East End (Hear No Evil Trilogy #1) - Nana Malone Page 0,34

lie if I said I wasn’t disappointed.

Thanks to Amelia’s mother's connections, the red carpet had been rolled out for us for this birthday party of a man I didn't know. Amelia had to attend anyway, and I was her plus one. These people with the glitterati lifestyle weren’t really my speed. I’d never really understood the world Amelia came from. When I’d met her at MI5, she’d been trying to run away from her former life. But over the last three years her mother insisted on dragging her back, kicking and screaming.

I’d expected to see East Hale at this birthday party. It was the sole reason I’d come.

You wanted to see him again.

No. I wanted to talk to him about the Royal Museum of Monaco and his involvement with it.

You also wanted to take him by surprise.

Damn right I did. Somehow, he’d found the bug and what, been watching me? Spying? And why the hell did that make me flush all over instead of shiver from fear?

Because you’re fucked in the head and thinking about how he tastes and not what he’s capable of.

He might have my father fooled. Or worse, been able to pull strings to get him to back off, but I had to play nice and to be honest he was the least of my problems.

But still… disappointment. He wasn’t at the party. So I was going to have to go to his turf to talk to him. I exited the loo and accidentally turned left. When I turned around to head back to the party, I say the man dressed in all black easing out of an office.

The clue that he was up to no good was the balaclava on his head.

“Hey! Who the hell are you?”

He turned his head and gave me a glance over his shoulder. And there was something about the way he cocked his head that was smug and arrogant and somewhat amused, and my brain told myself that his lips quirked in just the kind of way that East Hale's did. And then I could see the full resemblance. Exact height, the frame, those ridiculously broad shoulders, tapering into a lean waist, long athletic legs.

Holy fucking shit.

It was East.

For a breath of a moment, we stood locked in place. Frozen. Neither of us breathing. Me in heels and my black mermaid-style cocktail dress, short in front and long in the back with a deep V. Him in the latest cat-burglar chic and a black balaclava.

Did I go back to the party and get security, or did I go after East and capture him myself? I knew what I needed to do. What the smart choice was. But in that split second, the decision was made for me.

East, ran.

And I chased. Because what the hell else was I supposed to do?

Oh fuck, he was fast.

Of course, I already knew how fast, but I’d run track and field back in secondary. I was quick, too. I'd even been offered scholarships to go to some unis in the States. Given enough time, I could catch him.

And I knew every exit out of this place.

I had researched the blueprints just in case something went wrong. Given my evening gown status, I could just feign that I was looking for a bathroom if I got caught, but God, why did it feel like East knew this place as well as I did?

Who the fuck is he?

A thread of something pulled at the back of my mind, but I didn't have time to examine it at the moment. We rounded a corner with him ahead of me by some twenty-five or thirty yards. But my heels slipped on the marble. When my hand caught the edge of the door to stop myself from taking a tumble, it was as if he heard me almost fall, and he slowed, turning slightly. Our gazes met, and when I saw the moss green of his eyes, I knew for certain. I knew it was him. "Whatever you're stealing, give it up."

This time instead of a smirk under his mask, I knew it was a full-blown grin, and that was all the confirmation I needed. I kicked off my shoes, bent down to scoop them up, and sprinted.

His eyes went wide, and he ran literally like he stole something. He exited through one of the side doors, into the gardens, and I was on his tail.

I knew this side of the property led to a massive downward slope and a maze