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VAUGHN
“What did you need me for?”
Lucia marches through my office door as though she owns the damn place before sitting on the edge of my desk.
I glower up at her, slamming shut the lot applications for tonight’s auction. “I need you to occupy Wren today.” She starts to speak, but I hold up a palm. “This will make us even for your fuckery with the auctions recently.”
Indecision flashes across her face for a hot minute before she nods. “Fine. But this is the last time I play babysitter to your little bird.”
She strides from the room, slipping her cell out as she does, most likely to text Wren to meet her downstairs.
As I open the applications again, Wren’s face from this morning comes into focus in my mind’s eye.
She was mired in such conflict; I could feel it even after years of living behind my walls. Fragile. Lost. Alone. Confused. Sad.
Resilient.
She surprises me at every turn, each newly unveiled facet allowing her to burrow slightly deeper beneath my skin. Goddamn her.
When her mother had offered to return from her trip early, my initial thought had been why she wasn’t flying back immediately. But Wren, despite the trauma she’s been through as of late, had insisted Sara take this time for herself.
It would have been utterly all too easy to have allowed myself to feel empathy for her. Instead, I lay down the gauntlet that will keep her mind—and my hands—occupied until Sara’s return.
Whenever that may be.
Ford ducks inside my office, stirring me from my thoughts.
“Ever heard of knocking?”
He flops down into the chair on the other side of my desk. “I’ve ironed everything out with Fratelli and the South Brook P.D. He’s going to speak to the boyfriend’s family and confirm their original assumption that he’s on vacation was indeed correct. As for Wren’s head wound, the police department is inclined to believe she fell, if you’d believe that horseshit…”
As I focus back on the tedious task at hand, my brows furrow, and Ford leans closer. “I still smell a rat, Burton. Might I have your permission to keep an eye on—”
“Absolutely.” I raise my eyes to his. “In fact, Iinsistthat you delve deeper. There’s not a chance inhellthat Sara Ricci would trust me to keep her kid safe. Not when I’m the reason that same kid grew up without her father.”
Ford nods sharply before giving me his back and leaving me to the mind-numbing work at hand.
CHAPTER11
VAUGHN
Having finally come to the end of my evening at tonight’s auction inRavish,I quickly finish filing everything away in my office.
As I descend the stairs into the teeming staff area, Lucia stops me. “There’s a bachelorette party inRapture,and they’redyingto meet the infamous Vaughn Burton.”
She runs her palm down along my black skinny tie, making a show of fixing it despite the fact that it was immaculate to begin with. “What do you say?”
I spear her with dark eyes. “I’d rather stab my eyeballs with a fork than spend more time with you thanabsolutelynecessary. Goodnight, Lucia.”
Her eyes crackle with rage while her nostrils flare. Her next words are spoken through gritted teeth. “I hear you,bossman.”
And then she’s gone, disappeared through the crowd of staff members before I can rebuke her on her use of that fucking nickname I despise.
By the time I reach my floor, my feet are dragging, and all I want is to fall into bed.
My black hoodie, the one that Wren has taken to wearing, catches my eye from its place on the back of the couch, and as I draw closer, I spot the woman in question. She’s tucked up in a blanket, gently snoring with her long hair mussed across her slightly blue-tinged face.
Bending on one knee, I smooth several strands back from her brow, my eyes following the motion before dropping down to skim across her delicate features.
