Page 7
“Like?”
“You would want to see for yourself in person.”
She paused, her eyes flickering before she nodded. “Fine.”
“So shall we?” I took one step and extended a hand.
Her neck curved to meet my eyes. “Now?”
“What better time? I’m here. You’re here.”
“I’m at work.”
“Which, if my math is correct, ended two minutes ago.”
Her skeptical gaze flew to the lone clock behind me. “It did,” she mumbled before she brought her eyes back to me, but didn’t say a word.
I waved my extended hand. “I’m not going to wait all day.”
A sliver of a swallow worked through her throat before she took my hand. The touch sent waves of unfamiliar charge down my body, so unfamiliar that it made me frown.
The browns in her eyes deepened when my fingers wove with her dainty ones as she effortlessly lifted herself to her feet. For an assassin, her hand was surprisingly soft. Delicately soft.
Even in her heels, her head barely came up to my chest, and when she blinked at me, her thick black lashes fluttered over her beautiful eyes. Something about it was so innocent and doe-like, but it all lasted exactly thirty-three seconds before she muttered, “Let me grab my coat,” and wrenched her hand away as if she’d been burned.
I watched as she hurried away to a small supply closet behind the tall bookshelf, unlike her earlier slow and measured steps.
Nice to know that I could get under Bellerose Esteal’s skin.
CHAPTER 3
BELLE
Arkane Stormhold was unusually courteous.
Who would’ve thought that the untamed Beast of the city would be an absolute gentleman?
He helped me put on my coat, guided me with a hand on my lower back, and even opened the car door for me. Either he was an actual gentleman or was putting on the best act of his life.
But why, though?
It also didn’t slip my mind that there was not a single human in sight till we reached his black Maybach parked on the private entry road, where his guard Mikhail greeted us with a slight lift of his chin.
I tried to appear indifferent to his brooding presence and kept my gaze stuck to the window as I watched the passing city. But it was hard, considering he was only a few inches away from me. I could feel the heat of his body brushing against mine, like an invisible cloak covering me entirely.
Arkane Stormhold intrigued me, and I wasn’t intrigued by anything.
I knew most of the rumors about him were true, but at the end of the day, they were mere rumors, and I confirmed one of them today. Arkane Stormhold didn’t like being seen by commoners. Apart from the brief mentions of him in the Twins Daily, there was no physical proof that this man even existed.
Every event he attended was heavily guarded and extremely private. The kind where only the world’s most influential people were invited, and he was conveniently never photographed by the news media whenever he was out with his family.
I only agreed to his odd invite more out of curiosity than anything. Inquisitiveness was a trait of mine that I owned with wide arms rather than shying away from it as a weakness. But I wasn’t a fool to think that Arkane would bring someone like me into his world and go out of his way to do it himself. And I also wasn’t an idiot to think that Alan Dumfred, who was screaming Stormhold’s name last night on the verge of his death, was now suddenly screaming mine.
Not even ten minutes later, we were winding down the high hill roads to his mansion. It was barely visible through the heavy mist and thick forest, but I knew we were close from the undercut tree that edged the road, one meter before the wrought-iron gate. Almost as if someone intentionally kept it that way to quickly block the road if needed.
Details hardly slipped my mind. I think I was about three when I realized the pictures of my memories wouldn’t leave my head. Every memory remained stark and very unusually detailed. I just thought I had a good memory, but it wasn’t until I got older that I realized I had an eidetic memory.
Every second of every moment of my life, I remembered in vivid detail.
