She looked at me sloppily, her auburn hair slipping out of her ponytail into her face. “H-how do you mean?”
Then she looked down at the thick envelopes and her eyes widened. She dropped the Invitation as she started to finger the thick wads of cash inside.
“That’s three thousand dollars. I was gonna use it for my start over here. But I’ll trade it for that Invitation you’re holding.”
Her head shot up, and I saw suspicion in her eyes. I reached out and clasped her hands. Time for the closer.
“When I saw that Invitation, I knew it was fate we met tonight. What are the chances? I got down on my knees last night and I prayed to God for a miracle. My mama, she’s sick, you see. She needs an operation. This three thousand dollars isn’t gonna do nothing for her. I was gonna try to get a job here, maybe meet a man, I don’t know.”
I leaned in.
“I’d do anything for my mama. Anything. Nothing those bastards in the Order could dish out would scare me. Even if it’s just a one in twenty chance I get picked—”
Her eyes got even wider. “It’s just a one in twenty chance you even get picked once you get there?”
“You didn’t know?” Sheesh, I wasn’t even lying about this part.
She shook her head. And then looked down at the money I’d put on the table in front of her. “And you’d give me this money all for just the chance?”
I squeezed her hand I was still holding. I managed to make myself tear up, something Tina had worked with me for months on before I could do it on cue. But now I was a pro.
“For Mama.” I blinked back the cresting tears. “I’d do anything. Anything, do you hear me? I swear this is fate. I believe everything happens for a reason. Don’t you?”
She blinked.
I could tell she was on the verge of saying yes, so I kept on. “Just think about it, Abby. You could do it. Hop on the next bus and get out of this town. Start over, anywhere you want. Become anyone you want.”
She blinked again, and I saw it. Just the slightest nod. She was starting to see it, the future I was painting for her.
I had no fucking clue if she’d actually do it or just grab the three grand and go splurge on a PlayStation and a bunch of other useless shit, but at the same time, I knew desperate when I saw it. Abby was desperate. She also didn’t seem like an idiot.
Her moment of indecision didn’t last long. Like I said, not an idiot. Her hands closed around the cash and before I could even sniffle again, she had the envelopes under the table, stuffing them in her purse.
“I don’t know how I can ever thank you,” she started gushing. “It’s like you said.” She pushed the Invitation in my direction and then stood from the table. “Everything happens for a reason. I’m gonna do it. Thank you. Vanessa, right? Oh, Vanessa, you’re my angel!”
She came around the table and gave me a hug, but, like a smart gal, she didn’t stick around to let me change my mind when she thought she’d gotten the better bargain. She booked it out of the bar.
And I was left staring down at my golden ticket. My way in.
I smiled, wiped the fake tears out of my eyes, and stood up. Time to go get myself ready for tomorrow night’s ball.
Beau Radcliffe had no clue what was coming for him.
2
Beau
I’ve always liked to play with fire.
Red. Hot. Flames licking the air in a chaotic dance.
On the surface, you’d read me as a no-nonsense businessman. Ruthless, powerful, and not someone you’d want to mess with. But deep down, something burned inside of me in need for danger, for heat, for an inferno that lacked in my day to day.
Maybe that was why I wanted to join the Order.
Yes, my father, and his father before him, and the generations before that sealed my fate. I didn’t really have a choice if I wanted to be a Radcliffe and run Radcliffe Jewelers and Imports. But my heritage wasn’t the only reason I stood in the white ballroom of the Oleander at midnight.
I wanted the silver cloak.
I wanted the membership.
I wanted it and would do whatever it took to get it.
Although I’d never show it. I’d never reveal the fires that burned inside of me. I never showed anything but cool and collected at all times. A hard shell on the outside no matter that inferno on the inside.
“Are you ready, son?” my father asked as he walked up to me cloaked in silver as a proud member of the Order of the Silver Ghost.
Nodding, I sipped from my drink, careful to only sip. I wanted my mind sharp and clear for what was about to come.