“Music,” Karin says, coming over to my desk. The girls turn it down as they get back to the machines. “How is it going?”
“It’s going.” I turn my screen so she can see what I’ve come up with so far. “I’m not done, but I’m getting there.” She reads over my stuff.
“All right. Keep at it. Don’t forget tomorrow. I’d like everyone to be there.” Karin gives me a pointed look, already knowing that I normally don’t go to social functions or dip out early if I absolutely have to go. “And to stay longer than ten minutes. It’s a celebration, after all. Not only for my daughter, but with Aidon at our side it makes us all a little safer.” Well, crap.
“Okay.” I get the message.
“Good.” Karin winks at me before she’s back out the door. It shuts behind her, and a few seconds later you hear the locks being put back into place.
“Ha! You gotta hang all night.” Jewels says, wrapping a stack of money in a band.
“I hang all the time!” I do. It might be only around here, but still. I have a beautiful condo but it can be lonely so a lot of times when I’m done for the day, I’ll linger around the warehouse. A couple times a week I’ll even crash in my room here. We all have one but most also have places in the city too.
“You never come out.” Paulina plops down onto my desk. “Don’t you get horny? I mean, men are the worst most of the time, but I like the D.” She lets out a long sigh.
“I hear that,” Jewels agrees.
“Of course I get horny,” I admit, my face filling with heat. “Just never seen a man I wanted to have solve the problem for me. Plus I’m not sure they want to solve it for me.”
“You’re so full of shit. Trust me, they’d solve it.” Paulina pulls on one of my curls. “Let us doll you up. Please!” I’ll never understand their obsession with always trying to dress me up.
“Please!” Now Jewels is at my desk. “It will be so fun. Let us show you how much they will be itching to fix the problem.” They both stare at me, their eyes begging. It might be fun to try and be sexy for a night. I need to get dressed up anyway.
“Okay,” I agree, making them both let out small screams as they start dancing around again.
I already know I’m in way over my head. Still, what really could go wrong?
Chapter Three Sov
I take a small contingent of 40 with me to the celebration. An advance team has gone ahead to scope the venue and ensure my safety. I arrive with Zero and the rest of the retinue including my butler, two valets, a secretary, press officers, military liaison, twenty-four bodyguards that work in groups of four, a personal chef, and one doctor who carries a supply of my family blood should a transfusion be necessary along with other assorted staff to assist the staff. A small crew, really.
The Palace Hotel is nice, if a little dated with its twenty-foot-deep purple velvet curtains and gold tasseled embellishments. My father would love this while my mother would take one look and haul ass to the nearest Four Seasons Presidential Suite. It’s too dark, too masculine for a woman’s sensibility. Everything about the Palace invokes the old boy’s club. The discreet reception desk is clad in mahogany. The floor is a rich cherry wood. The furniture is all over-sized and leather. If I listen closely, I can hear the creak of old bones and the snick of a match against the strike plate. The smell of stale cigar smoke filters by.
The side of Zero’s nose lifts.
“You smell it too?” I lift my chin toward the bar area off the lobby.
He grunts in response. Zero’s nickname doesn’t come from his fighting abilities, but how few words he feels the need to speak. Good thing we’ve been together for a long time and I can decode the different sounds he makes. This one is This place is bullshit and makes my skin crawl.
“Sir, your rooms are ready.” A soft-voiced Vieth woman bows slightly as she hands me the key. Zero glides to intercept her and pockets the access card himself. The woman gasps lightly and stares up at the large man through a veil of unusually long eyelashes. To my surprise, the back of Zero’s neck turns red. He pivots sharply away from the danger encased in a tight red dress and snaps his fingers. Everyone gets into place around me, and we move forward, a blob of humanity forcing everyone else aside until we reach the elevator bank. I’m sure it looks showy and powerful, but for a second I allow myself the fantasy of what it would be like to be alone, checking in to the hotel, carrying my own bags up to a small room that is big enough for just me. That vision exists in my mind’s eye for a half second until my mother appears with a frown wondering when I’m going to settle down. The room should have a king size bed! It should be a suite! With a cradle in the next room! Think of the succession!
I close my eyes and settle into the back of the elevator car. The crown is heavy, but it’s mine, and I need to take good care of it.
At the top floor, another set of dangerous Vieth women are there to greet us, only this time it is the most dangerous—Karin Vieth herself.
I wave Zero to the side and stride forward, taking the older woman’s hand between my own. “Karin Vieth, what an honor you do me.” I bend slightly in recognition that this is her territory, and while my security staff
