“I’m not doubting you, Kirill. They went to great lengths to keep me out of sight. I spent a very interesting couple of weeks.”
“I have a feeling there’s a story there. My question is, why not just kill you?”
I leaned back in the seat, swirling the liquid in the glass before taking a deep, very tasty swallow. “That, my friend, is the big question. Why indeed?”
CHAPTER 16
Rafaela
Paris.
The city was vibrant and alive, the location everything I’d hoped it would be. I’d enjoyed almost every minute of living and going to school, thrilled I’d also found an internship that actually paid me money for doing what I loved.
Design.
Being able to design the beautiful clothes I’d never been able to find was exciting. Apparently, I had talent, or at least that’s what my professors continued to tell me.
Due to working a couple of jobs, my design work had been done at night. Right now, I was bleary eyed, more exhausted than I could remember, but it would all be worth it.
Next semester, at least I could concentrate on design work and nothing else. Then when I graduated, my entire life would change.
Getting to this point hadn’t been easy. I’d lost so much time, but here I was, finally living the life that I’d always wanted.
The electric vibe in the auditorium was contagious, everyone backstage alive with fire in their eyes and the thought of celebrity in their bellies. Who didn’t want to be the next Vera Wang or Coco Chanel?
Not this girl.
I wanted to be the next Rafaela.
That meant going through hoops, tonight being one of them. But I was up to the challenge.
Competitions.
I loathed them.
Yet using the spring fashion show as a final exam had made the event highly coveted, not only by students and professors, but also by design professionals. Hence, turning the event into a competition.
You bet I had a winning spirit, but I wasn’t a fool. A junior had never won since the competition had been formalized. However, the experience would be fantastic for my resume. If I could manage to get an honorable mention, even better.
Laughing when I pricked my finger with the needle, I hissed just as a drop of blood appeared. Pulling it to my mouth and sucking, I noticed the young woman selected to be my model for the evening’s festivities was swaying back and forth. The evening topped off a regular spring fashion event in Paris and I had no doubt she, like just about everyone else in the city and in the university, had gone out to party.
Hard.
What had I been doing? Creating another five designs until three in the morning.
I’d also been fighting heavy anxiety about the upcoming event, enough so Golden Angel had spent the entire night at my feet or curled up next to me when I’d finally gotten a couple hours’ sleep.
Even worse, I’d had visions of him.
Hewithout a name because even thinking his name brought additional despair. As soon as I shifted, dropping to my knees so I could finish hemming the dress, tightness in my back and the way my dress sliced across my skin was a reminder that I needed to completely forget those couple of weeks in my life.
I don’t know why I’d been thinking about him more and more.
He was dead.
Murdered while trying to escape after killing several men.
Including Marco.
