Love, Art, and Murder – Mystery Romance

“Grandma said you’re our light and part of our salvation and that you’re not in any danger.”

“You said her visions were ridiculous.”

“I didn’t want you or Hex to worry.”

“Well, too bad. I am.” I adjusted the strap on my shoulder. “Your grandma said something about dead girls.”

“She saw them in a vision. Minutes ago while she was weeding her vegetable garden, she had another vision where there was a dead girl. Then she claims the whole garden rotted before her eyes. She screamed and hurried to find me, which would have been fine if it was only me, but instead you and Hex were around.”

I huffed. “Well, I’m glad I was or I would’ve never known that I was in danger.”

“You’re not.”

I paused and glared at him. “How can you even say that because of some vision your grandma had? And by the way, she scares me.”

“She scares most people.”

“Do you believe her?”

“About what? The garden?”

“Well, that’s a good start. Did the garden look like it was rotting before?”

He looked away for a second. “It seemed pretty normal earlier, but I wasn’t exactly focused on how ripe the vegetables appeared.”

“You’re avoiding my question.”

He met my gaze. “I answered it to my best ability.”

“Whatever.”

“Stay.”

I raised my eyebrows. “What? Why do you want me to stay now?”

“Because there are no problems that will—”

He silenced as I raised my finger. “I don’t know how you usually do things around here, but I like the truth.”

He pulled his hands out of his pockets and rubbed his face. I was starting to think that he was either extremely stressed out or rubbing his face was a nervous tell.

It could be both.

He let go of his face. “As you can see with Hex right now, he doesn’t take tense situations very well.”

That’s an understatement.

Alvarez continued, “Hex has a collection due at the end of summer. He should be focused on finishing it. We’ve already been paid. There can’t be any delay or extensions. If you’re here, I think he’ll be able to keep his mind focused on you. He seemed inspired earlier. After an hour with himself, he’ll return to his creative mania and forget about this . . . problem.”

I tapped my foot. “So you’re saying you want me to stay here so that I can keep your brother busy while you deal with dead girls?”

He moved his closed lips around like he was gritting his teeth. I almost laughed, and would have, if the situation hadn’t been so serious. Here was a man who wasn’t used to people calling him out on his crap. Sure, his grandma probably resisted, but in the end it seemed like she did what he asked. Hex appeared to break rules and whine like a child from that scene earlier in the studio when he threw his paint brushes on the floor, but Alvarez still held all the control over his brother.

“So?” I asked. “Am I right?”

Again, he rubbed his face. It was a wonder that his sculpted face never sagged due to all the rubbing.

“Just tell me the truth.” I leaned my head to the side.

“No. There are not lots of dead women. Yes. I would like you to keep my brother busy. You would still be modeling like before, but now with everything happening around me, I don’t have time to focus on him. If you’re here, he’ll be obsessed with the art, and in the end all the same results will happen. Greatness will show in his collection. You’ll be paid and everything will return to normal.”

I can’t believe I’m even considering this. But then, where the hell was I going anyway with only five hundred dollars in my pocket?

Michael had emptied all of my bank accounts. I checked at the layover in Dallas when I went to the ATM machine. It had been a risk to try and get my money anyway. I wanted him to think I was leaving the States. An ATM withdrawal in Dallas may have kept his search in the country. Either way, it had all been for nothing. When I checked my balance, the screen said zero. I yanked out all of my other debit cards and discovered the same thing. Although I’d snuck out of the house at three in the morning while he slept on top of his nude model in the studio, in less than four hours he’d discovered my letter saying I was leaving and cleared all the money from my accounts. I figured he would never take all the money I’d earned with him and knew that he wouldn’t be that cruel. I was wrong and wouldn’t be making those same mistakes again. When I got off the plane, I had ten missed calls from him.

“Will you stay?” Alvarez pulled me back to reality and the present problem at hand.