All Hail - J. Bree Page 0,75
nowhere.
It’s a terrible venue and chosen because of the Ford family’s close ties to the place but there’s only one section of the building women are even allowed to enter so I’m escorted to the elevator by one of the valets and he waits there with me until the doors open, seeing me inside and then pushing the buttons to the right floor for me like I’m unable to do it myself.
When the doors open, I roll my shoulders back and walk into the room with the same confidence I do everything in my life. There are whispers around the room but nothing too terrible. After I find myself a drink, I slowly work my way around the room greeting the women and men in attendance until I find who I’m looking for.
My mark for the night, Olivia is flirting with Samuel Washington, another doctor who was on my father’s roster for the prescription drugs he would use sometimes in his torture. I give him a disapproving glance before turning my body to him in a move that is very clearly a dismissal and he stalks off without a word. We’ve interacted a handful of times in the past so he knows exactly what I’m capable of.
Olivia blinks at me and then glances around like she’s trying to find an escape from me but there’s not a single person in this room who is dumb enough to try. Atticus isn’t here tonight and the Amanda nightmare of a woman is nowhere in sight.
“Avery, what a lovely surprise to see you here tonight. It’s been some time since I’ve seen a Beaumont attending a party in this circuit.”
I force a smile onto my face at her, honey sweet and with none of my usual cutting ice. “I admit I haven’t found much reason to attend lately but I’ve had some openings in my schedule and thought I should pop my head in. There are still the same boring women gossiping about nothing, not really my style. And you? Have you been loyal to your lovely little friends?”
Olivia herself is an oil magnate’s daughter and his sole heir. This in itself should ensure that the women here are nice to her because nothing gets you higher up the ladder quite like an impending inheritance, but ten years ago when she married her high school sweetheart she’d taken a tumble down the socialite ladder.
Christopher Bromburg’s family are rich, successful, and very new money.
The type of new money that wears flashy labels and talks about their salaries over the dinner table. I heard his father bought a yacht and named it Mo’ Money Mo’ Problems which, besides being fucking stupid, is the cringey type of bragging that the upper society hates to see.
Christopher is an agent in the DEA Office of National Security Intelligence and though he loves his family, he is nothing like them. He married for love and having the very docile Olivia in his bed is exactly what that very intelligent and, frankly, boring agent wanted.
She’s the key to getting that man on my roster.
Olivia cringes a little and glances over at the other women but they’re all watching us with a sort of horror, like there isn’t anything quite as terrifying as me taking an interest in her.
I think it’s hilarious and the desperation wafting off them all is enough to choke on. Every last one of them is trapped in an unhappy marriage with men who need a bucketload of Viagra to fuck them and really they’re just jealous that Olivia is married to a man who doesn’t stray from her after every little bleach blonde whore that crosses his path.
It’s pathetic.
“Richard Ford is an old friend of my father, it was important to him that I attend. I don’t intend on staying long,” Olivia says, taking a sip of the champagne in her hand.
It’s a very diplomatic answer, one that I don’t have it in me to give back to her. “Why would anyone stay here for longer than it takes to down a drink? What the hell is Jessamine wearing? She looks abhorrent. Did Christopher attend with you?”
Olivia shakes her head a little. “He’s been very busy with a big case. The narcotics issues in this country are only getting worse. It’s good for keeping his position secure but makes the hours a nightmare.”
Dammit. I nod sedately and take another sip of my drink. When I turn to find a refill, I see Luca and Atticus walk