Page 83 of My Craving

I look across the ballroom again, but this time I’m not watching Alina. I scan the doors, the space between our tables and the people moving along the edges of the room. Adrian came to Philadelphia four days ago, and with everything Ronan and Taylor have in place tonight, no one has seen him.

I lean closer to Duncan, keeping my voice low enough that no one else at the table can hear me. “We need to tell Ronan now. If they’ve been looking into everyone, Taylor can’t stay focused only on me.”

Duncan nods and reaches for his phone beneath the table, sending Ronan a message without drawing attention to what he’s doing. Around us, the evening continues as if nothing has changed. The people at our table keep talking, servers clear the plates, and someone takes the stage to welcome everyone to the gala.

I barely hear what he’s saying. My attention keeps moving between the people I’ve come to think of as family and Alina on the other side of the ballroom. A few minutes ago, I was worried about what she and Adrian might do to Duncan or me. Now every person sitting around us could be part of whatever the fuck they planned.

Chapter 39 Duncan

The man onstage is still talking about the foundation’s work when Ronan confirms that Taylor has everything Zee found and is adjusting security around the people Alina and Adrian researched. He can do it without making any obvious changes in the ballroom, which is exactly what I want. We came here to give Alina the opportunity to follow through with whatever she’s been planning, and learning that she collected information on more of my family doesn’t change that. It only means we know to watch more than Nash.

His hand rests on my thigh beneath the table while I look toward the people around us. Declan and Xavier are at the next table with Conor and Jaxon, and Alessia sits beside me with Kieran on her other side. I need to tell them what we found, but having everyone react at once would be an easy way to let Alina know something changed.

When the speaker finishes and conversation fills the ballroom again, I lean toward Kieran and quietly tell him that Zee found his and Alessia’s names in the information Nash copied from Alina’s hotel room, along with Declan, Xavier, Conor, and Jaxon. His expression barely changes, although his hand moves beneath the table and settles against Alessia’s leg.

“Taylor knows?” he asks.

“Ronan sent him everything.”

Alessia heard enough to understand what we’re discussing. She looks past me toward the other side of the ballroom before turning back. “Does it change the plan?”

“No. Alina has no reason to think we found anything else, and I want to keep it that way.”

“Then tell the others when you can and let her keep thinking that.”

Alessia reaches over and pats his arm before returning her attention to the stage, and I leave the conversation there. Kieran understands what I need from him, and there’s nothing else to discuss until Alina gives us something we can use.

The auction begins after dinner, sending people away from their tables to look at the items displayed around the ballroom. With everyone moving around, Nash and I can make our way toward Declan and Xavier without it looking deliberate. Conor and Jaxon eventually join us, and I give them the same information I gave Kieran.

Declan’s hand settles against Xavier’s lower back while Conor shifts a little closer to Jaxon, but neither does anything that would draw attention from across the room.

“Taylor knows?” Declan asks.

“He does, and security has already been adjusted. We stay with the plan unless something gives us a reason not to.”

Declan nods, even though I can tell he doesn’t like knowing Xavier was part of Alina’s research any more than I like knowing Nash was. Conor takes the information with the same controlled expression he’s had all evening, while Jaxon continues looking around the ballroom. There isn’t anything else they can do with what we found, and standing here discussing it only increases the chance that Alina notices, so we let the movement of the auction separate us again.

Nash remains beside me as we make our way toward another display. “Adrian is the part that bothers me.”

“He bothers me too.”

“I mean that Alina is here and he isn’t. He came to Philadelphia four days ago, so if they’re doing this together, what is he doing while she stands around drinking champagne?”

I’ve been asking myself the same question since we arrived. Alina hasn’t shown any sign of being concerned that Adrian hasn’t joined her, which makes me think she never expected him to. She’s spent the evening talking to people she knows, watching us when she thinks we won’t notice and waiting for something we haven’t seen yet.

“I don’t think he was ever supposed to walk through the front doors and stand beside her.”

Nash looks up at me. “Then we need to figure out what he is supposed to be doing.”

Before I can answer, movement near one of the side entrances catches my attention. Taylor steps into the ballroom, looks directly at me, and touches the microphone beneath his collar while listening to someone on the other end. A few seconds later, he turns and disappears through the same doorway.

Nash follows him with his eyes. “That didn’t look like nothing.”

“It wasn’t.”

We stay where we are instead of following him. Taylor knows exactly where to find me, and leaving the ballroom the second he receives new information would be an obvious reaction for Alina to notice.

Ronan gets us the information shortly afterward. Hotel security found Adrian on camera entering through a staff entrance approximately twenty minutes ago in a catering uniform. Taylor is working backward through the cameras now, and Ronan doesn’t want us reacting while they figure out where Adrian went after entering.