Giorgio (Vigilance #1) - Silvia Violet Page 0,73

looked around at the guests, noting several prominent artists, another gallery owner, an actor I knew lived in the area, a man I recognized from a fundraiser I’d attended with my mother, and the brother of a senator whose family was like local royalty. When I began a second sweep of the room, I saw him. “Alan is over by the French doors.”

Niall followed my line of sight.

“I’ll walk past him on my way to the bathroom to let him see I’m here.”

“Pretend you don’t see him. I’ll keep you in sight.”

27

Giorgio

I tensed as I listened to Niall warning Lane to be careful. Joe clapped a hand on my shoulder and mouthed, “It’s okay.”

“I’m moving into the hallway,” Leo said.

X spoke next. “Keep your eyes on Lane. I don’t want him out of sight.”

I wished we had video surveillance. I wanted to see the son of a bitch and evaluate how he looked at Lane.

I waited, the sound of my heartbeat thumping in my ears. My head ached, and my hands were sweaty. I was definitely not at my best, and I needed to be. If anything went wrong and I had to step in, I would have to be able to focus, but all I could think about was Lane and how much I loved him.

“Lane’s been spotted,” Niall said. The words were quick and clipped. He was obviously leery of being caught talking to himself. “Target is following,” Niall added a few seconds later.

“Watching,” Leo said

My stomach churned.

I knew X was as worried as I was. I wanted to give him some reassurance, but my mouth was too dry, and I wasn’t sure I could keep my voice steady.

I heard shoes click on a tile floor, then a door being opened. Soon after that, the sound of water. Lane must be in the bathroom.

Leo spoke again. “Target is waiting outside the bathroom.”

“Stay in position,” X said. “And don’t fuck this up.”

The wait was killing me. Usually in these circumstances, I was able to put myself in a zone where I focused on nothing but commands to move, to sight a target, to shoot. I wanted to rush in, grab Alan, and beat him senseless. I could end the man right this second, but that wasn’t our only objective. I willed myself to breathe slowly, using the calming techniques I’d honed over my years in the service.

“Lane.” That must be Alan speaking.

“Oh. I… I didn’t see you.” Fuck. He sounded scared.

“Why did you show up with another man? Did you think you could make me jealous?”

“No, I—”

“We have unfinished business.”

“I know. I… I came because I wanted to see you. I’ve missed you.”

Alan snorted. “Just like I said you would. So why bring another man instead of responding to my invitation?”

“He… insisted. He’s very possessive, but I’d rather have you.” Lane was following the script we’d worked out. Fortunately, it didn’t matter that his voice was a little shaky.

“Come with me.”

I heard a door opening and more footsteps. Then another door.

“They’ve gone into what looks like a library,” Leo said.

“You owe me.” It was Alan’s voice again.

“What do you mean?” Lane was using his most coquettish voice, and I hated that he was having to play up to this fucker. I balled my hands into fists, squeezing so hard my knuckles went white. I should never have agreed to this.

“I wanted a chance to show you off,” Alan said. “You never gave me that, but now you can repay me for all I’ve done for you.”

“The gallery showing? You’ll set that up for me?” Lane sounded so eager, so innocent. He was good.

“Maybe, but you’ll have to be a good boy for me. You’ll have to earn it. You can’t embarrass me again like you did before.”

“Em-embarrass you? What do you mean? What did I do?”

“I promised my friend a nice afternoon, then you refused us and told us to leave.”

“I didn’t want… I wasn’t in the mood for a threesome that day. You surprised me.”

“We’d talked about it before. You knew I liked to share.”

I hated this fucking piece of shit.

“I… I just wasn’t sure I really wanted to.” Was the quiver in Lane’s voice real, or was he still acting?

“I’ve got something for you that will help you not be nervous this time.”

“He plans to fucking drug him,” I said, hating the panic in my voice.

“Stay calm,” Leo said. “We’ve got this.”

“Wh-what do you mean this time?” Lane asked.

“Weren’t you listening? I told you I need to