UNEXPECTED LOVE

BOOK 1: INÉS AND RICHARD

*CHAPTER 1: THE MASQUERADE*

*INÉS POV*

The invitation said masks mandatory.

Lucien Deveraux's Black Masquerade happens once a year. One night. Blackwood Estate. No phones. No names. Only masks and red roses.

The red roses are everywhere. On every table. On the stairs. One single red rose on each bedroom door. Rossi's signature. Everyone knows Rossi marks his girls with a red rose. So why does Lucien Deveraux, the King of this city, decorate with them?

That's what I came to find out.

"You sure this is a good idea, Inés?" Margot whispers next to me, red hair hidden under a black wig, blue eyes bright behind her gold mask. She is wearing red. Of course she is wearing red. She said "if I'm going to expose a trafficker, I'm going to look hot doing it."

Elizabeth is on our comms, dark silver hair hidden, hazel eyes behind a silver mask, somewhere in the server room. "I'm in. You have 20 minutes before they change the encryption. Find the file labeled _ROSES_."

I nod, even though she can't see me. My mask is plain black. Cheap. I couldn't afford a fancy one. My dress is cheap too, black, too big in the chest, too long. My brown hair is down, trying to hide my face. My green eyes keep looking at the floor.

I am not supposed to be here. I am #3 hacker, LittleGreen_03, but in real life I'm just Inés. Brown hair, green eyes, 20, university scholarship, laptop that overheats.

The ballroom is dark. Gold light. Men in black suits, black masks. Women in black, red, navy. A huge crown sits on a glass case in the middle of the room, and next to it, a chess board. King, Rook, Knight all tipped over. Only the snake remains, a real black snake tattooed on the arm of a man I know is Rossi, by the bar. I saw his file. Snake around a dagger.

I slip away to the library. That's where Lucien keeps his private server.

The library door is open. I go in. It smells like old books and black roses. I find the desk. I open my laptop, green light from my screen on my black mask, my brown hair.

`>> accessing Deveraux mainframe...`

`>> password: ...`

I type fast. My green eyes focused.

Then I hear it. Door closing.

Click.

I freeze. My brown hair, green eyes, my cheap black mask.

"You're not supposed to be in here, little masquerade."

Voice. Deep. Rough. Italian.

I turn slowly.

Black hair. Messy. Black mask, but I can see his eyes through it. Red. Not brown. Red. Like blood in low light. Tall. Black suit, black shirt open at neck. Tattoos up his neck, hands. Scar through his eyebrow. In his hand, not a drink. A single black rose. Not red.

He is staring at my mask. At my brown hair. At my green eyes.

He walks closer. He doesn't look at my laptop. He looks at me.

"You are wearing the wrong mask," he says.

"What?" My voice is small. Sassy scared.

"Black mask is for owned. Red mask is for taken. You should be wearing no mask. So I can see all of you."

Owned. Taken. My green eyes wide behind cheap black mask.

"I... I was lost," I whisper, brown hair falling.

"You were hacking," he says, calm. He puts the black rose on my desk, next to my laptop. "My brother's files. You're Little Green. I've been looking for you."

My blood stops. Little Green. My handle. LittleGreen_03. No one knows my face, only my handle. How does he know?

"Who are you?" I whisper, green eyes huge.

He takes off his mask.

Black hair, red eyes, scar, beautiful like a monster. I have seen his face on the dark web. Richard Moretti. The Rook. Lucien's right hand. The man who kills with his hands.

"Richard," he says. "And you are Inés. Brown hair, green eyes. Forum post #1, you said you liked libraries. So I waited for you in one."

He has known me for...

"How long?" I whisper.

"Eighteen months. 47 posts."

He steps closer. My brown hair, my cheap black mask. He reaches out, big scarred hand, and gently, so gently, he takes off my mask.

My brown hair falls. My green eyes blink up at him, no mask now. Bare.

He stares. Red eyes dark.

"Green," he whispers. "Your eyes are exactly that green. Like the emeralds."

He doesn't call security. He doesn't take my laptop. He takes his leather jacket off - under his suit jacket, he was wearing a leather jacket - and puts it over my shoulders, over my cheap black dress.

"You're cold, Little Green," he says, same as he will say later.

