Total pages in book: 148
Estimated words: 147734 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 739(@200wpm)___ 591(@250wpm)___ 492(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 147734 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 739(@200wpm)___ 591(@250wpm)___ 492(@300wpm)
I cast a glance at my surroundings, half expecting his shadow Cyrus to be there like a watchdog.
Honestly, I never liked that guy, which is odd, because I’ve hardly spoken to him.
I heard him talking to Yulian all the time at that summer camp, though. He always seemed half done with his shit, but he still had his back one hundred percent.
And I suppose I despise that.
Someone like Yulian should be on his own so he can finally suffer the consequences of his actions. Though if that were the case, he would’ve probably gotten himself killed by now.
I use the throngs of people standing or sitting on the marble stairs for camouflage as I shadow Yulian’s movements, strategically leaving a safe distance between us.
Then I start to get closer, but he’s too drunk to notice me.
What an idiot with no sense of self-preservation.
So what if he’s in his own mansion with his guards around? If he gets attacked right now, a knife to his throat would have him bleeding out in seconds.
Not that I’m considering the option.
Or maybe I should.
That could finally extinguish the fire that’s been raging in my soul since he sent me that sex video.
Or maybe since he appeared in that fucking restaurant.
He sways up the stairs, waving at a group of guys and girls huddling in the corner, and they raise their drinks back.
I narrow my eyes between them.
Yulian goes down a hall and stumbles against a door. As he’s about to stagger inside, a large figure appears in the doorway, wearing a mask similar to his. He’s around an inch taller than Yulian and dressed just like him in black jeans and a long-sleeved T-shirt.
Yulian tilts his head back and laughs upon seeing him.
He does that a lot.
Laughs. Like a fucking idiot.
The husky sound echoes down the hall and into my ears, uninvited.
Something is said between them, but it’s camouflaged by the chatter surrounding me, and I don’t hear it.
As I slip closer, the man grabs Yulian’s arm and pulls him inside, the door slamming behind them.
I stop short, my shoes digging into the carpet.
Was that…Nikolai?
No. Certainly not. He wouldn’t have come here in the first place, and even if he did, he wouldn’t have locked Yulian in a room with him.
As if…what?
My fingers clench in my pocket, and my right eye twitches uncontrollably.
Just because Niko’s bi, he wouldn’t go for Yulian.
Right…?
I’m walking before my thoughts can catch up to my actions, but as I approach the room, the door swings open.
I back up against a wall, hidden by a group of people as the man who pulled Yulian into the room stumbles through the door across the hall.
He’s still wearing the mask, but I know it’s not Yulian. The height and body type are not the same.
Call it an annoying observation habit, but I’d recognize that prick anywhere, even if he’s behind layers of disguise.
After Yulian’s copycat goes into the other room, a slender guy, judging by the frame, who’s also wearing a mask, slips through the crowd and goes into that room.
I narrow my eyes on him as a sense of familiarity prickles me.
Hold on.
The lean body build, the perfect posture due to a decade and a half of continuous archery training…
Gareth?
Surely not. Why would he come here in disguise…?
But then again, why would I? Unlike him, I flew all the way from the other side of the ocean.
I remain still long after Gareth goes into the room. It’s so…unlike him. He’s the quintessential overachieving law student—meticulous about his image and how others see him and by far the least violent among us.
Though I shouldn’t be quick to label Gareth. Everyone has dark sides.
I stand in place, contemplating.
Considering my next course of action.
Yulian is clearly not sleeping with Niko. Because his copycat who pulled him into the room was not Nikolai—I only thought of that rationally now that my eyes aren’t covered in a red mist.
What I came to prevent isn’t happening, so I can leave.
I have to leave.
And yet my feet carry me in the direction of his room, completely unnoticed by the crowd surrounding me.
I halt in front of Yulian’s door, my breathing deepening, my fingers hesitating on the doorknob.
Just like they did four years ago when I found myself in a place I shouldn’t have been.
And that was also because of this prick.
It was the first time I ran away from home, the first time I defied norms, tradition, and my core beliefs.
The first time I used my intellect to outsmart my parents and leave their reach.
I felt so free, as if I were soaring in the sky.
Until I was crushed back to life again.
Back then, if I hadn’t stood in front of his door, if I hadn’t gone in, I wouldn’t have had my hopes broken to pieces before they even started to be fulfilled.