Page 44 of Love and Lies

“No.” I’d thought not. He’d never have tasked Mia with asking me for a loan—not with our history. “He was against it. He said you’d already been so generous, signing over your half of the business for nothing, so we shouldn’t come knocking on your door when we’re strapped for cash too.”

I sighed. Paul was proud, a quality of his that I’d always liked. We’d known each other before, in New York, and had the idea to emigrate and start the lodge in Australia. But he’d often struggled with the fact that I was the one with the capital, while his contribution was one of brains, brawn, and heart. It had never bothered me, but it sometimes caused tension. So I wasn’t surprised that he’d rejected Mia’s suggestion to ask me for help.

“Will you tell him where you got the money from?” I asked. And would I agree to give it to her if she said no? I didn’t want to go behind my friend’s back… even if the word friend applied only in the past tense. On the other hand, their relationship had nothing to do with me. If Mia wanted to lie to him, that was her lookout.

“No idea.” She sighed. “I haven’t really thought about that yet.”

“It’s none of my business either.” I said.

“Jess—”

“Don’t, Mia.” The way she said my name triggered a pain deep inside me. Not because I missed her, but I missed what we had together. Knowing you belonged to someone, feeling like you could trust that person one hundred percent, and that it was the right thing to do—I missed that more than I could express. But it wasn’t the right time. It would break my heart clean in two to lose someone that way again. “Send me the account details. We’ll sort the rest out later.”

“Thank you. I really appreciate your doing this.” She sounded relieved.

“No problem.” I said goodbye and hung up, but stayed where I was for a moment before making my way back into the club. Thaz was still at our table with Cassandra, and I glanced automatically over to the seating area on the other side of the room, where Helena was sitting with Pratt.

Correction: where Helena had been sitting with Pratt. They were gone. Both of them.

“Where is she?” I asked Thaz, as the misgiving in my gut blossomed into genuine fear.

“Where is who?”

“Helena, for fuck’s sake!”

He realized she was no longer where he’d seen her last, but waved it off. “She’s probably dancing.”

I scanned the dance floor, but she was nowhere to be found. Shit. Had she gone home with Pratt, maybe? No, she wasn’t that reckless. Or was she? What did I even know about her, really?

As if on autopilot, I headed for the bathrooms, ignoring whatever Thaz was shouting after me. I had to find her. I absolutely had to find her.

As soon as possible.

21 Helena

When Colton Pratt first approached our table, I froze. I’d been hoping to meet him, of course—that was the reason I was here, after all. And yet when he shook my hand and introduced himself, I was gripped by sheer terror. Not just because he was a dealer and a felon of citywide renown—but mostly because I needed information from him and suddenly had no idea how to get it. So I just smiled, unable to get a word out at first. But the longer I sat talking to him, the more I relaxed. Colton was good-looking, but he was also funny, charming, and intelligent. It didn’t take much effort to flirt with him, and I caught myself genuinely laughing at his jokes. But I hadn’t forgotten my plan. This would just make it easier… or so I hoped.

“How come I’ve never seen you around this fair city of ours, Helena?” Pratt asked me at one point.

I picked up my drink and rested my arm on the back of the sofa we were sitting on. The others were dancing; only Preston sat in a lounge chair, staring at his phone and ignoring us.

“I was overseas for a while,” I replied. He didn’t seem to have clocked that I was Valerie’s sister, and there was no way in hell I was going to let him know and risk his taking off.

“Overseas?” He gave me a quizzical look. “Where exactly?”

“Cambridge, England. I went to college there.” I smiled, frantically wondering how to turn the conversation around to the night when Pratt had turned up at Adam and Valerie’s suite.

“England, okay.” He nodded, impressed. “Why did you come back? Did you get sick of fish and chips and bad weather?”

“Something like that, yeah.” I grinned and decided to take a risk. We’d been there for an hour already—he’d probably have to get to work at some point, and I suspected he’d be out of there soon, unless I gave him a reason to stay. “England was great, but New York has a whole lot of other possibilities for… entertainment.”

Pratt raised an eyebrow. “No kidding.”

He reached a hand behind me and gently stroked the back of my neck. Something tightened pleasantly near my core, before logic could get in the way. I was suddenly all too aware that it had been way too long since I’d been intimate with anyone. I didn’t particularly want it to be Pratt who ended my dry spell, but I couldn’t just give him the brush-off, either, not until I had my intel. So I smiled and pretended I was enjoying it. Which wasn’t too far from the truth.

“You seem pretty confident that you’re better than fish and chips,” I remarked, and Pratt laughed. But he quickly grew serious again and leaned in toward me.

“You have no idea, Helena.” He spoke softly, and I could feel his breath on my mouth. Then he closed the gap between us and kissed me. Very gently, with closed lips, and he pulled back right away, but I could see in his eyes that he wanted more. And I knew that this was my chance to get answers. People usually gave away their secrets more easily when their guard was down.