Then Elizabeth screams in my earpiece, "INÉS! HE KNOWS! LUCIEN KNOWS WE'RE HERE! HE'S NOT TRAFFICKING, HE'S RESCUING! THE ROSES FILE IS A RESCUE LIST! ROSSI SAW THE BREACH! HE'S COMING! RUN!"

Rossi. Snake. Red rose.

Red eyes look at my green eyes. He hears my earpiece. He understands in one second.

He grabs my laptop, closes it, grabs my hand - my small hand in his big tattooed one - and pulls me.

"Come on," he says. "You just started a war, Little Green. And now you're my wife, so I have to keep you alive."

"Wife? I'm not -"

"You will be," he says, black hair, red eyes, pulling me through the back door of the library as the ballroom lights go out and someone screams that Rossi is here.

And his leather jacket smells like rain and gunpowder and safe.

---

*RICHARD POV*

The ball is boring every year.

Lucien, black hair, golden brown eyes with green sparkle, navy scarf, wears a gold crown mask. He is the King. Orgio, dirty blonde hair, brown-orange eyes, wears a knight mask, stands near the lavender. I wear a rook mask, black. I never dance.

We are looking for a hacker. LittleGreen_03. She breached our outer wall three days ago. Lucien thought it was Rossi. I knew it wasn't. Rossi doesn't code like that. Rossi's code is angry. This code was soft, scared, with a little flower emoji in the comments. `// sorry for breaching, just looking for roses :(`

Green. My Little Green from the forum.

47 posts. Brown hair, green eyes, 20, university library, hates mushrooms, likes stars, windowless apartment, bites nails, coffee three sugars, wants a window.

I have her IP but I wiped it. I DDoS'd anyone who tried to trace her. She doesn't know I exist. But I know she will come tonight. The Masquerade is the only night Lucien opens his server to print the rescue list - the girls with red roses from Rossi that we are moving tonight. The ROSES file.

I stand by the library door. I wait.

She comes. Cheap black dress, too big, cheap black mask, but brown hair, green eyes behind it. Small. Shaking but typing fast.

I close the door. Click.

"You're not supposed to be in here, little masquerade."

She freezes. Brown hair, green eyes, looks up. Behind cheap black mask, her green eyes are terrified but brave.

"You are wearing the wrong mask," I tell her. Black mask is for owned girls. She is not owned. She is mine.

She whispers she is lost. She was hacking. My brother's files. I put my black rose on her desk. Black roses are for protection. Red roses are Rossi's. Black is ours.

"My brother's files. You're Little Green. I've been looking for you."

She whispers who am I.

I take off my mask. Black hair, red eyes. I want her to see me. No mask.

"Richard. And you are Inés. Brown hair, green eyes. Forum post #1, you said you liked libraries. So I waited for you in one."

"How long?" she whispers, green eyes huge.

"Eighteen months. 47 posts."

I step closer and take off her mask. Slowly. Big hand to small face. Cheap plastic off. Brown hair falls. Green eyes blink up at me. No mask.

Green. Exactly that green. Like the emeralds I had made three months ago, after she said she liked emerald rings but no one would give her one.

I don't call security. I put my leather jacket over her cheap black dress. She is cold. She is always cold, post #18.

"You're cold, Little Green."

Then her earpiece screams. Elizabeth, dark silver hair, hazel eyes, the leader, says Lucien is not trafficking, he is rescuing, ROSES is rescue list, Rossi saw breach, he's coming.

I understand. She exposed our girls to Rossi. Rossi with snake tattoo will come for her now. For all three.

I grab her laptop. Grab her small hand.

"Come on. You just started a war, Little Green. And now you're my wife, so I have to keep you alive."

"Wife? I'm not -"

"You will be," I say. Black hair, red eyes, pulling her through back door as ballroom lights go out, as Orgio grabs red hair blue eyes in red dress, as Lucien grabs dark silver hair hazel eyes in navy.

My wife. Brown hair, green eyes, in my leather jacket, bare face now.

The crown on the glass case in the ballroom is fake. The real crown is my crest ring in my pocket. Black stone, green emeralds. For green eyes.

I put it on her tonight while she sleeps. Moretti tradition. Until death, and after.

Until death, Little Green.

And after.