Within moments of walking in the front door, someone has offered to buy me a drink. I accept gratefully and accompany my would-be suitor to the bar, where he makes small talk at me and I sip a cocktail, just happy to be free.
I don’t catch his name. I barely even notice what he looks like. He’s droning on about a promotion he might be getting, trying to impress me with brand names and people I know far better than he ever could. I smile and nod, make little comments to keep him talking. He’s just a guy and I’m not interested in him, but it is nice to be in the company of someone who tries to impress me rather than just take me for his own.
In my short time with Darko, I almost began to forget what normal relationships were like. He was everything. He was the world. And I was nothing but a little captive moon, stuck in his orbit. I never had a thought or made a move without reference to him. I wonder…
“Oh, my god! Chloe! It’s me!”
A high-pitched squeal distracts me from my thoughts. I turn and am engulfed in the drunken arms of a friend I’ve had since college. Alice has been out in LA for years now, we see each other during vacations sometimes. She babbles happily at me, dragging me away from the man and his drink, through the crowds of dancing, grinding people.
“You didn’t tell me you were coming into town!” She pulls me down to sit with her at her booth. “What’s been going on?” Her face falls a second or two after asking the question as the alcohol fades enough to let her remember what my news is. My father’s death. “I’m so sorry, Chloe,” she gasps. “Are you okay? Of course you’re not okay.”
It’s such a relief to feel safe, and to feel normal. I let her fuss over me, accept the drink she offers me, and some food. I’m starving. I’ve barely been able to eat since Darko took me. We stay at the bar for a bit and then she takes me back to her apartment. I feel safer there than I would at mine. I’m pretty sure that Darko and his cabal won’t show their hand when common people are around. A secretive Order doesn’t work if it has to reveal itself. And Alice is a big mouth. She owns the internet’s premier gossip site. If any evil underlings try to take me down, it will be all over the globe within minutes.
“Can I crash at your place tonight? I lost my things on the plane. I’m such a klutz.”
“Oh, my god, of course! It will be fun! We’ll have a sleepover! It will be just like back at the dorms!”
* * *
It’s nothing like being back at the dorms. Well, maybe it is. Alice is drunk to the point of illness by the time we get back. I gathered over the evening that she recently broke up with a boyfriend. I tell her I did too.
“They don’t desherve ush,” she slurs as I help her into her apartment. “Ish fucked up.”
She has no idea.
I get her into bed, grab a shower, and change into some of her pajamas. Then I climb into her spare bed. She’s going to wake up with a hell of a hangover in the morning, probably not get out of bed until after midday.
Lying in the dark, I feel a strange thrill deep in my belly. I know Darko will be looking for me. Maybe they all will be. But they’re not going to find me, and I am not going to be victim to their cabal either.
There won’t be any way to find me in the short term. There were no fewer than five helicopters on the roof, and I think several boats at the dock. I could have gone on any one of them. I could be anywhere in the world. The busyness of Los Angeles is like a cloak, shielding me. I just have to stay under the radar.
Chapter Seven
Darko
She’s gone.
Utterly, completely gone.
I call in men. I have the entire island searched from top to bottom, the house multiple times in case she has found some place to hide. Hours later, the search reveals nothing.
I curse myself for not locking her in the room I left her in. I didn’t think about it. I was so arrogantly certain that this island was a fortress I didn’t consider the possibility that bringing people in would put her at risk of being taken out.
She’s been stolen. I am almost certain of that. She showed no sign of interest in escape before last night, but there were hungry eyes on her and I know there was jealousy that I was the first to take her. Others among the Order had a similar plan, I am almost certain of that.