lose myself in conversation, in congratulations, for as long as I can stand.
It’s not very long.
This time, I slip away without drawing much attention to myself. I’m almost at Leo’s office when I see him in the foyer—the man with his dog. Gerard hands him a black overcoat that reminds me of Leo’s. His dog sits at his feet as he puts it on. Gerard speaks to him. He answers. And then he looks at me over Gerard’s head.
Even from this distance, I know what’s different about him. It’s his eyes.
He inclines his head to me, his smile like a cut diamond, and then he steps away into the shadows.
Leo’s office seems even larger now. I go in and close the door behind me.
He sits in a chair by the fire, staring into the flames, and I don’t know what it is, but something’s wrong. Something is very wrong. Leo looks as shaken as he did when I put myself between him and Ronan’s gun. Rattled to the core. And something more. I don’t know what. And I have to know. I never should have hovered outside the door. Never should have allowed myself to go back to the party.
I go to him and sink down into a cloud of expensive fabric at his feet, between his knees. Pressing close. Goose bumps run riot up my arms, all the way to the back of my neck. Leo takes my face in his hands, using the pads of both his thumbs to memorize me there. He looks into my eyes and his own are so dark, the gold so bright, my heart splinters. “What happened? Who was that man? Leo, please, tell me.”
