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prologue
Mid- to late October
The night of the Elysium charity event
“PRESTON! SERENA! LOOK over here.”
Photographers shouted at us from where they stood behind a velvet rope while I led my girlfriend, Serena Carrington, down the red carpet ahead of Elysium’s latest charity event. It was a necessary evil, doing this whole song and dance, putting ourselves out there to grace the gossip pages that followed Manhattan’s elite, all under the guise of raising money.
That was part of it, but the unspoken role was that we were the next generation that would rule the city, taking after our rich and influential parents of the Elysium, the premier social club that wielded its influence over New York with an iron fist.
My fingers tightened around Serena’s as we smiled for the cameras, and I knew exactly what it was they saw when they looked at us. The perfect couple. Students at prestigious Astor University for now, but following in the footsteps of our parents—mine a longtime politician and current senator, and hers theowner of the top theatrical agency in the country. Our paths were already laid out for us, and we played our parts to perfection.
Serena squeezed my hand back, and kept smiling as she said through her teeth, “How long do you think it’ll be before they ask us?—”
“When can we expect an engagement?” someone to our right shouted.
Aaand there it was. It didn’t matter how many times we answered or ignored the question—it was the one we could rely on every time we walked a red carpet.
Or saw my parents.
What Iwantedto often say was along the lines offuck off, but that didn’t suit the good-boy image I’d honed to perfection.
Thank God for the woman on my arm, the one who knew me better than anyone and also knew exactly how to move the attention elsewhere.
“We can’t give away all our secrets, now can we?” Serena said, and then blew a kiss for the cameras. She pushed us forward, toward the end of the red carpet, keeping that smile on her face, her long blonde hair down around her shoulders making her look like a Hollywood starlet.
“Serena, is that a baby bump?”
She sucked in a sharp breath, and my gaze shot to the asshole photographer trying to get a rise out of us.
“Too far,” I warned him. I tightened my grip on Serena, moving us off the red carpet and through the high wrought-iron gates of Elysium that led into a courtyard.
My tie strangled me, and I had to resist the urge to pull it off my neck as I muttered, “That fucking dick.”
“I knew I shouldn’t have had that extra slice of pie last night,” she joked, but that only upped my annoyance at the piece of shit.
I stopped walking, jerking us to a halt. “Don’t do that. You look beautiful.”
She lifted a shoulder, but her smile didn’t meet her eyes. “I know.”
“Seriously, they only say that shit to get in our heads. Don’t let them.” When she only nodded, I added, “Want me to go kick his ass?”
Her brows rose at my attempt to lighten the mood. “Really.You’regoing to go kick his ass?”
“Hey, I could do it.” I paused. “If I brought Daire.” His scowl alone would send anyone running.
She laughed, a genuine sound that had my shoulders relaxing. I didn’t want her thinking about that stupid comment all night, so if I could help get her mind off it, I would.
“I think I might have a better chance at an ass kicking,” she said, a smirk playing on her pink lips. “These heels could be a weapon.”
I glanced down at the shoes she wore, the heels several inches tall and as thin as a spike. “On second thought,” I said, “have at him.”
Shaking her head, she looped her arm through mine and tugged us toward the entrance of the grand four-story building that took up half a city block on the Upper East Side. “You’re supposed to be the good influence here, not encouraging me to commit a felony.”
“Some acts of violence are warranted.”
As we entered the main hall, where chandeliers cast a golden hue over the multicolored marble floors and walls and elaborately decorated tables were set up with precision, the sound of hundreds of people milling about greeted us. I’d had a hand in putting the event together, always quick to volunteer before my parents could suggest me for the job, and with the hall filled almost to capacity, I could see that we’d nailed the aesthetic.
