Page 204 of Double or Nothing

Poker players risk money.

Bryce is risking his entire identity.

I sent him in with a straightened tie and a few smart remarks, that’s all.

I just hope it was enough.

It has to be.

Less than twenty-four hours until Camilla stands before the triptych and makes her decision.

Five days until the catalogue deadline.

Six days until the Chicago prince returns.

The clock is ticking on all fronts, but I have faith.

While Bryce holds the line in Parker’s office, I’ll be building Alice a route out of it.

Collectors. Artists. Bids. Estimates. One card at a time.

By Friday, her triptych will be in that catalogue, and when Christopher fucking Otley walks through the door on Sunday, Alice will already have something that belongs to her.

An art circle stirring with genuine interest.

For her.

Just Alice Rose, Soul Girl.

An emerging talent with her own brush strokes to thank for it, not just her Daddy’s fucking surname.

Bring it. Fucking. On!

CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

BRYCE

Iavoid Bill as much as I possibly can in the office.

When I see him crossing the executive floor at just gone ten, I decide the risk assessment team urgently requires my attention. By eleven-twenty, I’m helping Caroline with projections that could easily wait until next week. At half-twelve I take coffee into a departmental briefing I had no intention of attending.

I’m absolutely bloody terrified.

Every time an email pings through, my pulse races, expecting to see his name. There’s no doubt about it, the summons will be coming. I’m just delaying the inevitable.

Jack’s instructions from this morning play on a loop in my head.

Keep your shoulders loose. Don’t touch your cuffs. Stop checking your watch.

I’ve been failing at all three, and as for his main piece of advice. Poker face. I don’t even know where to start.

It’s easy for a guy like Jack to dish out the advice. He can become anyone he needs to be within seconds. Playboy. Joker. Strategist. Art collector. Whatever he fucking likes. But he doesn’t know my life. He doesn’t know this place. He doesn’t know just how regular a person I’ve become to hundreds of people in this building.

Dependable Bryce.

Sensible Bryce.

William Parker’s most trusted assistant.