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Dark Beauty
Raven Duet, Prequel
Chapter1
Be Nice to the Dragon Lady
Aurora
Today my mother thought it would be a good idea to send me on a coffee run. She meant well. For whatever reason, she figured the more time I spent out and about in New York City, the sooner I would fall in love with it and give up on the idea of going home.
Home. I missed Las Vegas. I missed the hot summer nights. I missed Grandma.
I weaved my way through the crowded sidewalk, while people bumped into me like I was invisible. The fact that my brain was still on west coast time didn’t help matters. Park Avenue was too awake and moved too fast for me.
“What will it be, Miss?” The barista behind the coffee shop counter pointed his chin at me. His tattoo sleeve peeked from under his long sleeve shirt as he reached behind him to grab an espresso mug and set it on the counter. “Clara,” he called out.
“Um.” I hesitated because there was no menu posted.
“You, Miss?” He moved on to the woman behind me.
The brunette with a Corgi in her arms stepped forward. Even though she was shorter than me, she managed to look down at me before she ordered. “Matcha cappuccino with oat milk, hold the sweetener, and add two scoops of protein.”
“Large?” the barista asked.
I stood there like an idiot and watched them interact with each other. Another reminder that I was the outsider here. The city seemed hell-bent on reminding me of that fact.
“Miss? You ready now?” His deep voice brought me back.
“Two of what she said,” I blurted out. Mainly, because I recognized the word cappuccino, and I didn’t want to waste any more of his time.
“That’ll be sixteen even.”
Yikes. For two coffees?
I dug through my purse and handed him a twenty-dollar bill. When he didn’t make an effort to give me change, I added, “Keep the change.”
“Thanks.” He motioned to the guy behind me.
Twenty minutes later, I found my way back to our new swanky apartment, still hoping my parents would change their minds and move us all back to Las Vegas. New York City wasn’t for everyone. Not to mention, Dad’s sudden luck in business seemed too good to be true. No one went from living from paycheck-to-paycheck to all of a sudden scoring a three-million-dollar apartment on Park Avenue.
What had Dad gotten us into this time?
Mom insisted everything was fine. That I was just missing home too much. But I knew better. I hadn’t forgotten the last time Dad and “his business dealings” landed all five of us in a motel for a whole semester after we lost our house. I’d never been the proud type, but I had been so embarrassed when my friends saw me leaving the town’s no-tell motel every morning to go to school. Needless to say, they weren’t my friends for much longer after that.
With a sigh, I shouldered open the wide door to our new home.
“There she is.” Mom rushed to me with the biggest smile and hugged me. “Be nice to the dragon lady,” she whispered in my ear, took my tray of coffees, and set it on the side table.
Whenever she acted this bubbly and alert, it was because she wanted something badly.
“Three?” The dragon lady stood in the middle of the room, looking me up and down as if she could see into my soul. “I wasn’t aware of any children.”
Something about the timbre of her smoker’s voice made the hair on the back of my neck stand on end. I didn’t need to be a New Yorker to know the woman belonged in this world. She oozed wealth and power. When she finished her inspection of me, her features darkened like my mere presence was an insult to her. My two brothers weren’t running up and down the stairs like they had been when I woke up this morning. No doubt the dragon lady scared them off.
“Signoria Vittoria.” Mom placed her hand on my back and ushered me forward. “This is our daughter, Aurora.”
“Nice to meet you.” I offered her a nervous smile. My heart raced under her scrutiny. “And it’s Rory.”
