Page 15 of Chandelier Enthralled
“I don’t make moves. I do life.”
“And what a tedious life it is.”
Jewel’s cruelty could burrow under one’s skin.
I glanced her way. “We know it was you who ordered Lance Merrill’s murder.”
“Have no idea what you mean.”
“You had him strangled.”
She shrugged. “I noticed you didn’t intercede.”
Interrupting a ceremony would be suicide. I’d have died alongside him. We all knew that because it was a rule put in place by Aemon Roper. The guy didn’t care—just went around wielding his evil.
But karma had caught up with him and I hoped the same fate awaited her.
“Someone invited Lance to the sixth floor, any idea who?” she asked.
I shrugged, with no intention of giving away it was Stella Adair, Jake’s girlfriend. She had enticed Lance to his death—after he’d abused her in a Pendulum dungeon.
None of us mourned for Lance.
“What do you have in store for us, then?” I said, gut twisting.
“I want you alive, Greyson, so you have to endure what’s coming.”
“What is that perfume you’re wearing?” I asked. “Didn’t know delusion had a scent. It’s surprisingly…bold.”
She chuckled, unaffected.
Her perfume was cloying, an overbearing cloud transporting me back to a memory when I had mistakenly wandered into a room she was hosting, where the air was thick with desperation, and she was enjoying her brand of pain. No innocence in her games—only manipulation, control, and the twisted pleasure she took in bending others to her will.
I’d stopped her brutal play on a male sub, and she’d held a grudge ever since.
“If any of us are harmed…” My quiet threat was clear.
“You believe I need to lay a finger on any of you to destroy everything you’ve masterfully crafted in your lives? It all hangs in the balance. Jake’s venerated football career, Atticus’ reputation at Cedars as a distinguished surgeon, and your ability to get hired again as an architect.”
“Threats come easily for you, don’t they?”
“All it takes is one headline. A planted story so vile the public won’t stop to ask if it’s true. Reputations and careers will collapse overnight. Once the vultures descend, there’s no telling how many lives will be ruined—or lost.”
“You have a reputation, too.”
She peered toward the ocean and breathed in the fresh air. “I love the sea.”
“You should wear it.”
She gave me a tight little smile. “You’re on fire tonight.”
“The ocean wears a mask of calm, but beneath its surface, it cradles a thousand storms. Remember that.”
“Sounds like that Oxford education went well.”
I cringed inwardly. She knew I’d studied abroad, which proved she’d been digging.
“Touch Amelia again,” I said. “And I’ll kill you.”
