Page 103 of Shattered Veil

“Ella Reyes?” When he says my name, my blood runs cold.

Balor thinks my last name is Snow, like my dad.

It’s a small thing, but my heart starts pounding and the hair on the back of my neck stands up.

“Wes,” I mutter, terror racing through my veins.

I try to slam the door, but the man is already inside. Another man follows him with two vases, one in each hand. Then another man. And another. And another, who has several vases filled with flowers on a flatbed cart.

They file into my living room while Hannah and Val jump up and help place the cut crystal glass vases on every surface.

The living room smells like a florist, the air perfumed with red roses, yellow roses, pink roses, white roses, thenmore red roses, and next...Basketsof flowers, but I don’t know the names. Calla lilies maybe? Snapdragons? With carnations in every color and Gerber daisies.

Good Lord, Balor bought out an entire florist and had them all delivered to me.

But where is he? There’s no card on any of the arrangements.

How did the guard downstairs know it was from Maverick?

The delivery men file out, and I wonder how much they got paid for this stunt.

Balor is filling my house with all these arrangements just to prove he can throw his money around. His billions are the last thing I care about. I tried to return the expensive jewelry I bought on my ridiculous spending spree, but he insisted I keep it.

Disappointment floods me that he’s not here. I wanthim, not jewelry or all these flowers.

Money has never been an issue for my family. Not that we’re rolling in it like the O’Rourke family is, but my father has plenty of money. I’ve never seen Dad’s bank account, but we live in this expensive apartment and maintain Mom’s house in Connecticut, though I’ve not been there in more than a year.

As I close the front door, I spot another startling, huge, beautiful bouquet in the hallway, this one made up of at least one hundred roses. Thinking it’s on a stand, I reach to grab it, but it has legs.

Human legs.

I gasp as the flowers are lowered.

“Hey, butterfly.” Balor smiles at me. “You haven’t been answering your phone.”

I hold my chest, thatthisis his response.

Not yelling at me. Or hitting me. Dragging me around by my hair.

“Can I come in?” Balor emptied a florist for me, maybe more than one, and here he stands at my door, waiting for me to invite him in like a vampire.

Eyes fluttering, I stand back. “Of course.”

His steps halt, noticing my friends lined up. “Alo. I’m Balor O’Rourke,” he announces his name proudly.

“This is Hannah and Val. My... My best friends.”

Balor puts down the massive arrangement and shakes each of their hands. “It’s nice to meet both of you. I’m glad Ella has friends who will help her in a crisis.”

“We always have our girl’s back,” Hannah says, signaling she’s the one to win over.

Val’s jaw has hit the carpet staring at Balor. “Is that accent real?” she says on a breathy moan.

“Aye,” Balor replies with a panty-melting smile.

She can’t ask me to set her up with any of Balor’s brothers. They’re all married. Except for the one who’s in Ireland at the moment. At least that’s what I’d overheard.

“We’ll get out of here so you two can talk,” Hannah says, dragging Val by the elbow. “You okay, Ella?”