Page 99 of Chandelier Sin
I leaned against the side of the car to catch my breath, my heart racing, trying to clear my thoughts.
I popped the hood and peered in at the engine. No wires appeared cut. No obvious damage. Vaguely satisfied, I slammed the hood down and then walked around the vehicle, checking the lights, the wheels, and the general body work.
Getting back in was crazy.
I was still consumed by a white-hot rage—guessing who was to blame.
Facing insanity head on, I got back in the car and started the engine, listening for any issues. Tentatively, I drove the car a few feet to test how it handled. Steering and braking seemed normal.
Turning the car around, I sped off in the opposite direction, checking my rearview to see if the town car reappeared.
In a haze, I drove toward Beverly Glen. It was another insane decision, but my rage won out over any fear I might get myself killed.
I parked beside a Rolls Royce. Roper’s? I’d know soon enough.
Slamming my car door closed, I headed toward the mansion.
Without waiting for an invitation, I stormed through the grand foyer with its opulent colonial vibe of a bygone era. Unsettlingstillness enveloped me, the space exuding a foreboding atmosphere. It made me wonder if anyone else ever picked up on the dark aura.
I marched on, scanning the floor for toys. Would he or she look like Eve? Not sure if I even wanted to know the details of that mystery.
I’d walked through this foyer before when Eve escorted me off the property. That Sunday afternoon would forever be fixed in my brain—the way the sound of a bullet wedges in your memory.
After what he’d done to Ben, this was madness, but rage clouded my judgment. Roper had a way of plunging a person into survival mode, where the periphery view faded, and reasoning became blurred.
His butler cut me off. “Sir!”
My jaw tightened, along with my fists. I was ready to fight my way in. “Where is he?”
“Sir, you need an appointment.”
Fuck that.
“He’s not home!” he yelled. His voice was drenched in panic.
Something told me that if I managed to get past this guy he’d be fired.
In a gentle mist of subtle fragrance and feminine allure, Eve emerged from a doorway, her hair looking tousled, her cheeks pale.
I saw a myriad of emotions cross her pretty face, sadness with a glimmer of hope—until it was gone.
My heart wrenched at seeing her again, the woman who’d captured my imagination, captured my heart, too, even though it was temporary.
The woman who’d waged a secret bid to control my affections.
She had to know they’d tried to kill me.
Eve looked horrified as she approached me. Her floral perfume distracted me momentarily as she reached out with both hands to stop me from going any farther.
In that moment, I’d have given anything to sweep the woman up in my arms and escape with her into the night.
She belonged to someone else, and that hurt more than I cared to admit.
Kiss her, right here in the foyer, consequences be damned.
My survival instinct kicked in enough for me to realize that idea was flawed.
The butler buzzed around us like a fly.
