“I can handle it.”
His smile brightened. “I have no doubt you can.”
The driver closed the door behind him and we were back on the road. Back in my apartment, I went through all the emails and documents I’d need to finalize my plans. Big plans. All I had to do was hope they didn’t blow up in my face.
46
Leo
A man in a suit even more formal than my tux opened the doors to the hotel. His suit had tails. At least I hadn’t gone full penguin.
“There’s still time to turn around and find a less insane way of talking to her.” August leaned over, slipping his finger under his collar, sweat beading on his forehead.
“You didn’t have to come.”
“Someone needs to be here for when you need bail money.”
It had taken all my detective skills and a compelling argument made to Stella to get the information I needed to put my plan in motion. This wasn’t the ideal place, but there weren’t many options.
Zara had become part hermit, barricading herself in her apartment. Tonight, she wouldn’t have the chance to run away. Not until she heard everything I had to say. I’d already run through each of the guy’s phones—even using Everest’s hadn’t gotten me more than a single text or a ten-second call. Tonight was my night.
I stepped through the second doorway leading to the ballroom. One of these days I’d find a way to repay Hunter. A word was all it took for him to make the impossible possible. Not that scoring an invitation to a reception neither of us had been invited to had been any more difficult than procuring an engagement ring with a few hours’ notice, but he never let me down.
Fingers tightened on my arm. For a second, I thought we’d been spotted and we were on our way to being chucked out in the gutter. August’s fingers bit into my bicep. “You didn’t say this was a wedding reception.” He looked over at me like we’d stepped into the seventh circle of hell.
The twenty-piece classical orchestra on the stage was set up in front of the large backdrop with two interlocking initials signifying the bride and groom’s new nuptials. A wedding cake large enough to feed three city blocks sat prominently in the corner under spotlights more powerful than any SWAT team.
“It’ll be okay. You’re not the groom, remember?”
He stared at straight ahead at the cake.
Prying his fingers off my arm, I scanned the room for the only reason I was there.
Couples in evening gowns and tuxes like mine glided across the dance floor to waltzes that put my plays out on the field to shame. Was everyone here a professional ballroom dancer?
The colorful dresses created a tapestry of wealth in the room, but I wasn’t looking for one of them. Servers blended in with the décor, wearing matching outfits in black and white. There were more people crammed into the room than there had been at our Super Bowl after party.
“August, can you see her? I can’t see anyone.” Turning behind me, I saw that I was on my own in a sea of people shooting me strange looks.
He was standing right where I’d left him.
I stepped in front of him and shook his jacket, breaking the stare-down he had going with the fondant-covered tower in the corner. “Snap the hell out of it. It’s a wedding. I didn’t know either, or I wouldn’t have had you come. But you’re here now. Will you help me?”
He blinked a few times and shook his head. Some of the color returned to his face and he no longer looked like he’d watched an exorcism go wrong. “I’m good. I can do this.”
We walked through the crowds of people that grew thicker by the minute.
“There have to be at least three hundred people here. How much do you think this wedding cost?”
“With that spread.” He nodded to the carving stations, sea food waterfall made up of lobster tails and crab legs and champagne glass tower. “We’re talking five times what mine would’ve been.”
Holy shit. Even from afar I’d been roped into some of the wedding planning details as August’s best man. The sting from his almost-wedding was still there, but one thing we all agreed on was he’d dodged a bullet, not that any of us could say that to his face. Not yet anyway. Five times! No wonder the wedding planning business was so fierce. Shaking off the distraction and mental calculations, I got back to my mission.
“I’ll never find her in here. We need a better vantage point.” Even with both of us a head above most people, there were too many bodies. And more people were looking our way. They were going to find out we had no business being here.
“What about up there?” He pointed to the stage where the orchestra had taken a break. An unattended microphone sat perched at the front of the raised platform. “From the looks we’re getting, the countdown clock is ticking. I’ll distract the sound guy, you go up there.”
We rushed through the press of people, swimming through a sea of faces until we reached the stairs leading up to the stage.
August did his wing man duty and tripped over some of the wires, sending earsplitting feedback through the room. Heads turned our way.
I climbed the first two steps, getting a better vantage point, and searched the faces. Waiters wove their way through the throngs of people, trays balanced above their heads in some places where the packed bodies left them little room. I took the next two steps until I was up on the stage. Shielding my eyes from the bright lights, I scanned the room. Could she be in the back? Maybe she’d be on the rotation of servers coming in later? Had I missed her?
Then I spotted her. The one moving through the crowd with determined efficiency, never deviating from her forward progress while still letting people take their pick from her tray. Even from behind with her hair in a low braid in an efficient and out-of-the-way hairstyle, I couldn’t look away. Her outfit matched all the other servers, but she looked more beautiful than any of the women in their glittering designer gowns.
She smiled politely as people took champagne flutes off her tray.
“Zara,” I called out.
She wasn’t far from the stage, but with so many people it was hard to be heard over the background music and rumble from the crowd.
I cupped my hands around my mouth. “Zara.”
She paused for a second looking up and around, but not behind her.
Once again, I cupped my hands. “Zara!” My voice boomed through the room and every head whipped around in my direction. The mic beside me now live and cranked up to eleven.
“Sorry,” I said into the mic. “Congratulations to…” I looked behind me at the custom backdrop “Marcela and Evan. May you have a marriage as wonderful as this wedding. Your dress looks amazing.” The woman in white’s expression changed from confused to beaming. “But I need to talk to that woman.”
“Is that Leo Wilder?” someone in the crowd called out as I jumped from the stage with my gaze locked onto the woman who’d haunted every dream I’d had since she’d walked away from me.
Zara’s face cycled through at least five emotions. Surprise, embarrassment, sadness, and maybe wishful thinking on my part, but a hint of longing, before settling on unbridled anger. She jolted when I hit the floor, setting the glasses on her tray wobbling.