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He shook his head. “You look too damn good in a tux. I don’t like the idea of Alan seeing you like this.”
“Neither do I, but I’ll keep it on for later tonight when we—”
We both froze. We’d been avoiding the topic of what would happen between us after this was over. Of course we didn’t know if we would succeed tonight. If not, then it wouldn’t be an issue.
“Do that,” Giorgio finally said.
“You will come back here, right?”
He looked uncertain for a moment, then he nodded. “Yes. I promise I’ll come back here, no matter what happens tonight.”
Someone knocked on the door.
Giorgio let go of me and stepped back. “That’s probably Niall.”
He went to check, and I quickly reapplied my lipstick and made sure he hadn’t messed up my hair.
This was it. Once I entered the fundraiser with Niall, there was no turning back. I heard Niall and Giorgio talking in low voices. I took a final look at myself, then headed to the living room.
They stopped speaking immediately when I entered the room and turned to face me, their expressions serious.
“Is something wrong?”
Giorgio frowned. “Are you sure about taking this risk?”
“We’re not changing the plan now. I’m doing this.”
“Then let’s go,” Niall said.
Giorgio pulled me into a tight hug. “Be careful. If anything goes wrong, get out. If anything happens to Niall, Leo or my boss or I will get you out.”
“I’ve never met your boss. How will I know it’s him?”
“We have a codeword. Anyone you don’t know who comes for you will use it.”
“What is it?”
“Vigilance.”
I took Niall’s arm as we entered the ballroom. High tables were arranged around the perimeter of the room. Several people stood at them, eating canapés and drinking champagne. At the front of the room, there was a small raised stage where I assumed someone would make remarks. I wondered how many of the attendees knew where the money really went, and how many actually believed all their money would go to help sick children? The thought of how these people, many of them elderly, were being duped made me furious.
Niall led me to an open table. A server passed with a tray of champagne flutes, and he grabbed one for each of us.
“Let me know if you see Alan,” he said, keeping his voice low. I scanned the crowd and pretended to sip my champagne. Giorgio had coached me on various ways to lose or spill my drink so I appeared to be consuming a lot of alcohol in case Alan or someone working with him was watching me.
“I don’t see him yet, but straight ahead by the stage there’s a man with black hair. He’s one of the friends Alan wanted to share me with.”
Niall’s jaw tightened, and he said, “Did you get that?”
I was confused at first, then I realized the question was for Giorgio and the others who were listening. Everyone else on the team could hear each other, but I was only wearing a mic.
Niall nodded. “Leo has eyes on him.”
I’d spotted Leo across the ballroom, but I was supposed to act like I didn’t know him. We didn’t want Alan to have a chance to identify anyone else from their team. X was also somewhere inside, and Giorgio and Joe were in position outside, watching as guests arrived, ready to move in if necessary.
I looked around at the guests, noting several prominent artists, another gallery owner, an actor I knew lived in the area, a man I recognized from a fundraiser I’d attended with my mother, and the brother of a senator whose family was like local royalty. When I began a second sweep of the room, I saw him. “Alan is over by the French doors.”
Niall followed my line of sight.
“I’ll walk past him on my way to the bathroom to let him see I’m here.”
“Pretend you don’t see him. I’ll keep you in sight.”
27
Giorgio
I tensed as I listened to Niall warning Lane to be careful. Joe clapped a hand on my shoulder and mouthed, “It’s okay.”
“I’m moving into the hallway,” Leo said.
X spoke next. “Keep your eyes on Lane. I don’t want him out of sight.”
I wished we had video surveillance. I wanted to see the son of a bitch and evaluate how he looked at Lane.
I waited, the sound of my heartbeat thumping in my ears. My head ached, and my hands were sweaty. I was definitely not at my best, and I needed to be. If anything went wrong and I had to step in, I would have to be able to focus, but all I could think about was Lane and how much I loved him.
“Lane’s been spotted,” Niall said. The words were quick and clipped. He was obviously leery of being caught talking to himself. “Target is following,” Niall added a few seconds later.
