Perfect Villain (Dark Lies Duet 1)

Siân’s shoulders slump as she walks up next to me. “It’s okay. Hopefully, not everything is ruined. We can check when we get there.”

Siân glances over at Kyla, who’s struggling to catch her breath with her hand on her neck. The girl looks at me, and I sense she wants to tell Siân about what just happened, but when I narrow my gaze at her, she rolls her shoulders, and I know she’s decided to be a smart girl.

“Are you okay?” Siân pries.

Kyla nods. “Yeah. I just… swallowed wrong.”

“Oh. That’s no fun,” Siân says. “Look, I know you don’t agree, but I’m safe with Christian. He would never let anything happen to me, and as soon as we get to the bottom of things, I’ll move back home.”

Kyla doesn’t respond.

“I’ll call you once I’m settled in,” Siân promises and takes my free hand when I offer it to her.

As we turn to leave, Siân stops abruptly, and I glance back to see what’s holding her up to find Kyla holding on to her arm.

Kyla works hard not to look at me. “Just be careful, okay? And if you need anything, call me—or Taj, and we’ll come get you.”

My muscles tense at the mention of Taj’s name. Siân ended things with him, just like I told her to. Kyla knows that because it’s something else they argued about. Which is funny to me, considering Kyla has been fucking him for God knows how long. You’d think she’d be glad to have the motherfucker all to herself now.

Siân lets go of my hand and pulls Kyla into a hug. I watch intently as they embrace, their postures a stark contrast to one another. Siân’s is soft and endearing while Kyla’s is riddled with tension and panic.

“I’ll be safe, I promise.” Siân kisses her friend on the cheek, then grabs the bookbag and purse that sits next to the door.

With one final look around, Siân closes the door, leaving an afraid Kyla alone with my threat playing on repeat in her mind. While her back is to me, I retrieve the note I scribbled before I arrived from my pocket, and as Siân is turning in my direction again, I pretend to be pulling the folded piece of paper from the mailbox attached to the wall.

“What’s this?” I frown and unfold the page.

Siân’s brows furrow, and she takes it from me. We each stare down at the page as she unravels it painfully slowly. There is already a change in her breathing, the once calm exhales turning sharp and forceful. She knows who it’s from without having read the message.

Her face turns a ghostly shade of white, and her limbs go weak, but she keeps from falling. We make eye contact, and the look on her face makes me almost regret my actions. But as I’ve said a hundred times over, it’s all a part of the plan.

Stage three: keep her close.

“It’s from him... the stalker.” Her words are barely audible. She mouths the words written in Italian, but I don’t need to hear them to know what they say.

Stavi così bene in ginocchio con il mio cazzo in bocca, non vedo l’ora che anche la tua figa sia mia. You looked so good on your knees with my cock in your mouth, can’t wait till your pussy is mine, too.

20

SIN

“Wow.” I’m convinced I’ve said that word more times in the past twenty minutes than I have in my entire life combined. Other words could more accurately describe the surprise of finding out Christian lives in one of the nicest—if not the most impressive—apartments I’ve ever seen. A great big loft at the top of a towering high-rise. The moment he opened the door, it afforded me a breathtaking view of the city stretched out beneath and around us.

“You’re impressed?”

He’s so eager to please. It’s touching and incredibly sweet just to see him like this. Sure, on the outside, he’s just as cool and calm as ever, the sort of man who commands attention and respect the moment he crosses a threshold.

But deep down inside, it’s a different story. I can’t imagine he would enjoy it if he knew what was going through my head right now, but I find it sort of adorable how he keeps checking in to see what I think about this showplace. If I didn’t know better, I would think he picked it out with me in mind.

I have to stop thinking that way. Letting myself even toy with the idea of him making me part of his life is dangerous. If I’m not careful, one such thought will lead to another, then another, until an entire arrangement of dominos falls, and I’m hopelessly infatuated.

I made that mistake with Taj—and even though Christian is an entirely different man, that doesn’t mean I can’t get hurt.