Page 40 of Dark Masquerade
Indio chuckled. “In between all the snooping, I think we can find something to do. A little advice …wear a disguise. That sound corny, but Constanza will have people out looking for you. Book yourself into a hotel in Paris—not a suspicious and one—and I’ll hire someone to pose as you at the hotel, so if Constanza checks, he’ll think you’re there. Really, you’ll be staying at my apartment with me.”
“You have an apartment in Paris?”
“I do now. I have to go, baby, so that if any of Aldo’s men are watching, they won’t get suspicious. Paris, baby. Keep this phone at your office.”
“I will. I love you.”
“I love you, ElliBella. Always.”
Elli ended the call, desperate to look around to see him. In a moment, a man passed behind her, and she felt warm fingertips brush the back of her neck and shivered with pleasure. She risked a look when he was almost at the corner and saw him turn and flash a smile at her before he disappeared. She looked back at Vivienne, who smiled at her, her eyes soft. “That’s more like it. That man makes you glow, Elli. I haven’t seen you like that for years.”
And Elli felt the joy radiate from inside her. She was loved by the man she had always adored. Nothing could get in the way of that …could it?
The idea came to her when she was eating dinner with Aldo that night. The tiredness and exhaustion that had dogged her was back, and for the first time, she wondered if Aldo was drugging her. Yes, it could be paranoia, but now that she thought about it, he always insisted on preparing their food himself—claiming he was a foodie and an amateur chef—and whenever they shared a drink in the evening, he would mix them for them both. The worst of her exhaustion always began soon after. So, tonight, she picked at her food and managed to ‘accidentally’ knock over her wine. Aldo leaped up, but she waved him down.
“Don’t worry about it, honey. I’ll get it. I just want some water.”
She darted to the kitchen before he could argue. She grabbed a glass and downed some water straight from the faucet.
She felt his arms slide around her waist. Automatically, her mind went to Indio and her promise that she would always think of him when she was with Aldo. And how could she not? The difference was night and day. To Aldo, she was a possession. To Indio, she was love. “Are you okay, baby? You didn’t eat much.”
“I’m good, just not hungry. I had a big lunch with Viv.” She turned in his arms and forced herself to kiss him. “Why don’t you go mix us some drinks while I clear away?”
Aldo frowned. “Elli, we have staff for that.”
She laughed softly. “Aldo, sometimes I like to feel we’re at least a little normal. I love cleaning up. It relaxes me. And you’ve never objected to me being …relaxedbefore.”
She looked up at him from beneath her eyelashes and smiled. For a second, Aldo stared at her as if trying to work out if she was playing him. Elli stood on her tiptoes to kiss him, lingering over the kiss. Aldo smiled and touched the worst of the bruises on her neck, his expression contrite.
“Does this mean I’m forgiven?”
Elli chuckled softly. “Oh, you’re forgiven.” She pressed her breasts against his chest and cupped his cock through his pants, shoving down her revulsion. “And, later, I’ll show you just how much.”
He tipped her chin up for another kiss. “Then you have a deal, little one. Scotch or vodka?”
Either, asshole, I’m not drinking it.“You choose. I won’t be long.”
Elli gave him a minute before silently following him to the drawing room. She heard the clink of the crystal decanter against the glass, and edging the door open a crack, looked in. Sure enough, Aldo was pulling something from his pocket, a vial of white powder, and adding it to one of the glasses.
Elli gritted her teeth.Motherfucker.She slipped back down to the kitchen, tidying up the dinner things, and then went up, forcing a smile on her face. She pushed open the door to see he had lit candles. Good. Dim light was what she needed now.Occam’s Razor, Elli thought to herself as she went to him and curled up on his lap. Or a version of it. The simplest way is the best way.She kissed Aldo, pretending for a moment that it was Indio, and, seemingly delighted, he kissed her back, his hands running over her body.
“Fuck me in front of the fire,” Elli said, and tumbling them to the floor, Aldo proceeded to strip her. The side table was just to the side of them, and as Aldo worked his way down her body, Elli reached up and switched the glasses. She took what she hoped was the non-drugged one and downed it, making a big deal of smacking her lips after. She gave Aldo a smile as he looked up. “Just getting relaxed, baby.”
Aldo laughed, and Elli held her breath to see if he would notice the switch in glasses. From the way he drained the other glass, she guessed not, and a surge of victory swept through her. She played her part like an Oscar winner as they had sex, then led him back to bed. She had to put up with him fucking her again before he fell into a deep sleep. She waited a half hour, then shook him.
“Aldo?”
Nothing. She shook him harder. “Aldo?” Louder. “Aldo?” She leaned in and screamed in his ear. “ALDO!You absolute fucking monster, can you hear me?”
Nothing. Her heart thumping and adrenaline rushing through her system, Elli sprang out of bed and pulled her robe over her shoulder before padded silently to Aldo’s office. She went to his filing cabinets first—locked, of course, but Elli hadn’t had Enzo and Indio as partners-in-crime for nothing. She grabbed a paperclip and picked the locks. She flicked through every file quickly—most of it she didn’t understand—but there was nothing incriminating that she could see. Frustrated, she managed to lock the cabinet, then scooted to his desk, opening his laptop. It was password protected, but Elli, grinding her teeth, typed both her and Yvetta’s names and she was in.Stupid, stupid Aldo. Your arrogance and complacency will be your undoing.
She had to search, but eventually she found a folder marked simply ‘girls’ and clicked on it. There were sub folders, two of which were marked ‘Elli’ and ‘Yvetta,’ and needing some courage, she clicked on Yvetta’s first. There were perhaps thousands of photographs of the woman, although in most of them she either looked unaware that she was being watched or looked uncomfortable. There was a haunted look in her eyes. Another sub folder was labeled videos, but when she clicked on it, there was only one. Elli checked the sound was turned down and listened for any noise in the house. Silence. She clicked on the video and had to stifle a scream. Yvetta, beautiful in her wedding dress, was backing away from the cameraman, terror in her eyes.
Elli turned the sound up a little, trying not to be sick.“No, please, don’t …please, please don’t.”Then a sickening sound as the killer stabbed Yvetta, driving the knife into her, and Yvetta’s agonized gasp of pain. Elli watched in horror as the killer eviscerated the young woman, her cries dying down as she lost consciousness, until all Elli could hear was the attacker’s pants for air. The video ended with a close up of the knife embedded in Yvetta’s stomach, blood everywhere. Had Aldo kept it as ‘evidence’ or had he kept it as a memento …did he masturbate to it? Elli knew the answer.
“Oh god …” Elli was shaking uncontrollably, but she had to know. She clicked on her own folder. Again, photographs, this time of her. Some she had seen already, sent to her by her ‘stalker.' “Cocksucking, motherfucking asshole,” she whispered. There was a video folder, but in this one, there were multiple videos, and as she looked through them, she realized that most of them were taken in her bedroom. Not the room she slept in here, in Aldo’s house, but the one in her tiny apartment in Venice. Others were taken in her bathroom, her living room, and even her office.
“Fuck,” Elli growled and clicked on one that read, “Almost …but not yet.”She gasped when she realized it had been the night they had played the kinky game of ‘guess what?’ She was lying naked, bound, blindfolded, and Aldo was running various objects down her bare abdomen.
