Page 65 of A Deal in Darkness
“Did you set your profile up so authors can send you their books?”
I shake my head. “It's on the list for today.”
“You need to get that sorted, Adriana. Your clients and your list are everything in this business. I'll get onto it...”
“I'm taking care of it myself.”
Lucinda shakes her head as she stands. “Just get it done. Before Emily finds out you haven't.”
“Something I should know about?”
“She owns the firm but lost a lot of money when the business got into problems. She's floating it with her own cash, and you can't blame her for being ruthless about things when it's her money on the line.”
I arch my eyebrow and nod, surprised that this doesn't fit with the woman I met yesterday. She seemed kind, approachable, and friendly, not at all like a cutthroat businesswoman who'll stop at nothing to succeed. I'm not sure I trust Lucinda, but her warning is worth noting, and I'll be a little more careful around here.
I spend my morning attending meetings and setting the damn profile up. It takes an eternity and I'm just about finishedwhen the office empties for lunch. I'm still putting the final touches on the website when Emily knocks, bringing food with her.
“Working lunch?”
“Perfect,” I beam back. “There's loads to do, but I think I'm getting there.”
“I'd say so. The collection is perfect, by the way. The other agents are already talking about it. I hear there's a first edition or two in there.”
I nod. “Gifts.”
Emily smiles and we talk about books as she runs through the state of the business and her expectations. They're terrifyingly high and the income I need to bring in is a tall order for a new agent, especially one without a single book on her list.
“Better to build a good list than a fast one. Just don't take too long, Adriana. Did Lucinda set your website profile up?”
I nod, then shake my head. “I asked her to do some of the other admin bits while I did it myself.”
Emily stares at me like she's trying to decide if that was an incredibly smart or incredibly dumb decision. Her eyes brim with emotion and my heart races, caught in a whirlwind of its own.
My mouth turns dry and my chest tightens as my heart keeps pounding, trying to escape its confines within my ribcage. My fingers tingle as a shiver rolls down my spine and my core clenches as my stomach ties itself in knots. The hairs on my arm stand on end as the sense of trepidation spreads through me.
It's like someone walking over my grave.
It’s a subtle knife twisting in my gut.
It’s a kiss of death in all but name.
I don’t know what the hell this is, but I recognize something’s wrong. I’ve felt like this once before and I didn’t like it then. I was frightened and foolish, too afraid to question what was happening around me—but that girl has gone, now she knows the world isn’t the way she thought it was.
The knot in my stomach tightens as I remember the last time I felt like this. It was back in Cambridge, on a beautiful summer’s afternoon. I was walking by the river with a friend I’d hoped would become something more, and he was staring at me like he wanted it too. And then the same horrific feeling washed over me and everything changed, and he looked at me like he never wanted to see me again.
It's a moment that changed everything and now I recollect it, things didn’t happen quite the way I thought they did. I remember someone standing nearby, leaning against a fence as if they owned the goddamn place. Their hair was a particular shade of jet black and their eyes burned when they met my gaze, and I recognize the man who’d laughed as my friend made excuses.
Enzo was watching me.
More than watching me—he was making damn sure that no one else stood a chance, and if they got too close, he acted. The ominous feeling washing over me was his magic as it crept into the world and changed something, terrifying the man I’d wanted to take as a lover.
And it’s the same magic flowing into my office now.
The fact of the matter is that Enzo is far too dangerous to trust and too dishonest to believe. He’s determined to take whatever he wants and I’m damn sure that when that turned out to be me, he would have gone to extraordinary lengths to makesure it happened. I was doomed to make a bargain with him, even though I made it easy for him, and suddenly all my failings make sense—he engineered them.
I don’t know enough to know if Emily’s one of Enzo’s underlings, but I assume her involvement isn’t a coincidence. I’m not sure what’s provoked this reaction from her, but I’m certain she’s using her darkness on me. She’s trying to intimidate me, trying to push me into doing whatever it is she wants.
“Adriana?”
