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FIVE
Seraphina reviewedthe details she’d jotted down on her disposable comm one last time then stood and smoothed a hand down the hip of her silver floor length dress. She removed the tiny memory chip from the device and put it into the slot on the side of the wide bracelet she wore. The jewelry was the perfect decoy as no one ever gave it a second look.
Sighing, she straightened her shoulders and sought that place deep inside where she blocked all emotions. Carefully, she eased open the wounded space in her heart. Only a little, enough to feel something for what she planned. Tonight was the night. The only time she allowed herself to take one small pleasure for herself while she worked to complete her final goal.
Destroy Jarad of House Oolun.
Lots of digging and a lot of effort had gone into her search. Not to mention blood. Torture, she had learned, was messy work. It had taken her months to stop getting sick at the memory of how she’d carved Kai into tiny pieces until he admitted Jarad Oolun had set everything in motion that fateful day.
Jarad wanted revenge against Coco because she’d ended their relationship. Sweet Coco, who loved freely and always made it clear she wasn’t interested in long term.
Seraphina gritted her teeth. Jarad had pushed and pushed and when Coco laughed in his face and walked away, he’d plotted her downfall. Sending men to track their presence to Gloucene, he’d bribed Kai and several others, waiting for Seraphina and Coco to choose a target that night.
The individual chosen would signal loudly he or she was being robbed and set the guards after them. Bonus if they killed Coco in the process.
And the object, her friend had stolen—a stupid vase that wasn’t worth more than a handful of credits.
So yeah, she’d gotten over her squeamish stomach real quick and wouldn’t stop until she killed the one responsible for taking her only friend away from her. Tonight’s event as always was one step closer to that.
The Ice Ball ruled the underworld. It was where deals were made and broken. Illegal, illicit, dark bargains that kept the criminal world spinning on its dirty axis were born here.
And it was where Tempest did her best work. She listened, learned, and killed.
Remorse was a thing of the past. Her heart had long since grown cold to what she needed to do to gain justice for Coco. And she’d continue doing them until Jarad Oolun paid and his dead body lay at her feet. She wouldn’t spare him. Just like he hadn’t spared Coco.
Downstairs in the lobby of the huge gala center and pleasure resort, Seraphina ignored the stares and come hither looks from men and women alike. Her goal was the location for the annual charity event as she glided across the tiled floor. Here, the wealthy mingled and those with a darker edge, who had no interest in more than one night, could easily be swayed.
String music played from inside the ballroom at just the right tone, spilling into the lobby area. As she made her way through, Seraphina casually checked her appearance in one of the floor to ceiling mirrors lining the wall before heading toward the wide open double doors.
The thigh to ankle slit allowed a glimpse of her legs with every step she took and the plunging neckline strained to contain the abundance of cleavage she’d given herself for the night.
This event was the only time she used this particular morph image. Short blonde hair, huge breasts and long legs. Her wide set eyes were a light shade of blue with extra thick lashes that fluttered when she blinked. In this guise, she was a known entity and frequent guest at the Ice Ball. No one worried about Tempest, the name she used.
At her approach, the armed guard at the door studied her and spoke into a clipped mic on his wrist. Whatever reply he received must have been satisfactory because he waved her through.
Seraphina leaned forward the slightest bit and murmured, “Thank you.”
To her surprise, his gaze didn’t dip to the clearly displayed breasts she’d deliberately pushed forward. If anything, his lips pressed tight in...fury? How unusual.
Curiosity nudged at her senses as she straightened. He maintained eye contact and had recovered his neutral expression, but questions lingered. Had she offended him before? Had their paths crossed at a previous ball and she’d done something?
Laughter poured from the room and Seraphina shook off the momentary concern. His loss on an amazing view, if she must say so herself. Worrying over a minor incident wasn’t tonight’s priority. She was here to find a man to sex share with, someone to give her relief from the ever-building pressure valve in her chest.
As soon as she entered, eyes swung in her direction. Show time. She upped the wattage of her smile, thrust her chest forward and slowed her stride to a sexy side to side sway that did amazing things for her ass from the back.
The theme for the Ice Ball was a take on a winter wonderland. Since this was a desert world, she could understand the appeal. Sections of the large space had snow flurries blowing from a machine. Tables were covered in blinding white cloths and each guest wore the requisite white attire.
Making her way around the huge room, she recognized a few faces. The usual attendees and their sycophants. A lazy smile curled her lips.
“Drink?”
A waiter stepped into her path and held up a frothy pink drink with a wedge of fruit on the rim of the triangular shaped glass. Face attractive, eyes beautiful. Hmm. She accepted the drink and took in the silver white hair piled on top of his head. Thin braided ropes held in place the mass she bet would fall to his hips.
“Volvian?” she asked, intrigued despite herself. He didn’t have the silver shimmery skin found in that race, but the other trait was a dead giveaway.
His left eye twitched in shock then he masked the telling reaction and a smirk curved his mouth. “Good guess. What gave it away?”
Volvian didn’t roam freely or far from their home world unless they had serious protection. Too many wanted to collect them as trophies due to the sentient property of their hair which they never cut.
