Hell (Black Heart Romance)

I’m not about to go to one of the guards and ask them for help; that much is for sure. I’m still unsure if they’re even allowed to talk to me.

On and on I go, eventually moving up to the second floor, to the bedrooms. It’s like moving through a museum, everything so quiet and so impeccable. Everything set up for guests he’ll probably never have. I wonder if the housekeepers change the bedding even though it isn’t used. Lucian strikes me as the type of person who would want that, just in case visitors might arrive.

He may not be great at knowing how to entertain a guest, but he does seem to believe in making them comfortable. I can’t complain about that.

Finally, after what feels like hours—there’s a ton of ground to cover—I reach the only set of rooms I’ve been told never to go into. Again, the whole Beauty and the Beast thing runs through the back of my head. He can’t keep anything really horrible in there, can he?

No. He’s not a monster. He’s not a sweetheart, either, but I can’t make him out to be a serial killer or something just because he wants his privacy. I’m sure there aren’t bodies in there or torture devices. Though I don’t think anybody could blame me for wondering. A girl could wonder a lot of things after living through this situation.

The hall is empty without a guard in sight. I hold my breath just to be sure there isn’t a noise coming from someplace. Nobody on the stairs or lurking in the shadows. If I’m ever going in there, now’s the time to do it. I won’t take long. I only want to get a look at how he lives with the door closed and the rest of the world on the other side. What makes him tick?

I touch my hand to the doorknob.

“What are you doing?”

Son of a bitch.

I recoil from the door like it gave me a shock and spin on my heel. For one brief, heart-stopping moment, I expect to find Lucian at the top of the stairs. Glaring at me, fists clenched, jaw tight enough to crack walnuts. I can almost feel what he’ll do to my body as punishment for this.

I wish I didn’t almost like the idea.

It’s only one of his many guards. I don’t know their names, and frankly, I don’t want to. I can’t get Alexei out of my head, that damned liar. Whenever I start to break down and consider Lucian as being human, I remember what his guys do for him and snap out of it.

“I was…” I mean, it’s obvious what I was doing, isn’t it? “I hoped he might be home. I haven’t seen him in so long, and I thought—”

“He ain’t in there.” He jerks his thumb in the opposite direction toward my room. “But he sent you something.” I guess he was leaving it for me while I argued back and forth over whether I should explore Lucian’s suite.

I know better than to take my time. Trotting down the hall with my head down. Good thing I never opened the door. I hope he doesn’t report back to Lucian on this.

There’s a long box on the bed with a smaller one beside it. I open it with trembling hands, holding my breath in anticipation.

Inside is a long black, one-shouldered dress. It shimmers when I hold it up to the light. I bet it’ll move like water over me. In the smaller box is a pair of strappy stilettos. I guess this is my outfit for this evening? I can’t help the little tingle of excitement that I won’t be alone anymore.

There’s a note tucked into the tissue paper. Meet me at the club tonight for number three.

14

Lucian

Tapping the pencil against my desk intently, I read over the new contracts. My mind keeps wandering to Rowan, and I skim over the words instead of letting them sink in.

“You seem distracted,” Alexei says, calling me out.

“Because I am.” There is no reason to lie to him. “The girl has been getting under my skin. I don’t like it. She is on her way over here now. I just need to fuck her out of my system.”

“If you say so.” Alexei tips back his chair, balancing on the back legs like he is in fucking high school and annoyed by his math teacher.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I think there is more to it than sex. I’ve never seen you like this. The girl has gotten under your skin all right, but there is no way you are fucking her out of your system.”

“I don’t do girlfriends,” I say more to myself than to my second in command. He knows how it is. We don’t have time for that shit.