One Night Stand novel · Chapter 12 of 24

Chapter 12: The Recording

"No," I said.

It came out quieter than I wanted, and in the hush it carried to every table.

Preston lowered his hand.

"No?"

"I'm not here to give a speech."

"Of course." His smile never left. "It's a delicate story. Perhaps I'd better tell it."

"Preston," Mateo said, from somewhere to my left. "Sit down."

"Cousin, I would, but I owe the family the truth.

"I only learned it myself ten days ago, when our security team ran the opening-day footage."

He tapped his phone, and a man's voice came out of the ballroom speakers.

It was thin and even and bored.

"Hanley. Tomorrow night, Lantern Room, VIP floor. The target is a man in his late twenties, dark hair, usually in gray.

"Get him with whoever he ends up with. Two thousand now, eight when I have the card."

A young woman's voice answered.

It was mine.

I knew it at once, though it was four years younger and much more afraid.

"And if he doesn't end up with anyone?"

"Then you don't get the eight."

"Okay," my own voice said. "Okay. I'll do it."

The recording stopped.

Nobody in the ballroom breathed.

I looked for Mateo.

He was standing absolutely still in the middle of the floor with his glass in his hand.

His face was empty.

It was the face from the steps.

"That was recorded by the man who hired her," Preston said gently. "A professional, apparently. We found it in his files. And this."

A screen came down behind the quartet, and a photograph of a receipt filled it.

Hanley, C. Two thousand dollars. Cash. Received.

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