The Scarred Assassin || COMPLETE ✔️||

Chapter 22

As soon as Cadenza, Talia and I step foot in the prestigious grand hall, all heads turn to look at us. We descend down the marble stairs and whispers fill the room. All the men in the room ignore their dates to watch us and all the women look at us in envy.

Cadenza is wearing an elegant, floor-length black dress with a matching pair of strappy sandals, a necklace with Cresent moon charms and earrings to match.

I'm wearing a baby blue, off the shoulder dress with a sparkly belt, along with matching silver shoes, accessories and beautifully styled hair, courtesy of Talia.

Talia has opted for a simple, burgundy halter neck dress with matching heels, simple earrings and many rings.

Cue the epic makeover montage with badass music! Although ours would be a disaster montage. Cadenza burnt her self with a curling iron too many times to count, so we ended up having to cover her neck in foundation. I kept on tripping over my dress and the heels didn't help. Talia was the least problematic one out of the three of us, the only thing that went wrong was the zip of her dress getting stuck. We were worried that we'd have to fasten the dress with safety pins, but we managed to fix the zipper. Eventually we made it to the casino without anymore disasters.

The guys decided to head to the casino before us, that way it would be a surprise when they saw us for the first time.

We finally spot the guys in the crowd and Cadenza was right, we made their jaws drop all the way to the ground. I walk over to Carter, who's standing there rooted to the spot. He's wearing an elegant navy blue suit that brings out the colour in his eyes. I must admit, he looks handsome in a suit.

Carter gently takes my hand and brings it up to his mouth, planting a soft, gentle kiss on it and I giggle.

"Did anyone ever tell you how beautiful you look in that colour?" he compliments, still holding my hand.

"Did anyone ever tell you how handsome you look in a suit?" I comment.

"Unfortunately my mother beat you to it, when I was six years old." he responds with a teasing smile on his face. He looks down at my hand. For once I'm actually glad that Cadenza and Talia forced me to get a manicure.

"I see you're wearing a few rings tonight," he says, "Is it safe to assume you left your ring finger open for me?" I blush at his words, but I have to remember that this is an act. I'm pretending to be his girlfriend after all, it would be weird if he brought a colleague as his plus one to such an important event. I didn't notice, but the orchestra has continued playing, after they halted when the girls and I arrived. Carter noticed it too.

"Care to dance, sweetheart?" he asks and I nod. He takes my hand and guides me to the center of the hall where everyone has begun to dance. Carter wraps his other arm around my waist and I place my free hand on his shoulder. He pulls me closer and we begin to dance.

"Right now the CEO's are in the big meeting upstairs," he whispers so only I can hear him, "They'll come down here shortly, that's when we have to stay on guard at all times."

I nod my head and he twirls me around before pulling me closer once again.

"But for now we can enjoy ourselves." he says with a smile on his face. We dance until the orchestra finishes the song off with a flourish. Carter offers me his arm and we look for the others. We find Cadenza and Kestin by the snack table, which holds a wide variety of fancy appetizers and drinks. That means Liam and Talia are off dancing somewhere else in the hall. It was hilarious to watch Liam's reaction when we told him Talia will be his wife tonight. For a moment he thought we were actually serious and he panicked. He went on and on about "not being ready for marriage" and "not being able to afford the luxurious wedding Talia would want". It was a funny sight to see.

Carter left the grand hall with Kestin for a moment, probably to discuss work related things in secrecy. Cadenza drags me over to a certain section of the snack table.

"You have to try these," she emphasizes, piling the appetizers onto a plate, "I heard it costs a fortune to have them made by a professional chef so eat them for free while we still can."

"Did you just come straight to the food as soon as you got here?" I ask.

"Duh," she responds "What eles did you expect me to do, go dance?"

"Well yeah?"

"Kestin has two left feet, it would be a disaster and we don't need anymore of those tonight." she says. I totally agree, the disasters should be kept to a minimum. Everyone else looks like they're having fun though. I can see Kestin and Talia dancing nearby. I laugh as Liam winces when Talia accidentally steps on his foot, but it looks like he doesn't say anything about it. Cadenza's obviously having fun by the snack table.

I want to have fun, but I can't help but feel anxious. Why wouldn't I... it's the night of my deadline. I'm supposed to kill them before we go back...

"Can I steal you for a moment?" Carter comes up behind me, taking me by surprise. I meekly nod. We walk to the large, open doors at the other end of the grand hall and step outside. There's an outdoor seating area that overlooks the beach. There are very few people out here, everyone is inside enjoying the luxuries of the party.

"Is there anything you needed?" I ask him.

"Not exactly, I just wanted a moment with you before I have to join Mr Hart, the meeting is almost over." He explains. He wraps his arm around my waist and pulls me closer as we watch the waves come and go on the shore.

"There's no one out here," I say, "You can drop the act of being affectionate." I regret saying it, because I don't necessarily want him to stop, but he might feel differently. Before he can say anything another man steps outside.

"Mr Jones," the stranger says, "The meeting has come to a close."

"Alright, I'll be there now," Carter answers, "I'm abandoning my girlfriend for this, I hope its worth it."

"It will be Mr Jones, the meeting has a promising result for Mr Hart." The man concludes before going back inside. Carter leans in and gives me a peck on the cheek.

"Who said I was acting?" he whispers in my ear before following the man.

I hope you enjoy the chapter :')
~Husky