Fraud

“She’s pretty,” Emily remarks, her eyes still tracking them across the distance.

“And an idiot if she’s willing to spend time with him.”

Emily’s eyes round wider. “Oh shit.”

I turn to look, but she grabs my face and tugs it back. “He’s walking over here.”

My heart jumps into my throat, the rate of my pulse a freaking jackhammer. “What?”

“Act natural.”

People move out of the way as Ta

All of us went to prep school together, and everybody here knows not to get in his way. I studiously keep my eyes trained on Emily’s smiling face, but it doesn’t make me invisible like I hoped.

Within seconds, Ta

No.

This is bad.

I briefly wonder how awful it would look if I screamed and ran away.

Smiling despite the ice coating my spine, I ask, “What about?”

Dark green eyes meet mine. “I think you know.”

I’m wearing a bright smile like it is a life jacket. Clinging to it as if it’s the door in Titanic that Jack could have fit on if Rose would have moved over.

You have to around Ta

“This is a bad time. Can we talk about it later?”

The corner of his mouth crooks, pure evil in that look.

“We can discuss it right here in front of everybody, if you’d like.”

Damn it.

“If you all will excuse me,” I say, my terrified gaze meeting Emily’s as I allow Ta

People are staring, so I play it off that we’re only flirting, that I actually want to be near a man who should never be trusted. My body leans into him, the easy confidence I have with men on display even if my nerves are scraped raw and panic is trickling like rain in my head.

“You owe me something, and it’s time you pay up.”

Voice low, Ta

To the outside, we’re nothing more than two people enjoying each other’s company. But the truth is that I made a mistake a long time ago, and the devil at the crossroads has finally come along to collect on the contract I signed.

From across the party, my mother turns our direction, her glossed lips stretching into a smile because she would love nothing more than to see me with one of the Inferno boys.

Except, that will never happen. I don’t care how influential their families are. None of them are worth the wreckage they cause.

Except for maybe one in particular.

Or maybe not…

“I need information on your father. Something I can use against him.”

More panic rains down inside me, a light storm becoming a violent hurricane.

“No.” I look up at him, my body shivering as the blood drains to my feet. “He’s my dad. I can’t do that to him.”

Ta

“That’s not my problem. I need the information, and you’ll give it to me. That’s my price for what I did for you.”

“That was in high school. Are you seriously holding that over my head?”

His eyes meet mine, no humor behind them.

“I never do a favor for free,” he answers softly. It’s a lover’s voice, only instead of seducing me, he’s ripping me to shreds.

“And if I don’t pay up?”

Giving me a slight smile, something polite and cordial to an outside observer, Ta

Ta

When I step up to my group, my knees weaken. My legs unsteady.

Emily catches me by wrapping her arm through mine, and I turn my head to watch Ta

“What did he want?”

“Nothing,” I say, fake smile in place because the group around us is staring.

I don’t crumble.

Ivy Callahan never crumbles.

I’m made of stronger fiber than that.

Eventually, everybody returns to their obnoxious conversations, and I’m no longer the focus of their scrutiny. The minutes wear on as the night pushes closer to the a

“I have to go,” Emily whispers to me just as my head turns and I catch sight of the one man in the world I’ve fought more than anyone else.

“Now? But-“ I nudge my chin in that man’s direction.

Him.

A monster that has tormented me since we were children.

Soft laughter blows over her lips. “Just ignore him. You’ll be fine. And I have a date upstairs.”

Gri

“Which one is it tonight?”

Walking backwards, she laughs and shrugs. “Why choose?”

“Both? At the same time?”

Another wicked grin. “I only have so much freedom left. Might as well have fun.”

She only has an hour of freedom left, and I hope she remembers to be downstairs on time. Still, she’s insane for having anything to do with those boys.

Unfortunately, Emily ru

How convenient that he should appear after what Ta

If they think I won’t notice, they’re idiots.

I play it off that I don’t see him.

Smiling and nodding at the conversation around me, I ignore the way the hair lifts on my arms, the tingling at the nape of my neck, and a thready pulse that warns of trouble coming.

The liar has no respect for personal space.

But then, he never has.

The deep, dark notes of his cologne assault me before the heat of his body cages my back.

“How long has it been, Ivy? I don’t think we’ve spoken since high school.”

Gabriel’s voice is a tauntingly smooth sound. A tease.

“You mean when you found your car sunk to the bottom of Kevin Landry’s pool? It has been a while, hasn’t it?”

I feel him grin against my cheek, the sweet smile of his that is as much a lie as the rest of him.

It’s a fight to resist the urge I have to lean back against him, though. Part of the liar’s charm is his ability to attract.

He was beautiful in high school, but the years since have only served to carve this man into something damn near irresistible.

“My fault. I should have parked it better.”

Biting the inside of my cheek to keep from laughing, I turn to face my old nemesis.

Instantly, I regret it.

He stares back at me with emerald green eyes that are the most beautiful I’ve ever seen. But they’re only simple jewels that adorn a face designed specifically for a woman’s destruction.

My gaze traces the strong line of his jaw. The height of his perfect cheekbones. The straight line of his nose that leads down to perfect lips. When he smiles that full watt grin, it’s a fight not to smile in return.

I know better than to believe it.

“Gabriel,” I purr, “is there a reason you’re down here?”

His eyes search my face, pausing for only a moment on my mouth before he lifts his beguiling stare to mine.

“I was just passing by and thought I’d say hello to an old friend.”

Sure you were, sweetie...

This man can take a long walk off a short pier with that lie.