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Prologue
Mandy
Sitting at the bar in the Westchester County Airport, I take a sip of my margarita and look over the last minute instructions from my boss. Victor Addison has been on his radar for years, but he has never been able to make anything stick. Now I have a chance to deliver a crucial piece of evidence against his oldest son, squashing Victor’s often expressed hopes of him being his successor.
I have been working toward this day for as long as I can remember and now it all begins in only a matter of minutes. I pull a copy of Fortune magazine from my bag that has long been a source of motivation. A smug looking Victor Addison, the man who single-handedly ruined my childhood, glares back at me.
“Thank you for inspiring me,” I whisper to him, before slipping it back inside.
My stomach grumbles loudly. Maybe a margarita wasn’t the right choice to settle my nerves. In an attempt to calm myself, I allow my thoughts to drift to a much simpler time, when I was five years old. Our families were all together at my grandparent’s fortieth anniversary party. It was the night I learned to dance and the first time my heart fluttered at the touch of a boy.
He had dark hair, brown eyes and was painfully shy. My older sister was already on the dance floor with his twin brother, when his mother sent him off in my direction. He was so cute when he came over and took my hand; all dressed up in his little black tux. He spent most of the night showing me how to move my feet and shake my booty. A reminiscent smile crosses my face as I think back to how I instantly had a huge crush on him. Unfortunately, I never got a chance to see him again after that night.
“Drinking without me?” Liv’s voice startles me back to the present moment. I take a deep breath and exhale, realizing that the time has come.
“A margarita on the rocks for my friend,” I shout to the bartender as Liv slides onto the stool next to me. It’s show time.
Chapter 1
Trey
The moment she boards the jet, I nearly forget that I’m in the middle of a very sensitive business transaction. I assume this must be the friend who Liv mentioned would be joining us. Her flowing, dark hair, offset by stunning sky blue eyes, instantly pushes aside all of my worldly concerns. Jake and I are both struck speechless as she flashes a gorgeous smile and comes over to introduce herself.
“Hi. Thanks for letting me tag along. I’m Mandy Gray.” She offers her hand, continuing to smile. “You must be Trey.”
“I am.” My thoughts quickly turn from her stunning beauty, to the fact that I don’t want to reveal Jake’s identity to a complete stranger.
“And you are?” She gives Jake a puzzled look.
“One of my fraternity brothers from college,” I interject, hoping that he will pick up on why I am interrupting his response.
She glances down at the briefcase in his hand. “I feel like I just walked in on a drug deal or something. I’m not going to get rolled when I turn my back, am I?” She giggles nervously, the scent of alcohol suddenly overpowering her perfume.
“You’re fine,” I assure her. “Where is Liv? I told her I would call you guys when we were ready to board.”
“She wanted to order another round of margaritas,” she mutters, shaking her head. “I had to get out of there before she forced me into having another since I’m already one over my limit.”
“Great. She’s going to be in her usual form for an overnight flight.”
“I didn’t catch your name?” Mandy persists, touching Jake on the shoulder.
“Jake… Jake Winters,” he instantly offers, denying me even a split second to stop him. I shake my head, but the goofy grin he is wearing makes it obvious that he had been waiting for a second chance to introduce himself. Not that I can blame him.
“Why don’t you grab one of the seats up front? I’ll be with you in a moment,” I suggest, wanting to quickly wrap up our transaction as privately as possible.
“Sure! It was nice meeting you guys,” she adds with a seductive smirk, before casually sauntering her way to the front of the plane. Watching her, I have mixed feelings about bringing her and Liv along on this trip.
“Wow, it looks like you are going to have a fun time in Switzerland,” Jake says jealously while clicking one of the tabs on the briefcase.
“Don’t open that here, buddy.” I quickly re-close the tab just as Mandy glances back over her shoulder.
“What are you so paranoid about?” He laughs, obviously not realizing the gravity of what we are doing.
“No one can find out about this,” I whisper, giving him a stern look. “The D.A. is a real asshole, so I definitely want to stay off his radar. You never want to tangle with someone who has an unlimited legal budget and is trying to build a name for himself. He has nothing to lose.”
