Big Ben (See No Evil Trilogy #1) - Nana Malone Page 0,2

it. “No, I am not okay. You broke my p—”

He tapped his ear as he gave me a hard look. “I’m really sorry. But I’ve got to go.” And then he was gone, leaving me completely alone with my mother’s broken pin in the palm of my hand. I wobbled in place, unable to get a sense of my bearings as tears welled in my eyes

What the hell had just happened?

Ben

I’d never been one to run from trouble, but there was a first time for everything. Once I escaped the closet into the outer office with the Picasso on the wall, I hurried down the hall and into the stairwell then leaned against the cold concrete of the wall.

I hadn’t expected to find anyone else in that office, let alone a woman whose body imprint I could still feel along mine like she’d left a thermal heat signature beneath my skin.

I forced air into my lungs with a series of slow inhalations. I needed to get my shit together. People were fucking counting on me. Now was not the time to get distracted.

I knew my sins.

Greed. Pride. And my two personal favorites, wrath and lust.

I knew them all.? I had cataloged them appropriately.

I was a rogue.? A rebel.? I didn’t believe the rules applied to me, or rather, I was tired of playing by them.

It was a night for revenge, not for getting tangled up with a beautiful woman.

It didn’t matter if my palms still itched from the feel of her arse in my hand. And that fucking scent… coconut and lime, all light and citrusy. I could still smell her even though she wasn’t near me any longer.

East Hale, my tech support and best mate, broke the silence on the com unit in my ear. “If you’re done snogging the random woman in the closet, we have a plan to carry out.” Luckily, he was only mildly irritated.

“I’m already on the move, East,” I muttered as I hurried down the stairs. This was the problem when you were working with your mates on different activities.

“You’d bloody well better be.”

“Only fucking Ben Covington would get sent in to copy files and meet a woman,” said Bridge Edgerton. His goddamn voice was always distinctive. The years at Eton had smoothed out his East End accent, but a light edge always slid back in when he was giving me shit.

“Swear to God if you two don’t shut it, you’re in for an arse kicking.”

The deeper laugh was all Bridge, and I could only shake my head. Twat.

East spoke again. “Move your arse. Cameras will only be down another thirty seconds.”

“On it.” I didn’t want to have to explain what I was doing anywhere near Bram Van Linsted’s office when those cameras came back online. If I fucked up, we were back to square one.? None of us wanted that,?so I had to make this work.

“Don’t forget, drop the flash drive into the potted plant by the main exit. We have someone on the cleaning crew who will pick it up.”

The Van Linsted family was security crazy, which happened when you owned a diamond empire. Every guest at this little party would be searched before leaving. I didn’t want to get caught with the files.

The stairwell dumped me out in a hallway downstairs. My shoes made a soft click-click sound on the marble floors. I glanced around. Fortunately, there was no security in sight.

I could hear the harp music clearly from down the hall when East said, “Incoming, Ben. Turn left.”

I took the door immediately to my left, slipping in and closing it behind me.

A woman shrieked, and the man pumping his hips between her thighs turned with a snarl. “You fucking mind, mate?”

I bit back my chuckle. “Sorry. Didn’t know this room was taken.”

In my ear, around a laugh, East told me the hallway was clear, and I grinned at the couple I’d interrupted. “I do have to say… running off to shag in an empty conference room is not really that inventive, is it?” I ducked back out when the bloke glared like he wanted to hit me.

I managed to make it down the hall and into the main foyer. “Okay, I’m in position.”

“Ahh, pretty boy has remembered he has a job to do.”

“Shut it, Bridge. Don’t be mad at me because you’re about to tie yourself to a ball and chain.” I grabbed a glass of champagne from a passing waiter. “Don’t be jealous because the ladies love me. You