Dirty Halo Read online

  Chapter Two

  Suddenly, it’s all too much.

  The press of the crowd, the dull roar of the television, the weight of my unknown future resting sharply on the blades of my shoulders. I can’t catch a breath, can’t hear anything over the rising tide of panic roaring between my ears.

  Owen is saying something to me; I can see his mouth moving, but none of his hushed syllables permeate. I mutter something about needing air and shove out of his grip, beelining for the front exit. He’s close on my heels as we cut a path through the dense crowd. No one seems to know where to look or what to say. They are paralyzed, unable to process the news that their kingdom has crumbled, staring dazedly at the televisions as though they’re trapped in a nightmare from which they’ll wake at any moment.

  The bouncer who checks IDs at the front door barely spares me a glance as I barrel out into the crisp October night. I take a few halting strides until I reach the side of the brick building, where an abandoned cobblestone alley offers a modicum of privacy.

  I focus on the things I can wrap my spinning mind around. The feel of cool brick pressed against my forehead. The half-moons of my fingernails cutting into my tight-clenched palms. The breath inside my lungs, expanding and emptying, emptying and expanding. An endless vacuum.

  After a few moments, I sense Owen’s presence at my back. He doesn’t touch me, doesn’t say a word. He simply stands there, offering silent comfort. Just as he has through every skinned knee and failed grade, bad date and broken heart.

  My best friend.

  “Ems…”

  “I’m fine,” I whisper in a choked voice. “Totally fine.”

  “But—”

  “No!”

  Whirling around to face him, I plant my hands on my hips and fix him with a severe glare. At five-foot-two, I’m hardly an intimidating figure — Owen towers at least a foot above me — but height is the least of my problems if I look even half as ragged on the outside as I feel on the inside. My dyed curls cascade around my shoulders in a messy lavender curtain. My chest heaves against the fitted crop top, exposing a pale sliver of stomach muscle with each labored breath. My mini-skirt is riding high on my thighs, which are tensed from the urge to bolt. My green eyes are a bit too wide, too wild, as they glare up into his.

  In other words, I’m a hot mess.

  Somehow, he doesn’t laugh at me. In fact, as he takes in all my tattered edges, his expression is so solemn, he’s damn near unrecognizable.

  “Like it or not, Ems… you aren’t fine,” he says gently. “And how could you be? This is your family.”

  “No,” I repeat, quieter this time.

  “You might be able to convince everyone else in that bar that this doesn’t affect you. Hell, you might even convince yourself, if you try hard enough.” His eyes burn into mine. “But you can’t pretend with me. I know you too well.”

  “I don’t want to talk about this anymore, Owen,” I say thickly, wondering why the air suddenly feels so heavy. “Those people aren’t my family. They never have been. They never wanted to be.”

  Owen sighs. “Ems…”

  “Why should the death of some monarch matter more to me than it does anyone else in that bar? Why should I grieve people who never wanted me?” My voice quivers pathetically but I push onward, determined to get the words out. To expunge them from my body like deadly poison. “Why would I mourn people who threw me and my mom aside like dirt?”

  “Emilia.”

  There’s a heartbreaking crack right down the center of his voice. He takes a step toward me, closing a shade of the space separating my body from his. His hand lifts from his side carefully — so achingly carefully — and with a tenderness that makes my breath catch, he cups my face. His callused thumb caresses my cheekbone and I suck in a sharp breath at the foreign sensation that small, simple touch sends spiraling through me.

  “Emilia,” he repeats lowly, and there’s something new in his voice. Something I’ve never heard before, in all the years I’ve known him. A mix of determination and desperation and…

  Desire?

  Frozen in place, all I can do is watch as he shifts toward me, ever so handsome in the pale moonlight. A blond lock of hair falls across his forehead as he leans down to close the full foot of space between our faces. I don’t have time to wonder whether the world has turned upside down, whether I’m hallucinating, whether my best friend is about to bring his lips to mine and change everything between us… because before he can close those final few inches…

  Screeeeeech!

