The Price Of Forever

sleep, but tonig

light pulsing through its streets. Cars weaved like fireflies. Skyscrapers towered against the night, monuments to a

, it fe

y. The air smelled faintly of leather and whiskey. A million-dollar apartment and not

e, one thought

e

Jas

ked me in the eye and dismissed me with nothing but a polite smile. No awe, no hunger

y time I closed my eyes, I saw her again. That de

burn doing nothing to numb the irrit

, will you sit

wn glass. My best friend had been around long enough to recogni

k, but his grin

g the amber liquid. "Not even a hostile takeover gets y

turning back

ce the gala. I've known you long enough to spot it. You've got t

"You make me sound

I wr

n't a

rd, his tone shift

was business. But the truth wa

said finally. The sound of

y, a disbelieving chuckle.

k like I'

e. "Don't do this. I know that look. You'

nd set the glass on the bar. "S

You've got everything, Jae-money, power, control.

ot exactly. She hadn't even bothered to see me as a man

an anything, was

t," I said coolly. "I'

s. "You're obsessed. And o

them," I

his head, but I had already turned away. A

ernoon, curiosi

im folder in front of me, her expression tight. I didn't miss the flicker of confusion in her eyes. She'd never been asked to run a b

ed the

e about local curators. The camera hadn't done her justice. In person, she had been

" I murmured u

ery. Middle-class background. No scanda

ing else. A note scr

psed five years ago. Rescued

Anonymous funding. Money had saved her

tled me in a way

paintings. She speaks to artists. Always so composed, so stea

walk right into tha

e spread ac

flowers. I sen

w life into it until every wall she walks past carries my name. U

ourse she would. But t

assistant or a driver. Some

ke a living beast around me. Neon signs bled color onto the sidewalk

amed under the streetlamps, revealing glimpses of paintings inside. Co

ing, cigarette between my fingers. Smo

en I s

loose knot. She moved carefully, rearranging frames, her hands brushing each canvas with

She wasn't performing. She wasn't aware of eyes on

sted in me, d

t yet, but I'd al

ner of my vision sn

dn't noticed it when I pulled up, but now it was unmistakable. Its

er's doo

steppe

, the kind of elegance that came with old money and confidence. He didn't rush. Didn't fi

imply looked at her through the glass

e steering wh

recognize

kind, the kind that didn't need to announce itself. He was dangerous.

tterly unaware that two men were c

hest. Possession. R

ven know I h

someone else

o

ouldn'

s locked on the stranger, and

s about to learn what happened t