Owned by the Beast by Rebecca Howard

Author:Rebecca Howard [Howard, Rebecca]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-06-29T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 13

Aria

The Vines Club had been impressive the night before, but when Duncan brought me into the private lounge in the back that he and his friends used, I saw what real luxury was. Everything was rich leather and burnished dark wood, with a low ceiling and a bar built into the corner. It looked like the kind of place Frank Sinatra and the Rat Pack might hang out in way back in the day.

It was almost enough to make me feel like I belonged in high society, if it weren’t for the thought that was always at the back of my mind: you’re living a lie.

After Duncan and I sat down, two women about my age appeared and took our coats. I saw one of them give me a sour look as she walked away, and I wondered if maybe she’d had her eye on Duncan and was jealous of the fact that I was with him instead of working with her. I confess, I was just petty enough to give her a big, shit-eating grin before she scurried off in disgust.

I already knew two of the men there, Gael and Liam. Duncan introduced me to a huge man named Eamon, who looked like one of the wrestlers my Papa watched on TV when I was a young girl, and Kieran, who seemed more easy-going than the others in the inner circle. Both Eamon and Kieran seemed surprised that a woman had been brought into the back lounge, but neither of them said anything about it. They were quite friendly and polite, chatting with me and teasing Duncan for his one-word answers to their questions about us.

If I hadn’t known they were connected (that was the word Duncan used most to describe himself and the rest of the Outfit), I would have thought I was at a board meeting with some rich folks who had really old-fashioned tastes. But then Gael spoke, and reality came crashing in.

“Now that you’ve all met Aria, we can get down to business,” he said, motioning for us all to sit. “Liam, Eamon, Kieran, I imagine you’re curious as to why she’s here.”

I saw Duncan and Liam exchange a look. Neither of them had said anything to Gael about meeting me here the night before.

Gael went through a digested version of the story Duncan and I had told him. Most of it was true—Duncan had gone to Cliff Esterhouse’s apartment to kill him and found me. Of course, the part about me being Cliff’s abused girlfriend was a complete lie, and hearing it repeated to others sent a corkscrew of anxiety into my belly. Luckily, I managed to keep it from showing on my face; I was finding that I was pretty good at that.

When Gael was done, Eamon and Kieran looked at me with wide eyes. Obviously, it was unheard of that a witness to a hit was allowed to live, let alone sit with the inner circle in the back of the Vines Club.

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