  The jarring squeal of rubber on asphalt fractures the night sky, bringing reality crashing down around us. We spring apart, both our heads whipping toward the sound, and watch as two black SUVs careen up onto the sidewalk in front of Hennessy’s.

  Instinctively, Owen shoves me behind him, acting as my very own human shield as the mammoth vehicles slam to a halt at the mouth of the alley. Their headlights blind us in a halo so bright, I lift my arm to shield my eyes from the glare. I hear the creak of car doors opening, the swift crunch of boots against cobblestone, but my stinging retinas can make out only silhouettes of the men closing in on us, blocking any chance of escape.

  What. The. Fuck.

  Owen tries to shove me deeper into the alley, but there’s nowhere to go. My back hits a brick wall, far too tall to scale.

  Whoever these guys are, they are not fucking around. They move with methodical precision — a highly trained unit, not uttering a single word as they flank us on all sides. There are four of them, dressed in nondescript black suits. Their cold, assessing eyes scan us up and down, even as their peripherals monitor the perimeter for unseen threats. I lose my breath when I see the handguns strapped to their hip holsters.

  For a split second, I think they’re actually going to kill us in cold blood, our bodies left to rot in this forgotten alleyway like garbage, but they make no moves to take out their weapons. Still, I’d be lying if I said my heart wasn’t pounding double-speed inside my chest. And though Owen’s shoulders appear steady, I can feel the rapid intake of his breath through the thin fabric of his shirt.

  He’s scared, too.

  I peer around his shoulder, trying to get a better look at the men. They don’t offer any identification or explanation for their sudden appearance. As much as I’d like to believe otherwise, I know in the marrow of my bones that they aren’t here for Owen.

  They’re here for me.

  My frantic thoughts trip over each other as they fight for position at the forefront of my mind.

  But who sent them?

  Friend? Foe? Or… god forbid… father?

  “Emilia Lancaster,” the nearest suit says in a dead voice.

  I flinch. I’ve been going as Emilia Lennox for so long, I almost forgot what the name on my birth certificate says.

  Almost.

  “We need you to come with us.” The man’s voice is as empty as his stare. “Immediately.”

  I try to speak, but I can’t get more than a squeak of air past my numb lips.

  “Not a fucking chance,” Owen growls on my behalf, pressing me tighter against the brick. His back muscles flex with tension. “She’s not going anywhere with you.”

  The suit places a hand on his holster — a clear threat. When he speaks again, his words are punctuated by tiny droplets of spittle as he enunciates each word with lethal clarity.

  “Last warning. Step. Away. From. The. Girl.”

  Owen doesn’t move a single inch. “Go. Fuck. Yourself.”

  The man moves so fast, he’s practically a blur. I don’t see him pull the gun from his holster, but I do hear the awful thud it makes as it cracks down against Owen’s head with enough force to send him staggering off balance. A scream tears out of my throat as I watch my best friend crumple to the cobblestone, his hands pressed over the gaping wound on his temple. Blood flows quickly between his fingers, spattering the stones like red rain.

  “Owen!”

  Two suits step
over him like a piece of rubbish and advance on me. Their companions look on impassively as four iron-clad hands clamp over my biceps. I try to keep my eyes on Owen, try to thrash out of their steely grip as they haul me into the glaring headlight beams like a bug toward a zapper-trap, but it’s no use. They’re too strong.

  Within seconds, I’m manhandled into the backseat, my head shoved down to avoid banging the roof like a criminal being loaded into a cop car. The last thing I hear before the door slams shut behind me is Owen’s voice, clogged with pain and panic, ringing out into the night.

  “Emilia!”

  * * *

  Owen’s scream echoes in my ears long after we jolt off the sidewalk and race down the street, the engine roaring like a wild thing beneath the hood. I’m alone in the backseat. I can’t see much of anything with the partition up, closing me off from the suits in the front.

  Attempting not to panic — oh, who the fuck am I kidding, I’m totally panicking — I try the door handles, but they’re locked tight. Likewise for the dark-tinted windows. I look around for my purse and my cellphone… before realizing I left them sitting on a barstool in Hennessy’s, where they’re of absolutely no use to me.

