Page 172 of Tormented Billionaire Romance Series

“Stop,” I murmured, giggling nervously. “I just got inspired by the dress. And, I mean, if I’m going to this party, I figured I might as well try to blend in. I don’t want anyone staring at me.”

Maggie shook her head and shifted into reverse, backing out of my short driveway. “Well, if that was your plan, you have seriously failed. No way you’ll blend in. You’rehot!”

“Maggie, don’t. I’m too nervous!”

Suddenly, I realized that Maggie didn’t seem to be wearing a costume. “Who are you going as?”

She smiled a secret little smile. “You’ll see.”

I frowned, but didn’t press further. I wasn’t sure what sort of costume would require waiting to wear. She wanted me to wait, so I would.

Carter’s party was being held at a beachfront warehouse he owned, about a 20-minute drive from my house. Staten Island wasn’t exactly humongous, but that was still pretty far, all things considered. I knew little of the Island outside of my neighborhood and the parks and the immediate surroundings, and the shops, having no reason to go anywhere else. Massive apartment buildings and mansions sprouted around us as we neared our destination, a mystifying and unfamiliar forest that filled me with a sense of dread. I didn’t belong on this part of the Island. I didn’t belong anywhere near these wealthy people and their expensive lives, when I could hardly afford to put bread on the table and had to pretty much make my own costume.

“Don’t look so nervous,” Maggie said.

My hands curled into white-knuckled fists in my lap. “What if I fuck something up?”

“You’re kidding. There are going to be so many people here at the party. They aren’t all going to be billionaires and socialites. You’re never going to see any of them ever again.” Maggie shrugged. “So what if, by some twist of fate, you do mess up in some day? The only one who will ever remember… is you. And maybe not even you if you drink enough,” she laughed.

I tried to relax. She made it all sound so easy, so maybe it was easy and I was just making it all out to be more complicated because I wasn’t used to this sort of thing.

Carter’s warehouse came into view, a massive concrete monster backed by a cold, roaring ocean, waves slamming on the beach. People moved in droves around the property. Guards in uniform, wearing orange visibility vests, guided vehicles around a maze of taped-off parking areas.

My heart hammered in my throat. So many people. I tried to keep myself calm still, telling myself they were all in costume, just like me. I saw plenty of women in dresses, and a lot of superhero costumes, animal outfits, and lazy attempts that hardly qualified for any category, caps and headbands and t-shirts with logos on them. Shouts and laughter rang out through the night against a backdrop of chilling music, high, wavering notes wrung from the keys of a piano and the strings of violins and guitars.

Maggie drove up to the entrance of the parking lot. A guard held out his hand to stop us, if we hadn’t already planned on it.

Maggie rolled down her window.

The guard wore face paint, which turned him into a weird anthropomorphic dog of sorts. “Hey, ladies.”

“Hi,” Maggie said, smiling.

“Any other vehicles with you?”

“No.”

He nodded. I figured they were doing their best to keep people from the same groups together, for safety’s sake. “Cool, cool. So drive straight ahead, until you reach that guy with the green lights. He’ll wave you to the right, to another green-light guy, and he’ll get you to your parking section. When you’re ready to leave, you drive around to the back. We’re got a separate system set up for departures.”

“Thank you,” Maggie said.

“Thank you,” I added.

The puppy-faced guard looked past Maggie, to me, seeming to notice me sitting there in the passenger’s seat for the first time.

Maggie faced forward and let off her break.

“Hold it,” the guard barked.

Maggie stomped on the brakes, eyes opening wide. “Yes?”

The guard pointed past her, to me. “Are you Cinderella?”

I shrank down in my seat and nodded.

“I knew it!” He grinned, which didn’t do his face paint any favors. “Listen, my kid’s favorite princess is Cinderella. Mind if I take a picture of you real quick so I can tell him I met his idol tonight?”

Maggie exclaimed, “Absolutely, she’ll let you take her picture.”

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