Betrayed (12 page)

“That’s all this is,” she said.
“Vampire politics.
You and Jared don’t have some covert plan to bait this guy like you talked about yesterday?”

“No plan, my Cyn. I promise.”

Cyn nodded, wordlessly accepting his assurance. But as she settled back into her seat and stared out at the black sky beyond the window, she couldn’t help but remember the look of silent understanding that Raphael and Jared had exchanged when the assassin’s ID first came through. And she wondered whether Raphael’s promises to her meant as much as she’d always thought they did.

Chapter Four

Malibu
,
California

“What day is today?”

Cyn glanced up at Raphael’s muttered question. It was their first full night home, and they were sitting in his office, both of them going through a week’s worth of accumulated mail. Anything urgent had been forwarded by Raphael’s staff, but that still left substantial piles of mail and messages to wade through.

Half of it went right into the shredder to be recycled. She’d only heard Raphael’s mutter because it had fallen into a lull in the whirring blades.

Cyn thought for a moment.
“Wednesday, why?”

Raphael was flicking a formal invitation between his fingers. The heavy white stock and gold framing looked familiar, and she realized she had an identical invitation in her own mail. She picked it up and slid a fingernail beneath the envelope flap, then eyed the invitation it contained.

“You want to go to a charity ball?” she asked in surprise.

“Not really,” he admitted. “But this is one of Dakin Corporation’s pet charities. Their entire board will be there, including Marty
Holdrige
, who’s heading up the new slate at the shareholder’s meeting. I wouldn’t mind meeting him in person to get a better feel for his character.”

“As in, you want to read his mind to see if he’s a crook or not.”

Raphael looked up and flashed
her a
devastating grin.
“That, too.”
 
He seemed to notice for the first time that she held the same invite. “You’re a shareholder, my Cyn?”

“Apparently.
Probably one of those family trust things.
If you’re nice to me, I’ll vote my shares with you.”

He gave her a smoldering look—and no one could smolder like Raphael. “I promise to be very
nice
to you.”

Cyn’s
heart fluttered in her chest, and she suddenly wished they were downstairs in the privacy of their bedroom.

Later
, Raphael’s expression seemed to say,
then
he swiveled around and checked the calendar on his
iPad
.

Cyn propped her head on her fist and fought the urge to laugh at the sight of a 500-year-old vampire lord flipping pages on his
iPad
.

“This Sunday,” he murmured,
then
glanced up at her. “Would you like to dress up this weekend, my Cyn?”

“
This
Sunday?” she repeated, checking her own invite. “Is that—
”

But Raphael had already picked up his cell phone and hit speed dial. “Jared, we’ll be attending the Dakin event this Sunday evening. Make the appropriate arrangements, please.”

“What about Luther Mars?” Cyn asked when he hung up. “He’s still out there somewhere. We’ve barely started the search for him, and I’m of a mind with
Juro
. I know you need to prove a point, to flip the finger at
Klemens
, but it doesn’t need to be at a crowded venue like this. It would be too easy for him to come at you.”

Raphael tossed the phone onto his desk. “It’s actually the perfect place for me to be seen with minimal risk.
A private affair, invitation only.
Mars can hardly walk in and request a table. With all of the money and politicians in evidence, security will be tight, and I’ll have my own security with me, as usual. We’ll be as safe there as we would be remaining here.”

Cyn doubted that, but Raphael seemed particularly determined on this one point. He wanted to be seen, to thumb his nose at
Klemens
. And he was right about one thing. Security would be tight. She just hoped it was tight enough.

* * * *

Cyn crossed her legs, letting the heel of her open-toed pump dangle loosely over the rail of the padded bar stool as she looked around, amazed at what the event organizers had accomplished. They’d somehow managed to get permission to erect a fully-functioning banquet tent in the middle of the polo field at
Will
Rogers
State Park
. She wondered how much of a donation
that
had cost.

“
Juro
sends word that Raphael’s meeting is breaking up, Cyn,”
Elke
said from over her shoulder. “They’re on their way back now.”

Cyn nodded and took a sip of ice water, which was all she’d permitted herself tonight. Raphael might be casual about the danger, but she wasn’t. She would have preferred that he remain inside the tent, but when the potential new Dakin board chairman had invited him to talk, he could hardly refuse. He’d taken all of his security with him, which eased her concerns somewhat, but she was ready for him to get back inside now. There were too many dark hidey holes on the hills surrounding this park.

“How come none of these people came to
my
fundraiser?” her friend Lucia asked peevishly.
Luci
had joined Cyn at the bar only moments before, having lost her own date to his mother, who’d taken the opportunity to catch up on several weeks of unreturned phone calls.

Cyn scanned the crowded tent idly, noting several familiar faces. “Hate to burst your pity-filled bubble, Luce, but a lot of them did. Besides—” She halted mid-sentence as Lucia’s eyes went big with alarm.

Cyn and
Elke
both started to turn. “What are you—” Cyn began.