  Perfect.

  My search beneath the seats turns up empty as well. No convenient tire irons left out for me to use as a weapon, no pointy objects I can jam into a bad guy’s eyes given the opportunity. I’m officially on my own.

  I press my eyes up against the glass, trying to see outward, but there’s only darkness as we hurtle through the night to destinations unknown.

  “Let me out of here!” I scream, banging my fists against the partition. “Are you insane?! This is kidnapping!”

  There’s no response from the other side of the wall.

  “I’ll call the police!”

  I cease banging to listen, but there’s nothing. Not even the faintest indication they’ve heard me. The car turns with a sharp screech of tires, and I go flying across the leather seats. My elbow smacks into the glass window with enough force to leave a mark. Blinking tears from my eyes, I rub my funny bone and force myself to fasten my seatbelt. No use dying before they have a chance to murder me.

  We drive for about twenty minutes before I feel the brakes engage. When the engine shuts off, I un-click my belt and go perfectly still, waiting for the moment my door will open, waiting for them to drag me out of the SUV to certain death…

  A minute passes in silence. Then another. My bare knees bounce up and down with tension as I wait. And wait. And wait. Finally, I hear raised voices outside. Not the suits — I can’t imagine them letting their steely composure slip even for an instant — but someone else, yelling incoherently as he’s led toward the vehicle, the slurred outrage in his voice growing louder as they approach.

  Another captive?

  A moment later, my suspicions are confirmed when the opposite door jerks open. I lurch forward, thinking I might squirm my way out, but there’s nowhere to go. My exit point is blocked by a wall of brawn in tailored black wool. The useless scream for help dies in my throat. All I can do is watch, stunned, as a boy is shoved into the backseat along with me.

  Correction: not a boy.

  A man.

  A highly inebriated man, judging by the scent of bourbon emanating from his pores. I think my BAC increases, just breathing around him. Or maybe that intoxicated feeling is simply a byproduct of staring at his face because, dear god, even in the dim light of the car I can see how insanely attractive this guy is. I don’t know what he’s doing here with me, but he looks like he just walked off the set of a movie.

  Fifty Shades of Great-Now-My-Panties-Are-Wet.

  In his mid to late twenties, he’s solid muscle in crisp white button down and charcoal dress pants, with the most chiseled features I’ve ever seen outside an airbrushed magazine spread or filtered Instagram feed. His eyes are glazed with liquor and lust, ringed by a thick set of lashes any girl would kill for. His cheekbones are so sharp they’d probably cut your heart clean in two if you were ever stupid enough to get too close.

  Hell, he might as well be holding up a neon sign that says ABANDON ALL HOPE, YE WHO ENTER HERE. It would be a fairer warning for those poor souls attempting to guard their hearts — and ovaries — around him.

  Get it together, Emilia.

  Tearing my focus from the striking stranger, I try to catch the eyes of one of our suit-wearing kidnappers. I’m beyond pissed at myself for getting so distracted, I didn’t scream for help when I had the chance.

  “Wait!” I yell, locking eyes with one of the gun-toting guards. “Please—”

  Before I can finish my plea, the suit gives a sharp shove that sends the drunk, dark-haired stranger toppling forward into the SUV — practically onto my lap. I hear the door slam shut behind him and the locks engage, but I don’t glance that direction. I’m a bit preoccupied with the messy head of black hair currently face-planted in my crotch.

  Seriously, could this night get any worse?

  Chapter Three

  “Get off me!” I squawk, blinking stupidly at the back of his head.

  “I usually buy a woman a drink before she lets me put my head between her thighs,” he mutters, his deep voice muffled by the fabric of my mini-skirt. “But if you’re game, love…”

  Snarling, I roughly shove him off me and smirk with no small amount of satisfaction as his forehead bonks painfully against the partition.

  “Fuck!” he curses. “What was that for?”

