Page 59 of Fanged Desire
The blood drained from my face, but I fought to keep my expression neutral, my mind racing to find a way to play this off. I scrambled for a response, rifling through a dozen excuses that wouldn’t raise suspicion, but my throat felt dry, and I could barely manage to string together a coherent thought.
She’s onto me.The realization hit hard and fast, cold dread unfurling in my chest. I forced myself to stay still, to keep my face placid, but every muscle in my body was tense, waiting for her next move.
Cathy leaned back, assessing me with a casual curiosity that felt far more dangerous than outright hostility. Her voice came soft, like silk, cloaking the daggers beneath.
“The moment Esmerelde picked up your scent, she knew you were special,” she murmured, smile widening like a hungry Cheshire cat. “I see she was right.”
I barely heard her next words over the blood rushing in my ears, but I didn’t need to. I knew I was caught, well before she finished saying:
“It’s lovely to meet you, Addison Moore.”
Chapter 21
Hunter
Back at the office, I was half-lost in a swirl of Addison thoughts, scrolling through dead-end leads online, and trying my damndest not to dwell on how she’d looked splayed out on my desk like a ready-to-eat buffet. Every time I pushed the thought aside, it came back with twice the fervor.
And, if that wasn’t enough, Maxine had been shooting me looks ever since she’d waltzed in that night, her triumphant smirks and pointed side-eyes greeting me the second I stepped out of my office. For the past two days the small vamp had held her tongue, which was practically a miracle. Not that I expected it to last forever; her restraint was probably just some uncharacteristic bout of wisdom.
She knew better than to ask outright, no doubt sensing that I’d be liable to bite her head off if she started grilling me about the mystery guest wedged under my table. But that didn’t mean she wouldn’t try to pry in her own way. Wherever I went, she waswatching me with that knowing glint in her eye, waiting for me to crack.
With a sigh, I clicked through a handful of tabs, eyes flicking over useless search results as my mind drifted back to Addison again. She had her “appointment” at the spa that day, and I was on standby in case things went horribly wrong. Considering how flustered she’d sounded on the phone the day before, that was a very real possibility. Acting could only get you so far.
The sheer recklessness of what we’d done on that desk gnawed at the back of my mind, mingling with the very real worry about her safety. I knew I should be focusing solely on how best to go about busting into Cathy’s place – actually, I should have been pondering how best to protect my boss, our people, and her business endeavors from my reckless actions of late – but my brain refused to cooperate.
Infatuations aside, Maxine could wait all she wanted; she wasn’t getting a single confession out of me – at least, not if I could help it.
I was just about to snap my laptop shut, flicking through the thousand opened tabs that I hadn’t bothered to close when something caught my eye. I straightened up in my seat, squinting at the screen. Back when I’d first looked up Esmerelde Flawne, I’d fished out a Flawne & Flow Facebook page and the tab had sat open on my desktop ever since.
It was a throwback post, one of those seemingly innocent “spotlight” pictures from a few years back. Esmerelde was posing at the spa’s grand opening, arm slung around another woman, tall and striking with the same chiseled features and long, blonde hair. The woman’s eyes were hidden under chopped bangs, a thin smile painstakingly carved on her face.
She looked younger, thinner, but even without the oversized sunglasses, I recognized her instantly.
Cathy.
Suddenly on high alert, I hunched over my laptop, scanning every last detail of the innocent throwback post. The caption read, “Big thanks to my sister. I couldn’t have done it without you.”
I blinked at the screen.Sister?
The realization was a bucket of ice water, launched over my head without warning.
Cathy and Esmerelde were sisters, bonded by more than just business ties and shared associates. All this time, I’d assumed they were just acquaintances, maybe even rivals. But blood was another matter entirely. It was a whole new level of complication, the kind that bred all kinds of secrets.
It clicked into place like a key turning in a lock. Whatever happened to Penelope, Cathy and Esmerelde were in on it together. And that meant that Addison –
“Addison!”
Like she’d heard me on the wind, my phone buzzed a second later with an incoming text. I knew it was her before I’d even picked it up. My heart dropped at the words:
She’s here. Cathy. At the Spa. SOS.
Without a second thought, I called her. The line rang once, twice, then clicked over to voicemail. I tried again. Nothing.
I could feel the faint, creeping dread clawing up my spine. My mind raced through the possibilities, every one of them more troubling than the last. I clenched my jaw, sending her a quick text back.
Addison, call me the second you get this.
If Esmerelde and Cathy knew Addison had been snooping into their affairs – and worse, that she’d linked them back to Penelope’s disappearance – then this wasn’t just a spa appointment anymore.
