Page 64 of Midnight Secrets

“It’s beautiful, thank you.” I could barely force the words through my numb lips.

“No, thankyou,” she said, laughing. “He paid me a lot of money to put this together. You must be very special to him.”

She may as well have stabbed me through the heart because the pain was so sharp it caught my breath. I stepped toward the display so I didn’t have to speak to anyone. He’d created every detail, including the tree to one side with necklines carved into it to accommodate pendants and necklaces.

A hand reached out of the pond for the special water element ring I’d created with a matching bracelet.

“Your pieces are in the Peli cases over there.” Jordan nodded to several large black boxes accompanied by a stern-looking man in a black suit.

“Should we set them out and see how it looks?” Annabelle smiled at me.

“Sure.” My world had been decimated two days ago, but right now it was slowly crumbling and leaving me incapacitated. Ash had done all this and I had doubted him. He’d given me more than I could ever repay and I’d acted like a brat.

I tucked my hair behind my ears and started to unpack the heavy cases. The jewellery had been packed with infinite care and attention to detail. Annabelle and I set all the pieces out on display so they could be viewed before they were modelled tomorrow night.

“I know Ash is obviously off the market,” Annabelle said in idle conversation. “But what about him?” Her eyes were on Jordan. If he hadn’t been my big brother figure, I would have fallen for him long ago. Jordan never seemed to notice the female attention he gathered. If he did, he never reacted to it, constantly in his own world of pain and misery. Women loved an emotional challenge.

“Jordan was off the market a long time ago. His story is epically tragic.” Considering I only had one line to go from earlier, I decided to embellish.

“Pity. All the good-looking ones are taken.” She pouted and returned to the task at hand.

I wanted to say that Ash wasn’t taken, but the little demon on my shoulder practically shouted in my ear that he was ours alone and she could keep her gorgeous fingers off him.

When we finished, I looked around the room. Some of the displays were elegant, some blingtastic, but mine was unique in so many ways and I saw several people studying it covertly.

“Ash was very specific about everything since you were in Tuscany,” Annabelle chittered in the background.

I smiled briefly. “He’s an accountant and thrives on details.”

“I might be biased, but I think our display is the most imaginative. It’s got a fairytale quality that draws your attention to it. The jewellery has been discreetly displayed that you discover each piece individually as you translate the story.”

The room started to close in around me, my head spinning and nausea burning a trail up my throat to choke me. “I need some air.” I dashed from the room toward the exit. I should never have left Tuscany and the safety of those huge walls that surrounded it.

Jordan found me crouched outside with my hand over my mouth. He stooped beside me. “You need to decide what you want, Lucy, because you can’t keep going on like this.”

My eyes burned with suppressed tears as I stared at him. “I’ve made such a mess.”

He shrugged. “Relationships are fucking hard and you have no experience with them, considering you grew up in the equivalent of a convent.”

“How did you know?”

One eyebrow rose in indignation. “I wouldn’t be a very good head of security if I couldn’t work out you two were crazy about each other.”

“Ash doesn’t want me.”

“There’s a different between not wanting someone and knowing what’s best for them. Zee is going mental right now over what happened to Cas. He was security mad before, but this is insane right now.” He gave me one of his intense stares that bored into your soul. “Ash is trying to keep you safe.”

“Papa would understand.”

Jordan shook his head. “This is not about Lucas. There are powerful men who would exploit a weakness like you to destroy Ash. They would torture you to make him suffer. Men like us aren’t allowed to fall in love.”

“What about Zee?” I asked.

“He never did play by the rules.” Jordan rolled his eyes. “You finished in there?”

“Yeah, but I left my bag inside.”

“It’s in my car. Come on and I’ll take you home.” He stood up and held his hand out to me.

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