  “You really have to ask?” I mutter, watching warily as he maneuvers his body onto the seat beside mine with a groan. His eyes are pressed closed, so I can’t see their color, but I find myself studying the angles of his face in the dark. The set of high cheekbones protruding beneath his tanned skin. The broad column of his throat, each corded muscle on display with his head craned back against the leather.

  “Can I help you with something?”

  I flinch. “Excuse me?”

  “You’re staring.”

  How did he know?!

  I whip my head forward to face the partition, cheeks flaming. “I was not.”

  A low chuckle assaults my ears. “Whatever you say, Violet.”

  “Violet?” I ask, glancing back at him despite my best intentions.

  One eye cracks open — crystalline blue, a whole Caribbean sea in a single iris — to peer over at me. “The purple hair.”

  Oh. Right.

  I reach up to smooth my lavender strands, feeling suddenly self-conscious about my most recent color choice. Last month, I was an ashy gray-blonde. Before that, I was navy blue. I haven’t seen my natural hue since I was old enough to do something about it.

  “Disguise or distraction?” he asks lowly.

  “Excuse me?”

  “The hair.” His eyes are a shade too perceptive for my liking. “Only one reason a girl who looks like you does something like that: she’s hiding — either from herself or someone else.”

  “You don’t know anything about me!”

  “True enough.” His eyes flicker to my mouth and back. “But I know women.”

  Before I can think of a clever comeback, the stranger reaches across the space between our seats and grasps a rogue curl between his thumb and his index finger. In a deliberate gesture that makes my heart stutter, he trails his way slowly down the lock, stretching the curl to its full length. When he reaches the end of the strands, his eyes flicker up to mine.

  “You know, V…” The smirk returns and, with it, a husky tone that makes my palms sweat. He leans in, as if he’s sharing a secret. “I like a little color in my life.”

  Ignoring my racing heart, I smack his hand away. The curl springs back upward toward my breasts. “Hands to yourself, bourbon.”

  “Bourbon?”

  “Yes. As in, the smell radiating from your pores,” I explain sweetly, gesturing at him. “Since we’re trading nicknames.”

  “Touché.”

  For a frozen instant he just sits there, watch
ing me watch him. His liquor-drenched eyes rake me up and down, taking in every detail at his leisure. I’m not sure if the alcohol has lowered his inhibitions or if this is simply him, even sober: a walking, talking sexual proposition.

  Probably a little bit of both.

  Pushing aside the urge to fidget, I set my face in a dispassionate mask and boldly return his gaze. In my head, I pick him apart piece by piece, hoping I might discover some fatal flaw.

  What a useless endeavor.

  Even his imperfections are attractive. The bump in his nose suggests he’s got a few bar fights under his belt. The small scar bisecting his left eyebrow lends character to a face that would be too perfect, in its absence. And if his dark hair is messy, it’s only because someone has been running her fingers through it all night — or, so I’d guess, judging by the smudge of bright magenta lipstick marring his collar.

  What kind of girl left that pink kiss behind? I can’t help wondering. What kind of girl spent her night with him, her fingers up in that hair, her lips on that muscular throat? What kind of girl would he pick out of a crowd and take home to ruin?

  Probably some model-perfect blonde with killer hair and a knockout figure.

  “Do you—” I shake my head, doing my best to banish the thoughts to the back of my mind. “Do you know what we’re doing here? Why they grabbed us?”

  “Me? Yes. You? Not so much.” His eyes narrow a shade. “Who are you?”

  I stiffen. “I’m no one.”

  “I doubt that.”

  I try to glance away, but his eyes — those blue, blue, blue eyes — are holding me captive.

  “You wouldn’t be in this car if you weren’t important. So… who are you?” he asks again, less patiently. “A friend of Chloe’s? Octavia’s new assistant? Gerald’s long lost niece?”

  “What the hell are you’re talking about?” I swallow hard, hoping it might dispel some of the panic rising in my chest. “Look, there’s been some kind of mistake. I’m not supposed to be here. I don’t know any of those people you just rattled off. I’m not important. I’m no one.”