Everyone forgot there was another creature just as greedy as a dragon but far more insidious. A leprechaun wasn’t as big or powerful but could still wreak destruction upon every life it touched. I didn’t need to burn cities nor did I want to. Instead, I’d just take it for everything it was worth, slowly amassing its fortune–draining its fortune even as mine rose like the incoming tide: inevitable.

In my mind, Plutus was the thriving golden heart of this entire island and I wanted it desperately. It was the end of my rainbow.

My heels clicked on the heat-cracked pavement as I stepped closer to the closed doors. I was going to get this entire building. I was Lacey Flanagan after all—the best leprechaun the world had ever seen. The greediest, the luckiest, and the one pulling the doors open to the Tower of Sin and feeling the same sensation I had the first time I came here; that I was finally home.

My eyes didn’t adjust to the dim inside until I’d stepped halfway through the lobby and looked up at the glittering chandelier above my head. I wanted it. I wanted the marble floor, I wanted the crown details, I wanted the 24-carat gold-washed ceiling. A breath of relief escaped me, the tension finally bleeding from my body. My face felt hot. If this wasn’t love then what was it?

“You’re here,” a familiar voice purred. My skin burned where he’d left kisses. My tongue darted over my lips as I slipped my sunglasses off. Being in front of the man who broke into my apartment made me excited if I was honest with myself. It was like he knew my strange desire for danger and was teasing me with it.

Chasing after me with guns? Surrounding me in the club? Stalking me? I liked his way of flirting.

“Next time you want to pay me a midnight visit I suggest knocking,” I said with a smile as I took in Viktor. He looked impeccable, his suit-clad body only freezing for the briefest moment from my words before he shook it off with a wide, charming smile. He was wearing sunglasses again, his special eyes hidden. I wondered if he’d had to hide his eyes his entire life.

“I’ll keep that in mind,” he said so smoothly it seemed we were discussing something much more normal than breaking in, using my lipstick, and then kissing my naked body as I slept. Thirteen times for good luck too. I sighed. We were perfect for one another.

“Have your eyes ever gotten you in trouble?” I asked.

“Oodles,” he answered before helping me out of my coat, his fingers brushing my skin every opportunity he got. I didn’t stop him. This was going to be a mutually beneficial experience. He’d get his fill of me, I’d get the thrill of a very dangerous man. Then I would take Plutus from him. Hope he doesn't mind.

I pulled a scabbard from the coat pocket before a worker came up swiftly, taking care of the coat and sunglasses. I eyed the entrance room we were in and noted several faces I recognized. Not the type painted across the covers of Neo Atlantis’s gossip magazines. No, these faces were old money. Which undoubtedly meant juicy family treasures they might be gambling away. I bit my lip and nearly groaned.