Nora
My heart was still pounding when I stepped out of the Crimson Lotus.
My hands were shaking as I unbuckled my seatbelt. I'd finished third, behind Kaito and Stephan. Third. After nearly flying off the bend in the Macau harbor. The taste of blood in my mouth (I'd bitten my lip without realizing it) hadn't gone away yet.
And now this.
The top floor of the Peak Tower seemed to belong to another planet. Floor-to-ceiling glass, Hong Kong shimmering below us like a circuit of infinite lights. Black marble, soft amber lights, white-gloved waiters pouring Cristal as if it were tap water.
I'd taken off my fireproof suit only twenty minutes earlier. The midnight blue silk dress slipped over my still-warm, sweaty skin. My bare back showed the red marks left by the seatbelts, like fresh whiplash.
Zuri stood beside me, imposing in his black tuxedo. He wasn't drinking. His eyes scanned the room like radar.
"See that old man over there?" he murmured, leaning slightly toward me. "Chen Wei. He controls half the containers coming in and out of Southeast Asia. The one next to him, with the scar on his neck, is a former Serbian general. Now he sells 'security solutions.' They're the ones financing this circus. And they're the ones betting millions on who will die or win."
I grabbed a glass of champagne from the passing tray just to have something in my hands. The bubbles tingled my nose.
Not far away, Alain Etienne was laughing too loudly, his pupils already dilated. The Showman was consuming himself twice as fast as his cars. Gena Irish, on the other hand, was in her element: an emerald green dress that looked like liquid poison, whispering in the ear of a Swiss banker with a snakelike smile.
When he saw me, he raised his glass in my direction.
"Lady D'Avalos," he said, approaching with a feline step. Her scent of orchids and sweet tobacco was almost suffocating. "You drove well today. Too bad about that lockup in Turn 11. You almost ended up like a sack of sheet metal."
"Worried about me, Viper?" I replied with a sharp smile.
Gena laughed, a low, shrill laugh.
"For you? Never. But I've heard interesting rumors..." He leaned closer, lowering his voice. "It seems a certain Russian oligarch offered Stephan a six-figure sum to have you 'hit the wall' at the next Macau show. It seems your personal vendetta is becoming inconvenient to someone."
I felt a cold shiver run down my exposed back.
Zuri stiffened beside me, ready to intervene. I stopped him with a hand on his arm.
Gena noticed the gesture and smiled even wider.
"Careful, Black Swan. In this world, the rules of the dance floor are simple. Out here..." he made an elegant gesture that encompassed the entire room, "out here, it's much dirtier. And much more expensive."
He swayed away, leaving a trail of venom in his wake.
I took a long sip of champagne. The cold liquid contrasted with the heat I still felt on my skin.
Zuri looked at me with concern.
"Nora..."
"I know," I interrupted. "I don't trust anyone here. Not even you, if you really want to know."
He wasn't offended. In fact, he gave a bitter half-smile.
"Good. Because I don't trust myself when it comes to you, either."
My gaze swept across the crowded room until I found who I was looking for.
Stephan was standing near a window, glass in hand, staring out at the city below. As if sensing my gaze, he turned. Our eyes met.
For a second, I flashed back to the night of two nights before. The bodies colliding. The anger. The hunger.
I looked away first.
Then I saw him.
Kaito Tanaka was leaning elegantly against the glass balustrade, a few meters away from me. He wasn't speaking to anyone. He was looking at me. Calm. Penetrating. As if plotting a complicated trajectory.
When our eyes met, he didn't smile. He only gave a barely perceptible nod, almost a bow. But his eyes said so much more.
For a moment, I forgot the noise in the room, the danger, Gena's threats.
There was only that electric silence between us.
Zuri followed my gaze and sighed softly.
"This place isn't made for falling in love, Nora. It's made for destroying people."
I drank the last sip of champagne and set the empty glass on a table.
"I know," I replied, never taking my eyes off Kaito. "But maybe that's why we're all here."