Page 80 of My Craving

“Then you already know how fucking well mine went.”

“Neither of us really asked them, did we? We told them why they shouldn’t go and expected them to agree because it would make us feel better.”

Declan gives me a long look. “You’ve been with Nash for five minutes, and suddenly you understand relationships?”

“If I thought I could lock him in this house without damaging what we have, I’d probably do it.”

Declan’s mouth almost curves. “Now you understand.”

I do. Someone can hurt me now without ever laying a hand on me. All they have to do is get to Nash.

I push away from the desk. “We keep them close Saturday. Xavier stays with you, Nash stays with me unless Taylor sees something that gives him a reason to move Nash, and nobody goes looking for Alina or Dare alone. If either of them makes a move, we’ll have enough people there to respond.”

Declan’s expression hardens. “If Dare goes near Xavier, I’m not waiting around to find out what he wants.”

“Neither would I if it were Nash. Just make sure he’s actually a threat before you start breaking bones in the middle of a ballroom.”

Declan gives me a slight smile. “I’ll do my best.”

My phone vibrates before we can go any further. Ronan’s name appears on the screen, and beneath his message are three photographs and the name we’ve been trying to put a face to.

Adrian Dare.

I open the first photograph and hand the phone to Declan. Adrian is standing beside Alina with one arm around her waist. He’s close to my height, dark-haired and looking directly at the camera. The second photograph is older, taken in Romania, but there’s no mistaking either of them. The third puts them together in New York before Alina ever entered my life.

Declan swipes back through the photographs. “They weren’t just working together.”

“No. They weren’t.”

Declan and I return to the living room, where Ronan already has the photographs displayed on the television. Nash is ending a call with Zee when I sit beside him, and my hand finds the back of his neck as Ronan turns his laptop toward us.

“Adrian Dare, thirty-six. His mother was Romanian, his father American, and he spent part of his childhood here before moving back to Romania with his mother. I can put him and Alina together for at least nine years. They shared an address in Romania, traveled together and later lived at the same address in New York for almost a year.”

Nash gestures toward the photographs. “Zee found old social-media accounts too. They weren’t hiding their relationship back then. There are pictures of them together going back years, and Adrian was already with her before Daniela disappeared.”

Adrian was beside Alina when she took Daniela’s identity, and possibly when people who went looking for the real Daniela started dying.

“Where is he now?”

Ronan looks back at his laptop. “Philadelphia. He arrived yesterday.”

Nash shifts closer beside me. “Where is he staying?”

“A hotel near Rittenhouse Square. He flew into Newark, rented a car, and drove down. Everything is under his real name. We assumed Dare might be an alias because Alina was using it on a burner, but it isn’t.”

Kieran looks toward the photographs on the television. “Is he registered for the gala?”

“No, but that doesn’t mean much. There’ll be several hundred guests in the hotel Saturday, plus staff, catering, and vendors. If Adrian wants inside, not having his name on the guest list won’t stop him.”

Nash studies Adrian’s photograph. “Alina has been handling everything here without him, and now he shows up four days before the gala. That can’t be a coincidence.”

The urge to tell Nash he’s staying home Saturday comes back immediately, and from the way he turns his head toward me, I don’t hide it well.

“Don’t start.”

“I didn’t say anything.”

“You didn’t have to.” His fingers close around mine. “I’m still going, Daddy.”