“
Sssst
,”
Luci
hissed.
“Don’t look, either one of you!
Don’t even
twitch,
maybe she won’t . . . ooh, too late. Holly alert.”

“Fuck me,” Cyn swore softly. “What’s she doing—
”

“Cyndi!”
Her sister Holly’s voice was as welcome as nails on a blackboard. Cyn hadn’t seen Holly, who was actually her
half
-sister, since she’d caught her trying to steal some of
Cyn’s
private files to sell to the tabloids over a year ago.

Holly stepped directly into
Cyn’s
line of sight, so she could no longer pretend she hadn’t heard her sister call her name.

“Holly,” she acknowledged.

“Cyndi, you know my
fiancé
don’t you? Charles
Bennette
the third. Chucky, honey, this is my sister Cynthia . . .” Holly paused, her face screwed up in exaggerated puzzlement. “It’s still Leighton, isn’t it, Cyndi? You’re not
married
yet?”

Cyn did a mental eye roll at Holly’s oh-so-obvious dig.
Like she gave a flying fuck what Holly or anyone else thought about her marital status.

“Hey, Chuck,” Cyn said casually, mentally comparing Chucky to the Pillsbury dough boy he so obviously resembled. “Holly, you remember Lucia, and this is
Elke
.”

Holly barely glanced at
Elke
, while Charles’s eyes widened in alarm, and he took a step back, neatly placing Holly between himself and the dangerous vampire. What a prince.

Cyn exchanged an amused glance with
Elke
,
then
addressed her sister. “So, you two kids are getting married, huh?”

“Chuck asked me last week,” Holly confided, then plopped her hand out to show off the ring.

Cyn was feeling just petty enough that she made a point of using her left hand to examine Holly’s ring, which put her own elegant set of diamonds on display right next to her sister’s rather conventional engagement ring.

“Isn’t that charming,” Cyn cooed, which everyone knew was code for “my, what a lovely
little
diamond.”

Holly snatched her hand back.

Ever the peacemaker, Lucia asked, “When’s the big day?”
 

Like she cared
, Cyn thought in disgust.

“We were thinking a spring wedding, hopefully next month.”

“Not much time to organize a wedding,” Cyn observed, suddenly interested. “Is there something I should know, Holly?” she asked with a not-so-subtle glance at her sister’s abdomen.

Holly’s expression tightened in anger, but smoothed out quickly.
Too quickly.
The rapid shift put all of
Cyn’s
senses on alert.
Either her
sister was performing for Chuck—who hadn’t said a word so far—or she wanted a favor.

“Actually, it
is
rather short timing, and it’s just good luck that we ran into you tonight. I was going to call you next week anyway. We were thinking how romantic it would be to get married on the
beach,
and since Raphael has that wonderful estate—”

“No,” Cyn interrupted.

Holly blinked several times. “What?”

“I said
no,
Holly. There will be no wedding at Raphael’s, and no wedding at my condo, either. You’ll have to find someplace else.”

“But this close to the date, every venue is booked.”

“Not my problem.”

Holly’s lips pinched tightly, causing white lines of strain to arrow unattractively from the corners of her mouth to her anger-reddened cheeks. “You always were a selfish bitch,” Holly hissed, showing her true colors. “Don’t hold your breath waiting for an invitation.”

Cyn stared at her half-sister in amazement, but then, Holly had always lived in her own self-centered little world. The truth was they’d have had to drag Cyn kicking and screaming to that wedding.
 

But all she said was, “I’ll live.”

“Come, Charles,” Holly said huffily. “We’ve more important people to talk to.”

“Do you think Chucky ever speaks?” Lucia asked thoughtfully, as they disappeared into the crowd.

“That’s your sister?”
Elke
asked,
disbelief evident in her voice.

“Half-sister,” Cyn corrected her.
“And, yeah.”

“You don’t look anything alike.”

“Different fathers.”

“Huh.”

“And, no,
Luci
, I think Chuck spends all of his time eating.”

“He does look rather . . . doughy.”

The three women burst into laughter.

“I can’t believe she thought—”
Cyn’s
voice choked to a halt as a searing pain suddenly stabbed through her chest, and she doubled over in agony.

“Cyn?”
Luci
said urgently, grabbing her friend.

“Raphael,” Cyn whispered, sitting up, her gaze going unerringly in the direction of where she’d left Raphael grilling the potential new Dakin Chairman. She stood, holding on to the bar stool, fighting for balance.

“You need to sit,”
Luci
said, urging her down.

“No,” Cyn insisted, then again, “No,” more strongly this time.
“
Elke
!”
She took off running through the crowd, vaguely aware of
Elke
running next to her. People scrambled to get out of her way, which was made more difficult by the screams of guests who were shoving their way back
into
the tent, trying to escape whatever was happening outside.

“
Elke
!” she called, and the vampire bodyguard was there. “I need to get to Raphael!”

Elke
took her arm and shoved people aside, ignoring the cries of protests and outrage. They finally broke free of the mob and found themselves in near total darkness, with not a soul in sight. Why did it seem so dark suddenly? Hadn’t there been lights out here before?