Total pages in book: 59
Estimated words: 58442 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 292(@200wpm)___ 234(@250wpm)___ 195(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 58442 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 292(@200wpm)___ 234(@250wpm)___ 195(@300wpm)
“I don’t like to go on and on about it,” Aurora says. “But he had me hooked without even saying a word. It started with a look… it was like he knew me without me having to say a word. Knew everything about me, the good and the bad, and accepted it all. It was magical.”
The other guests gaze at me, their masks hiding half their expressions, but it seems like awe, like jealousy, like they wish they could have something as meaningful as this.
Part of me wishes I could too.
Grandma looks over at our group, smiling, approving.
I’m tricking her. If she ever learns the truth, it will break her heart. And for what? Cash?
“What about you, Raiden?” One guest asks. I think it’s Xavier Thorne, a billionaire tech mogul who often comes to the Retreat, but it’s difficult to be sure as the Retreats are always so busy with people coming one year then skipping several.
If I weren’t so tall and broad and didn’t always wear the same mask, I might be able to go incognito too.
“Was it obsession?” he goes on.
“At first sight.” I sink my hand greedily into Aurora’s hip, loving her fullness, her curvaceous perfection. “I saw her, and I knew we were going to have something special.”
Outside, the wind howls and thunder cracks. Aurora shivers and moves closer to me. When she claws onto me, it feels real.
We mingle with more groups, Aurora playing her role to perfection. I lean in and whisper, “You deserve an Oscar.”
“It’s not all pretend,” she shoots back, like she’s annoyed with me.
I shake my head. I’ve got no response to that. She’s fiery hot one moment and ice-cold the next, and she expects me to keep up.
“I need to use the bathroom. Will you be okay on your own?”
“I’m not a child,” she snaps.
I leave her, walking away, my head a mess. I almost snap. If you’re not a child, stop acting like one. But I wouldn’t mean it. What I’d really mean is that I want her to want me or not want me, nice and simple, which will never be a reality for us.
Nothing is simple.
I’m halfway to the bathroom when all the lights suddenly go out.
From the ballroom, someone lets out a scream. I turn on the spot and start running.
CHAPTER 19
AURORA
When the lights switch back on, I stare down at his dead body.
It doesn’t feel like a game anymore. Blood pools around him, his marble-white mask flecked with red, his eyes already drained off life. Tears sting my eyes and slide down my cheeks as I gaze at him. I shudder as if a panic attack is about to grip me.
The deal flies out of my head. I just want him to be okay, just want this not to have happened.
“Who did this?” a woman screams, falling to her knees at his side. “Who did this?”
“Aurora?”
I turn at the sound of his voice in shock, then throw myself into his arms and let out a shaky gasp. He holds me tightly, stroking his hand through my hair.
“Whoa–it’s okay.”
“Look, Raiden.”
“I know,” he says darkly. “But you’re safe. I won’t let anything happen to you.”
“No.” My voice breaks. “Look.”
A pause, then he says, “You thought it was me.”
“Yuh-yes.”
“I’m here. I’m right here with you.”
The storm crashes outside. I hold onto him tightly as if to confirm it’s him, to convince myself he’s here, alive, safe.
He kisses me gently, then whispers, “I need to take control here. Stick close.”
He lets me go and walks into the gathered circle, his hands raised. “This is now a crime scene,” he says loudly. “Everyone needs to leave this room. Touch nothing. Leave everything as it is. The police will need to examine this.”
The woman at his side weeps, her face buried in his hands. “Who… would… do… this?” She lets out a scream that sounds like it tears a hole in her chest. I’ve never heard pain like it.
I never felt this way except when I learned what happened to my parents..
“He had no enemies.” She lowers her hands, looks up at Raiden. A beat too late, Raiden moves to take off his mask. “No enemies,” she whispers, staring at him. Then back at the dead man. “He had no enemies.”
The woman springs up and rushes at Raiden. Raiden looks like he’s going to let her slap him, so I quickly jump between them, my hands raised. “This isn’t his fault. He wasn’t even in the same room!”
“Move,” the woman hisses.
“You’re not thinking clearly. But whatever else is going on here, Raiden is not to blame. If you want to take out your grief on him, you’ll have to get through me first!”
“Move. Now.”
“No,” I hiss. “I won’t.”
There’s a long, tense standoff, then she finally stumbles away.
Two women walk up beside her, each taking an arm, holding her gently.