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EXCERPT:
“Park Avenue? Four bedrooms? No. I told you six bedrooms at a minimum. I need a room for my daughter and space for my security staff. I do not care what the price is. Find me the biggest, safest apart- ment in Manhattan.”
Gia hung up and slipped the phone in her bag, pulling her hat lower on her head.
As Gia waited to board her plane, her thoughts were occupied with her journey to New York—and her ensuing custody battle for Serena. Gia didn’t notice that the other plane inside the hangar bore a familiar name: Bisset. Bisset Industries to be specific.
It wasn’t until she saw a face from the past descending the airsteps of the other plane that she snapped out of her rumination.
“Bonjour, Gia,” the man said.
“Florent, is that you?” Shocked, Gia’s mouth dropped open.
Her security guards closed in around her, forming a protective circle, but she gave them the signal to back off.
“Gia,” Florent winked, “you have not aged a day.” He lightly
tugged on the neck of his cashmere turtleneck to let in a bit of fresh air. It was much too early to wear any kind of sweater, let alone cash- mere, but Florent had his reasons for the choice of wardrobe—and they had nothing to do with fashion.
Gia was dumbfounded, confused. She never thought she’d see him again—much less witness him stepping off of a jet emblazoned with his last name.
As he edged closer to her, she took a step backward. “It’s all right,” he cooed. “I heard about everything that happened to you in Sicily. I am just happy that I was able to help you.”
“Help me?” Gia shook her head, trying to process everything. “I do not understand. What do you mean?”
“We share a common friend… Awa Diop.”
“Awa? How do you know Awa? I am sorry, but this is all coming as quite a shock to me.”
On the other side of the hangar, Gia’s pilot radioed to the flight attendant that the jet was ready to depart for Teterboro airport. The flight attendant then approached Gia’s security team to begin the boarding protocol. The head of security murmured into an earpiece, relaying that Gia would be ready to board the plane shortly.
Florent continued speaking. “Awa asked me to help coordinate smuggling you out of that psychopath’s compound.”
“Why would you do that?” Gia demanded.
“We are old friends, aren’t we?” Florent’s eyes narrowed, and inside them, Gia could see her own reflection. The corners of her mouth turned down.
“I do not think that we are.” She felt tingling in her chest and a gnawing sense of anxiety. “I… I left you in St. Moritz.”
“Indeed, you did. You left me in the snow all alone.” He approached her, leaning close to her ear, whispering to her. “But I lived.” He yanked his turtleneck down, revealing a thick diagonal scar that ran from the bottom left of his chin to his right shoulder. “You tried to kill me, Gia, but I lived.”
Author Bio:
JINCEY LUMPKIN is a writer and creative director in Luxury Beauty. She is the author of the Mermaid of Venice fantasy thriller series. Recognized as a thought leader on women and culture, Jincey has written more than 50 columns for the Huffington Post and Playboy. She headlined Sex Week at Harvard and gave an infamous TEDx talk, “Are Robots the Future of Sex?” She has been profiled by Dateline NBC, Vice, and GQ, among others. Out Magazine listed her in its "OUT 100", naming her as one of the world's most influential LGBTQ+ people, alongside celebrities like Laverne Cox and Ricky Martin.
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