Page 21 of Cursed Encounter
The room isn’t enough to distract me from the sudden change in how I’m feeling.
What if it was a little bug I picked up, and it turned out not to be that bad? Or is there something else going on here?
I’m not sure, but the way I seemed to have gone from nearly dying to slightly exhausted in a blink is really bothering me. It doesn’t feel… natural.
“How long am I going to be here?” I ask the guy watching me in the corner. I don’t know his name, and I don’t think I care to. I’m just glad Sandra had been able to get away from him. I wonder if she’s going back to my father to tell him what happened. I also wonder if he’ll do anything about it if she does. Maybe he’ll just leave me here to deal with the consequences of messing up.
It’s all I can do to resist the urge to reach into my pocket to feel the vial I have tucked away there.
I didn’t just mess up, Imessed up. I slept with the person I was supposed to poison… tokill. I still can’t believe I agreed to do such a thing. I hadn’t valued his life at all. I’d been so stuck on the thing my father had promised me that I didn’t stop to think about what I’d actually be doing.
Truth is, I’m still stuck on it, and why I was so quick to let the opportunity slip through my grasp like sand.
“However long it takes,” he replies with a shrug that says how little he cares about my comfort.
“Is he going to kill me?” I boldly ask.
The man smirks at me, but no answer leaves his lips.
The door opens. I hate the way my breath catches whenhewalks in. The man should not be that deadly and beautiful at the same time. I scold myself for the lustful thoughts attempting to overtake my brain.
Mr. Falco pauses at the threshold and stares at me. Just stares. Then he runs a hand through his hair, and I hate myself for remembering how it fell in his eyes that night when he hovered over me. My fingers twitch now as they did then, desperate to reach out and touch it. To push it back behind his ear. To feel how soft it is. But there’s no point in having suchthoughts. And if the way he’s looking at me now with those dark eyes is any indication, I don’t think he’s remembering our night together the same way I am.
He moves to stand behind the chair opposite me. My eyes drop to where his hand is fisting the top of the chair. His knuckles are bloodless white. I nearly laugh because the man only appears to be calm and cool. I wish I knew what was going on in his head. What is it about being around me that makes him like this? Should I be scared?
Yes, I think I definitely should be scared. This man could kill me. He’s probably going to kill me. I’ve seen too much, and he doesn’t have the first clue about me. He doesn’t know if I’m good at keeping things to myself or if I’m going to run to the cops the moment he releases me.
He doesn’t know I trust the police in this city as much as I trust my father. Which is to say none. So, no, I won’t be going to the cops. Besides, the guy I saw him with in the alley might have made a fuss like a dying cat, but I don’t think he was actually dying. You can’t bleed out from getting your ear sliced off, can you? I choose not to think about what more might have happened if I hadn’t stumbled down the alley.
I grimace as I remember it. Truth is, it had been awful to witness. If I could just forget the whole thing, I’d be happy to.
“Who are you?” he asks. His voice is low and deadly. It causes a shiver to run down my spine, and I’m very proud of myself for not dropping my gaze from his.
“Astra Wallen. And you are?”
The guy by the door snorts but tries to cover it up with a cough.
Mr. Falco looks at me, shock flickers over his face long enough for me to read it. I’m really trying to get his first name and not let him know how much I do know about him. Though, if I’m being honest, it’s next to nothing.
“Donovan Falco,” he says, and now he sounds annoyed.
Donovan. Yeah, that fits.
“Why are you smiling?” Donovan asks suddenly, a small growl in his tone, like I’ve frustrated him. “Is this a game to you? Who sent you? Why are you stalking me?”
I blink at him, sure he’s lost his ever-lovin’ mind. Me? Stalking him?
Well, I’m sure my father would love that.
“Excuse me?!” I jump to my feet. He might be deadly, but I refuse to sit there and let him treat me like I’m some kind of crazy woman. “No, I’m not stalking you. Why would I? I don’t even know who you are!”
His skeptical gaze slides to the guy by the door. The guy there shrugs. Then Mr. Falco—Donovan, though it feels strange to be on a first-name basis with him—turns his attention back to me.
“Who are you, Astra Wallen?” His eyes flash with something when he says my name. I get a rocking feeling in my gut and nearly plop back down on the couch.
“I’m Greely Aubert’s daughter.” I have no idea why I tell him that. I bite my lip before I can say more. Like… say… how I’m supposed to kill him.
Those dark eyes narrow at me.
