It wasn’t as if she didn’t wear heels often, but there was a difference in donning them for a date and standing in them for hours.
She shifted and tilted one foot back on the heel to give some relief to her poor toes. There had been very few moments to herself since the gallery opened that night.
It helped stroke her self-esteem that so many liked her photos. If that were the only reason she was at the exhibit, it would be an amazing night. But every time she looked at her sister’s picture she was reminded of what she had to do.
A waiter passed by her with a tray of food. She snagged one of the shot glasses filled with cocktail sauce and a large shrimp sitting atop it.
She was starving. Naomi had to stop herself from taking the entire tray and sitting on the floor to devour it. It was her own damn fault for not eating. It was backfiring on her. Now she was lightheaded from all the champagne on an empty stomach.
It also didn’t help that Javan Drohas was always near. The man oozed power and authority as much as he did sex appeal. But she wasn’t going to allow that to affect her. Regardless if he was an Incubus or not.
The first time Naomi had read her sister’s diary, she had thought Becky had gone crazy. Naomi had thought nothing more about it until she began to do research on the Drohas family.
Every child mentioned was always male. Then there was the fact that none of the men were ever seen with their supposed wives. Everything about the Drohas family was kept private and out of the public eye.
Naomi had then done her research on the Incubi. They were supposed to be a legend, like vampires and such. Yet the things Becky wrote about—in detail—were so similar to what Naomi had read about the Incubi that it made her begin to suspect.
For two weeks she trailed Javan Drohas. Or she tried. He was a hard man to track. Rarely was he alone except in his building, and she hadn’t been able to get a good shot of him from the building across the street either.
Oddly enough, what she did learn was that Javan looked almost identical to his father, grandfather, and great-grandfather.
Naomi wasn’t sure she really believed he was an Incubus, but there was something off about Javan. Incubi were demons who had sex to live. That could be how Becky died. Naomi was going to prove how she died, as well as prove he was Becky’s killer.
She quickly smiled, hiding her wince, as a man and woman walked past her. Naomi was going to have to do the unthinkable. She was going to have to remove her shoes if there was even a thought of her making it to her car.
Fifteen minutes later she was handed a list of all her photos that had been purchased. The price was triple what she would have asked for, and the Drohas Foundation only took five percent that went toward helping local artists.
Naomi hated that Javan did something so kind. She wanted to despise him. Not feel that he might have a shred of decency. Then again, what had she read about sociopaths?
“They charmed, lulling their victims,” she said.
“Talking about someone I know?”
She whirled around to find Elijah behind her. The sudden movement caused her feet to throb in such a way that she lost her balance.
It was Elijah who righted her. He released her arm and motioned to her feet with his eyes. “I think it’s time to take those off.”
“That’s like asking you to take off your suit jacket.”
“Ah, but then my jacket isn’t causing me pain. And I can assure you, Ms. Parker, that if I were in pain, the jacket would come off.”
Naomi glanced around, noting that most of the patrons had left the gallery. There were only a handful that remained. She spied Javan standing in the back next to a set of overstuffed chairs.
“Please, Ms. Parker,” Elijah urged. “Otherwise, I might have to carry you to your car.”
She laughed and held up her hands. “All right. I hate to admit this, but it’s all I’ve been able to do to stand here for the last hour.”
Naomi kicked off one shoe and put her bare foot on the wooden floor. Her toes were so swollen she couldn’t stand to put any weight on them. The second shoe came off in a hurry, and she sighed as most of the pain quieted.
“You’ve done very well,” he said and pointed to the paper in her hands.
“All but two were purchased.”
“Actually, Mr. Drohas purchased those before the gallery opened. If you come by the offices tomorrow, you’ll find one in the lobby.”
Now that was a surprise. “And the other?”
Elijah smiled and turned to look at the picture of Becky. “In his office.”
Did he know it was Becky in the photo? Was she some kind of trophy to display? Anger spiked through her, making her clutch the stem of the champagne glass tightly.
There was no way she was allowing Becky to hang in Javan’s office. No matter what she had to do, Becky wouldn’t have to suffer that kind of insult.
The stem snapped in her hand, spilling the rest of the champagne. Naomi jumped back in time to keep it off her dress. Elijah was at her side in an instant, taking the broken glass from her hand.