Page 33 of Carnal Games

I’ll read the first line. That’s it.

Flipping open the front cover, I turn over the blank pag—

“Iris!” I hear Nathan’s voice yelling outside.

Wide-eyed, I hastily stash the diary into my purse and quietly slip out of the closet.

A frowning Nathan barges into the bedroom at the same time. The lines disappear from his forehead as he sees me. “There you are.”

“Sorry, I didn’t know which room you wanted me to wait inside.”

My words seem to remind him whose room he found me in and the frown returns. Deeper this time. “How did you get in here?”

I seal the guilt away while the diary and the T-shirts burn a hole in my purse. “It was open.”

“It’s supposed to be locked,” he utters, hesitantly walking deeper like the ghost of his brother might jump out and attack him.

“Why?” I ask before I can stop myself.

“In case you didn’t notice, my parents prefer pretending I don’t have an older brother.”

“I noticed.”

His gaze stops on the picture of Kian and him. A muscle tics in his jaw while his expression turns hard. “Do you know they haven’t even spoken his name since the day he left? If his face or name appears on the news, they change the channel. If his picture is on the front cover of the newspaper, it’s thrown away.”

“What about when you run into him?”

“We don’t.” Pocketing his hands, he explains, “Kian is a very private man. Except for the fact he’s estranged from his family, and his firm, you won’t find anything personal about him on the internet.”

It sounds like Kian is a lonely person. Mysterious and secluded from the world, but lonely too.

I didn’t think I could possibly become more enchanted with another living soul, yet I am. It’s mind-boggling.

The more tidbits I learn about him, the more my obsession grows.

Stopping before me, Nathan stares at my face softly and says, “I’m sorry tonight didn’t go as I had hoped. Do you need to leave or do I have time to salvage the last hour?”

“I have another hour before I need to go home,” I share. “You promised to show me the maze. Take me.”

A beautiful smile brightens his features, replacing the earlier tension. Intertwining our hands, he tugs me outside. “Come on.”

As we exit, I glance over my shoulder at Kian’s room.

Will it remain as it is the next time I come here?

Little do I know it’ll be several years before I visit this place again.

Putting my crush on Kian aside, my like for Nathan grows the more we talk. Then there’s Bianca and Rosalie. They weren’t snobby little rich girls. They seemed genuine and sweet and fun. I want to meet them again.

In fact, in the last week, it’s me who’s playing with people’s trust.

Do I risk severing the only connection I have to Kian? If I keep seeing Nathan, I’m bound to meet Kian at some point, right? But then what?

I’m not deluded enough to think he’ll take one look at me and fall madly in love.

Nevertheless, it’s killing my hope—the one in a million chance—that scares me the most. It seals my future for me.

This torrid path I’ve taken… I’m going to see it to the end.

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