Total pages in book: 125
Estimated words: 117915 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 590(@200wpm)___ 472(@250wpm)___ 393(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 117915 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 590(@200wpm)___ 472(@250wpm)___ 393(@300wpm)
“I’ve been organizing the wedding mood boards on Pinterest and Trello,” Marissa began, pulling over a rose-gold laptop.
I ran those words back through my head, and they still didn’t make a damn bit of sense. I nodded anyway. “Good, good,” I murmured. “Love me a mood board, don’t I, Pickle?”
Quinn side-eyed me before turning back to the bride and saying with a completely straight face, “Oh, yes. Champ prefers Asana. He decided he prefers the multimedia capability since he has the potential to integrate his future wedding-planning TikTok and Instagram accounts into his wedding mood boards. He also has mood boards for his actual moods, which has been so helpful to me in understanding the complex processes of that big brain of yours, hasn’t it, Nilla Wafer?” He looked up at me soulfully.
What the fuck was he talking about?
Marissa’s forehead wrinkled. “Like, what do you mean?”
Quinn leaned forward. “Oh, like Champ’s ‘sad’ board has photos of all the things that make him happy when he’s feeling blue. Teddy bears, fresh daisies in a jelly jar, puppy kisses, that song by Pharrell, and—”
I reached over and clapped a hand over his mouth. “No. That’s… that’s private, Pork Chop. Besides, Marissa and Trey aren’t here for that. They’re here to discuss their own big plans. Isn’t that right?” I flashed my best smile at Marissa. “Tell me more about what you lovebirds are thinking!”
I felt someone stiffen behind me.
I turned to see Levi, the Drakeses’ family bodyguard, standing in the entrance to the doorway. His eyes roved over Marissa before moving toward Tommy Drakes, who’d been sitting pretty stoically while Quinn, Marissa, and Carlotta planned ways to spend money, only occasionally flicking annoyed glances at Trey, who hadn’t looked up from his phone since we’d sat down.
“Excuse me for interrupting,” Levi said. “Mr. Drakes, there’s someone at the door for you.”
“We’re busy, Levi.” Tommy waved a hand.
“Yes, sir. But they’re insisting.”
Tommy glanced up, and whatever he saw on Levi’s face had him swinging gracefully to his feet. “Back in a minute, sweetheart,” he told Marissa.
Maybe this was my chance to do a little snooping. If Drakes and Levi were busy with someone at the front door and Mrs. Drakes, Marissa, and Trey were busy here with Quinn, I could poke around with less chance of discovery.
I pushed back my chair to follow them. “Would you mind pointing me in the direction of your restroom? I had too much coffee on the way here.”
Levi flicked me a suspicious look, but he must’ve decided whoever was at the front door was more of a concern than I was. He pointed to a doorway down a side hall before following his boss toward the front of the house. I made my way into the bathroom before turning right back around and sneaking out again. I returned to the room I’d spotted on the way in that looked like Tommy Drakes’s office.
Sure enough, the dark-paneled room was exactly what it looked like. A heavy wooden desk with gaudy carvings down the legs took up the far end of the room, while dark leather sofas and chairs made up a seating area by a fireplace. I turned around to look for things of interest, like a file cabinet or computer, when the light from a nearby window glinted off a display case mounted on the wall behind the desk, catching my eye.
I stood and stared. The case took up almost the entire wall, and it was filled with every kind of handheld gaming device I could think of. I crept closer to it, my eyes searching the collection greedily. Finally, I saw it. A sparkly peach Horn of Glory was mounted front and center above an old pocket arcade game, looking exactly like the pictures Hux had shown me.
The display was locked, which wouldn’t have been a problem, except I also noticed two very high-end and discreet motion sensors protecting the case. Instead of trying to get into the display, I quickly pulled out my phone to snap some photos of it for Hux.
Before I could even get a second shot, though, I heard footsteps and voices coming close. There wasn’t time to get out the door without being seen, so I needed to either hide or explain why I was snooping around. There was no way I would get away with acting stupid after Levi had shown me to the bathroom directly—especially not when they knew who I was and were already suspicious of me—so I quickly moved behind a heavy window curtain in the corner of the room and prayed the old movie trick actually worked.
The fabric was thick enough to muffle their words but not so thick I didn’t recognize the one that didn’t belong.
“We were hoping a known collector like yourself could help us with our investigation,” Vince said in a false-friendly tone.