He glanced around at each of them, thehellrenhe’d bonded with, the father he’d never had, themahmenhe’d always wanted… and then also these kids who he now couldn’t live without. He thought also about the other two parents who were part of the deal, Layla, the twins’mahmen, and her male, Xcor.
His life was so complete, so perfect, that it seemed as beautiful and unique as a snowflake falling from the sky.
And just as goddamned fragile.
Qhuinn looked back down at his daughter. Moving her closer to his heart, he stroked her soft cheek.
Shaking his head, he said in a low, nasty voice, “Neither do I.”
CHAPTER ONE
Present Day
Bathe Nightclub
Market Street, bet. Sixteenth & Seventeenth
Caldwell, New York
The statistical probability of being killed by a falling billboard on a city street is nearly incalculable. Something south of .00000071 percent, considering that math contemplated all objects going Sputnik on you, not just billboards.
But this was something Lyric, blooded daughter of the Black Dagger Brother Qhuinn and the Chosen Layla, adopted daughter of Blaylock, son of Rocke, and Xcor, leader of the Band of Bastards, wouldn’t think about until later on in the night. And even then, her one-in-a-million would just be a pebble on the shore of much, much more important things.
Fortunately, as with most stuff having to do with fate, she didn’t know what was coming.
At the moment, she was standing in the grungy city snow in a pair of Louboutin stilettos—and she wasn’t worried about crapping up her shoes, either. It was the shit coming through her cell phone she’d had enough of.
“Marcia.” She pronounced the name “MAR-see-ah,” as opposed to the Brady Bunch, normal way, under protest. “Can you just stop so I can get a word in—”
“This is ahugeopportunity for you. She wants you to come for thefirstday of the conference,freeof charge. There’s a backstagephoto op, and aninterviewwith her—this is going to level your brand up, I’mtellingyou.”
The emphasized words were like a strongman working his way through a bench press, and you had to wonder if there was a minimum set count and rep number. Like if the woman missed it, did she stand in front of her bathroom mirror and go at her grocery list just to finish the workout?
Lyric turned so her back was to the strong, shifting wind—and what do you know. Down the alley and across Market Street, there was a huge purple advertisement for the Resolve2Evolve conference.
Like Valentina Disserte was a stalker.
“Hello?” came through the phone.
Okay, fine, it was—was—a hot invite. R2E had real momentum as a self-actualization movement for women, and no one could argue that its leader wasn’t making the most of her fifteen minutes of fame. If the great Valentina kept stalking those stages and proselytizing about the priority of the personhood, the woman was going to be this generation’s love-yourself messiah.
The problem? It all just seemed a little too pretty-purple-bow’d to be real. Life through a filter of sound bites, rather than the real thing.
Closing her eyes, Lyric thought about what was happening in her grandparents’ house. Maybe even a month ago, she might have bought into the R2E message herself. Now?
Then again, maybe she needed the distraction.
“Fine.” As the wind came barreling down the alley with a big shove, she shivered and turned to the club’s fire door. “But can we get through tonight first before you ask me about anything else?”
“Sowhereare you?”
“Out in the alley—”
The dented metal panel swung wide, and MAR-see-ah Rotterdam, social media manager to the stars, made her appearance with a stress-flourish. Clocking in at barely over five tall and fifty pounds if she’d just had another Diet Coke, the fact that the woman had two cell phones up to her ears made her look like she was ducking an explosion.
“No,Ron.” She motioned with the phone on the left as she hung it up. “You go to L.A.tomorrowfor thecollab. Look, I’m at anexclusiveevent and I have togo. I’ll call you in themorning—when you better be on thatfuckingjet.”
Marcia hung up phone #2. “Beautiful, butdumbas a box of rocks. Fortunately, he just has tostandthere forselfies. Well,lookat you.”
