Chapter 13
711words
The driver opened my door. I stepped out, the emerald silk whispering around my ankles. The cool evening air raised goosebumps on my bare shoulders.
"Ms. Winters."
I turned to find Felix waiting at the bottom of the steps, devastating in a perfectly tailored tuxedo. His eyes widened slightly as they traveled from my face to the hem of my dress, then back up.
"Mr. Blackwood," I replied, pleased at how steady my voice sounded despite the flutter in my stomach.
He offered his arm. "You look..."
"Professional?" I suggested with a hint of challenge.
The corner of his mouth lifted. "I was going to say dangerous."
As we climbed the steps, cameras flashed around us. Felix leaned close, his breath warm against my ear.
"Alexander just arrived," he murmured. "With Vivienne. Are you ready?"
I squeezed his arm slightly. "Ready."
Felix gave me a curious look, but before he could respond, we entered the grand hall. Crystal chandeliers cast prismatic light across marble floors. Boston's wealthiest citizens mingled in designer finery, diamonds glittering at throats and wrists.
And there they were.
Alexander stood near a display of Renaissance sculptures, even more handsome than in my memories. His golden hair caught the light, his smile dazzling as he charmed an elderly patron.
Beside him, Vivienne was a vision in white, her blonde hair swept into an elegant chignon. She looked exactly as she had the night she killed me—beautiful, poised, and utterly lethal.
My vision narrowed, blood rushing in my ears. Felix's hand pressed against the small of my back, steadying me.
"Breathe," he whispered.
I inhaled sharply, forcing air into lungs that had forgotten how to function.
"Felix!" Alexander's voice carried across the hall. He waved, beckoning us over.
Felix's hand remained at my back as we approached, a warm anchor keeping me from floating away on a tide of rage and grief.
"Alexander," Felix nodded coolly. "Vivienne."
"Who's your lovely companion?" Alexander asked, his eyes sliding over me with appreciative interest.
"Lyra Winters," Felix said. "The foundation's new authentication specialist."
Alexander took my offered hand, but instead of shaking it, he raised it to his lips. "Enchanted."
His touch sent a jolt of revulsion through me. This man had once been my world. Now his smile, the same one that had once made my heart race, made my skin crawl.
"Ms. Winters," Vivienne said, her voice honey over ice. "That's an unusual field for someone so... young."
Our eyes met. In another lifetime, those eyes had watched me fall to my death without a flicker of remorse.
"I find that youth has its advantages," I replied smoothly. "Fewer preconceptions about what's possible."
Something flickered in Vivienne's perfect features—a momentary crack in her composure. She recovered quickly, but not before I saw it: uncertainty. She didn't recognize me, but something about me unsettled her.
Good.
"Lyra is helping me with those Botticellis you acquired," Felix said to Alexander, his tone deceptively casual.
Alexander's smile faltered. "I wasn't aware they needed authentication. The provenance was impeccable."
"Was it?" Felix raised an eyebrow. "We should discuss that. Perhaps over drinks later."
Vivienne's hand tightened on Alexander's arm. "Darling, we should greet the Whittingtons before the auction begins."
As they moved away, Alexander glanced back at me with undisguised interest. Vivienne noticed, her perfect mouth tightening into a thin line.
"Well," Felix said quietly. "That was illuminating."
I turned to him, surprised to find his eyes not on his cousin, but on me. "What was?"
"The way you looked at them." His gaze was penetrating, searching. "Like you've met them before."
My heart skipped a beat. "I've seen their photographs. They're fixtures in the social pages."
Felix studied me for a long moment, then offered his arm again. "The auction is about to begin. Shall we?"
As he led me toward the auction hall, I felt Vivienne's eyes boring into my back. My first encounter with my killers had gone better than I could have hoped.
They didn't recognize me. But they would. Soon enough, they would know exactly who I was.
