Royal Line (Tattered Royals #1) - Carrie Ann Ryan Page 0,10

Drake’s support, things would have been much, much worse for me. I could put up with his daughter for a night…at a Paris Fashion Week party.

Suddenly, there was a long beat of silence that sent my arm hairs standing at attention. It was the calm before the storm. Then there was a bass drop accompanied by a loud bullhorn alarm. The kind they played in clubs. Some DJ came on with a mic and said, “We’re going to kick it old school, ladies and gents, taking us back and dropping you into a little foam.”

I frowned. “Did he just say foam?”

On the other end of the coms, Sparrow made a gagging sound. “Yes, he did. And for the record, I’d like to note that it’s disgusting.”

Olly laughed. “He is really trying to nail that old-school vibe and kiss the designer’s ass. 1999 is the theme of the Blink & Marc fashion show. Weren’t any of you paying attention? Sparrow, you of all people.”

Sparrow snorted. “Um, no. I don’t do the whole fashion thing. I just naturally look fabulous. Besides, check your patriarchy at the door, handsome. It is possible for me to have tits and not like fashion.”

“Are you two done yet?” I frowned as I searched the crowd. Luckily, I towered over most of the party guests. “Nikolai, Blue Cap has vanished from sight. I repeat, he’s vanished from sight.”

I made my way to the door, hoping to catch the guy, but I couldn’t find him in the crowd. And then the foam started. Kids at the center of the dance floor started hopping around and slipping. The designers had thrown this little after-party to celebrate the booming success of their line. Frankly, I didn’t understand how bright colors and baggy jeans were somehow now back in style.

Suddenly, Sparrow’s frantic voice came back through the coms with a hint of tension. “Lilith is gone. I can’t find her. Vanished in the crowd.”

Whiskey Tango Foxtrot? “Repeat?” This couldn’t be happening. No. No. No. No.

“I repeat, Lilith has gone missing.”

“Fan out. Olly and Marcus, put yourselves at the exits. Max and Aiden, east and west stairs. No one walks in or out of here. Sparrow, you start down the north side, work your way to the center, I will follow up from the south.” Jesus fucking Christ. “Nikolai, you start in the middle.”

This was not happening. I had not lost Drake Montague’s daughter, for the love of Christ.

As my team searched frantically, I kept the coms open. My eyes fervently searched the crowd. Every pencil-necked, needle-headed prick who thought he was God’s gift to women and used the opportunity with the foam to bump and grind on the girls made it difficult, if not impossible, to see in the crowd.

Lilith had been wearing all white. Some midriff-baring thing with fringe on the bottom of it, and barely-there shorts. Unfortunately, she looked like every other model in here.

We hunted through the crowd, person by person, and I was ready to make the call to shut down the entire after-party when I finally caught sight of a blue cap in the periphery of my vision, heading into the bathroom—or at least into the private VIP bathroom area.

The party was so exclusive that those who were personal friends to the designers got their own VIP area, which meant there were no webcams.

I made my way over there, and an attendant tried to stop me, but I held up my badge. The whole team had gotten them for complete VIP access.

Thanks to years of rigorous training, I’d managed to keep the bulk of my adrenaline at bay. But this woman was slowing down my progress, and I was about to forget to be a gentleman. But luckily, she didn’t have to see my grumpy side.

With a grumble, she let me pass. My gaze swept the area over and over, cataloguing and then dismissing everyone in the section.

When I didn’t see Lilith or Blue Cap, that left only one place they could be. I pressed my com unit at my shoulder. “Sparrow, stand by for confirmation. I might have located Lilith Montague.”

Unlike the main area, the VIP bathrooms were far less crowded. There were only two women waiting, and I caught the eye of the curvy brunette. “Excuse me, have you seen a man about medium height and weight, dark hair, blue baseball cap?”

Her gaze swept over me. “Just when I thought my night was looking up, you go and ask me where another guy went?