Total pages in book: 93
Estimated words: 86597 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 433(@200wpm)___ 346(@250wpm)___ 289(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 86597 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 433(@200wpm)___ 346(@250wpm)___ 289(@300wpm)
Then again, would it matter if he never dropped the act and cherished me forever?
That obviously can’t happen, but… in theory, would I care?
Also, I can’t believe I’m standing so close to Carl without him knowing. Maybe this doesn’t bother a psychopath like Nico, but I’m close to fainting.
Just as my brother is about to answer, his lips twisting, the dancer speaks. “Not at all. We were just about to go find ourselves a quiet little nest, but…” Her slender fingers slide up Nico’s arm. “There could be room for more, right Carl?” She glances at my brother, biting her lip.
Nico exhales and stands even closer to her almost naked form. “Illicit. I love it. I can imagine a girl like you craves the thrill. What do you say, Carl?” His smile becomes predatory in a way that makes my stomach twist with nervous desire and my head empty until all I can think about is his touch, and the power his gaze has on me.
I know Nico’s gay. I know all of this is a ruse to get Carl alone and murder him in cold blood. And yet I despise that he’s smiling like that at anyone other than me. The thought of him going in for a threesome, even if only for the sake of an easier kill later, makes me want to leave, get a new identity, and start a life in his attic, never looking back, just so he doesn’t have to stick to this act.
Carl clicks his tongue. “I don’t know—”
But the dancer pouts at him and strokes his chest. “Come on, baby, it will be fun. He could keep the mask on. We’d never know who he really is.”
Oh. So is this woman… his girlfriend? I know nothing about her existence, and that fact somehow strikes me even more painfully than Carl’s betrayal.
Nico raises his hands. “And we don’t have to touch if that’s the issue.”
Carl cocks his head at me all of a sudden, and I’m a deer in the headlights when our eyes meet. With the mask I’m wearing—literally. “And him?”
My lips dry. He will surely recognize my voice.
Nico pats my back with a smirk. “This is Tommy. Or should I say, Peeping Tommy. He just likes to watch.”
His touch burns in the best way, and I long to kill his act by rolling straight into his arms. Maybe I’ll even ask him to fuck me on the billiards table, because fuck Carl and his opinion of me.
That’s something I only entertain in my fantasies as rage buzzes inside me, a reminder of what my own brother was happy to do to me, to get his hands on all our family’s money.
“He’s staring,” Carl says, making me stiffen. “Is he into me, or something?”
Bile rises in my throat, but Nico laughs off Carl’s question. “Nah, he’s just shy.”
The dancer pulls on Carl’s arm. “Come on, live a little, it’s gonna be fun.” With the way she eyes Nico, I’m pretty sure she’s got the hots for him, but if she’s that keen on fucking my brother over, I’m her biggest fan.
Carl rolls his eyes but smiles and lets her lead him to a door on the other side of the room buzzing with erotic energy. “Ah, what the hell. Let’s go.”
Just like that? Really?
I give Nico a wide-eyed glance from behind my mask, and when he winks at me, charming and suave like a heartthrob from the golden age of Hollywood, I find myself following his lead like a dog obeying its master.
A guard standing in front of a door on one side of the room nods at Carl, then unlocks the passage and steps aside, letting the four of us through.
The wooden staircase ahead leads to a corridor right next to the master bedroom, where my parents used to sleep whenever we spent time in Aspen. Despite having vague memories of happy childhood moments in this house, my head pulsates with the reality that my own brother, whom I loved, and who I depended on doesn’t even recognize me when the upper half of my face is hidden.
How could I have missed how little he cared for me?
“Nothing like a night of debauchery!” The dancer squeals and throws her hands in the air. She twirls and lands in Nico’s arms.
I hate it. I hate the way he smiles at her, I hate his hand on her back, I hate that he’s not putting a bullet between my brother’s eyes yet, and I hate that I’m so jealous, but at this point, just fucking kill me already.
How the fuck will I cope with parting from Nico? Knowing that he might be dating someone else? I have not thought this through at all.
“Night of your life,” Nico promises and picks her up. When she wraps her legs around him, I’m reeling, not sure who I want to kill first: her or him.