He extracted his own phone from his pocket. “On it, sir.”

The lights of the city passed in a blur. It was cold out, but there was no snow on the ground. Ciana had texted me earlier in the week that she was sad there had been no white Christmas. Hopefully there would be snowfall for New Year’s Eve. She loved it when the fireworks that went off around the city glowed on the snow.

The driver pulled around to the back of my mother’s club, and Pietro and I got out. Hopefully this wouldn’t take long and then I would be in the air flying to wherever the hell Nova was. Every minute that kept me from her was only making me more and more tense, stretching my normally endless patience.

The manager wasn’t in the office when I stopped in to ask about the extra champagne order. I could either wait for her to finish whatever had called her from the office or go in search of her. I glanced at Pietro, silently asking if he had Nova’s location yet.

Grimly, he gave a shake of his head.

Muttering a curse, I walked out of the office to find the manager. The VIP was on the second floor, and from experience, I knew Roza was most likely there. More often than not, it was the VIPs who caused more issues than the average clubgoer. They thought that since they had the money and the celebrity, they could do whatever the fuck they wanted and get away with it.

Roza was an old friend of Mom’s from another time in her life, so I was confident she could handle any situation that arose, but it wouldn’t hurt anything if I had a look around.

As I climbed the stairs with Pietro, my gaze traveled around the top floor in search of Roza. The woman was easily over six feet tall without heels, but she favored stilettoes that put her at least six inches taller. With her porcelain complexion, blue eyes, and blond hair that flowed down to her waist, she was easy to spot in any crowd.

When my gaze fell on her, it was to find Roza standing in a back corner. Her head was thrown back as she laughed heartily, the sound reaching me even over the pounding bass from the DJ below. Getting to the top of the stairs, I straightened my tie and was about to step in her direction when she shifted.

A group was sitting on the couches in front of Roza, all of them in designer clothes, glasses of champagne in their hands. But like a magnet, my eyes went straight to the tiny blonde with her feet tucked up under her. With her dress so short, the way she was sitting caused her panties to flash anyone sitting.

And they were all fucking looking.

23

Nova

I had to admit, it was exciting working with Emmie, but I had no idea where she found the energy to keep up with everything for one client, let alone four at once. I felt like I was about to drop by day five. With the next night being New Year’s Eve, and my last day working with the three rockers I’d been translating for, I was ready to get home and sleep for a few days before having to go back to school.