24. -23-
Dorian
The second my fingers brushed the edge of her mask, the universe decided to fuck with me. Her breathing hitched under me; that tiny intake of air made my cock twitch, and my brain melt.
I had her. I fucking had her!
One more second, and I would have ripped that mask off and finally seen the face of the woman insane enough to kidnap and marry me.
One more second, and that missing piece would have snapped into place.
“Dorian!”
Malin’s voice slammed into the moment like a bullet through glass, shattering it into a million pieces. For a heartbeat, I thought I imagined it. Still, my brain violently woke up, the haze peeling away like steam rising off heated metal.
Ma vilaine flinched under me, her eyes widening. I went motionless; my every muscle was tight, and my hand froze on her throat.
“Dorian! I know you’re inside.”
Yeah, not my imagination. That was Malin, and he was seconds away from barging in on his favorite brother, pinning an armed, masked intruder to the floor. My villainess wouldn’t survive the next five minutes.
“Fuck,” I hissed, pushing off her. My body protested the loss of contact, but self-preservation, hers more than mine, won. “Malin can’t find you here. He’d hang you from the shelf by your intestines.”
The idea made a tiny hair on my neck stand up. My brother was one fucking creative beast when it came to punishing or killing people.
“Tell your friend to unlock the door,” I commanded, wiping my suddenly sweaty hands into my sweatpants and hauling her to her feet. She had to disappear.
Shoving her toward the narrow gap behind the tall bookshelves, a quiet exhale of relief escaped my mouth. She wedged herself into the narrow gap between the shelf and the wall.
“Dorian.” The warning in Malin’s voice was clearer and colder than the morgue downstairs. “Fine. Your choice.”
I had exactly zero time to react. The gunshot cracked through the office, deafening, showering the floor with splinters and metal. The alarm started screaming an instant later, a high-pitched, relentless noise that burrowed into my skull.
Malin kicked the ruined door open with calm precision, stepping through the smoke of his own chaos like this was just another Tuesday. He was dressed in black from throat to boots, his dark eyes already scanning every corner.
The urge to stand in front of the bookshelf like a human shield was almost laughably strong. I forced myself to stay casual, hands loose at my sides like nothing interesting was happening. Certainly not the fact that I had a masked psychopath hiding a couple of feet behind me.
“Someone hacked the security cameras, Dorian,” Malin said in a low voice, his eyes narrowing the slightest bit, as if he smelled the lie in the air. “I’ll only ask once. Where are they?”
“Who?” I stared at him as if he had grown another head.
“I don’t know.” He shrugged. “You tell me. Who hacked my system?”
“You’re kidding me, right?” A deep chuckle escaped my throat. “I can barely install a new app on my phone. How the fuck should I know what happened?”
“True.” He nodded slightly, moving leisurely to my desk. My heart missed a beat when he looked at the bookshelf, but he didn’t seem interested. “So, I assume you locked the door by accident.”
He flashed me a glance that alerted all my senses, the one that chilled me to the bones and forced me to think twice about my answer.
“I didn’t want Eleanor to barge in and surprise me,” I replied, fighting the urge to push him into the hall. “Now, she can see me from the elevator. Thank you very much.”
“You’ll survive,” he muttered under his breath, leafing through the papers on my desk, but he’d only find medical reports and my notes.
Hastily, I allowed myself a glance at the bookshelf, and my heart nearly stopped.
She was moving. Malin couldn’t see her from where he stood, but I could.
Without thinking, I stepped in front of the shelf, shoved my sweaty hands into my pockets, and watched Malin’s every move, so I was prepared to react if he noticed something.
It wasn’t the best plan, but what else could I do when she decided to flirt with death again?
“Is there something else I can do for you, sunshine?” I asked casually, grimacing when Malin plopped into my leather office chair. “I need to find someone to install a new door for me.”
“Return to your room,” he suggested, his eyes scanning my face as if he knew I would never leave him alone in here. “I’ll take care of it.”
“No, thanks,” I replied sweetly, smiling at him like he was the nicest guy under the sun. “I like my place untouched.”
“You don’t trust me?” He braced his elbows on the desk and wove his fingers together, his eyes darkening.
His accusatory tone sent guilt spreading through my chest. I never kept secrets from him.
We did everything together. “What’s so important I can’t see, hm?
” He looked around with forced curiosity.
“Files, books, notes?” He pushed papers to the side. “A woman who infiltrated my system?”
“What?” My brows shot up, my body freezing for a moment. But my mind was already racing. “A woman kicked your ass in your own game?” I laughed. “Aren’t you ashamed?”
“Every hunt starts with the prey believing it won,” he replied icily, a menacing glint in his irises turning his look maniacal.
“Poetic.” I chuckled to lighten the situation because the darkness surrounding my brother was disturbing. “So, you believe a woman is the mastermind behind all of this? Are you sure?”
“Yes,” he answered flatly.
“Do you want to elaborate?” I folded my arms over my chest and leaned into the bookshelf.
I hoped ma vilaine would be clever enough to stay rooted to the ground behind the stack of books, but my wish wasn’t granted.
I clearly heard the leather grazing the wall, but Malin was too far away to detect it.
“No.” He shook his head, but he still stared at me like I was the most interesting thing in the world.
“C’moooon,” I drawled. “Share your goodies.”
“I won’t if you don’t share yours.”
“I don’t have any.” I held his probing look without blinking. “I’d tell you if I knew something. You know I can’t stay quiet.”
“That’s what I’m counting on.”
He stood, walked to the bathroom door, and slowly opened it. He stuck his head inside, checking the room while I looked toward the balcony door, and my eyes collided with my villainess’s frightened stare. Her fingers closed around the doorknob, and a heartbeat later, she slipped outside.
“What was that?” Malin grumbled right behind me, startling me to the bones. The thin, transparent curtain hiding the balcony door shifted from right to left, and he glared at it as if it had committed a deadly sin.
“What do you mean?” I feigned surprise, but he ignored me and pushed me aside.
He swiftly opened the door and stepped outside while my heart almost collapsed.
I followed him, stopping in the middle of the empty balcony.
Malin looked below us, but no one was lying on the pavement down there.
The ornamental bushes were untouched, too. She just… vanished.
“I would give my last penny to know what you’re thinking,” I said, observing Malin’s focused profile.
“So you could warn her?” He countered, turning to me. His sharp look almost slashed me in two. My brows shot up, and I squeezed the balcony railing.
“Excuse me?” My voice jumped an octave. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Don’t play dumb,” he snapped, checking other balconies and windows. “It doesn’t suit you, Doctor.”
“Explain,” I snarled, placing my hand on his shoulder and stopping him when he tried to walk past me. Relief loosened the knot in my stomach when I realized he found nothing useful, but his words felt like a punch to the gut.
“You’ve been lying since you woke up,” he hissed, shaking off my hand.
“I know you. You’re wearing the same guilty expression on your face as you did after Caroline…
” He didn’t finish that sentence. His eyes darkened as he recalled that dreadful memory, a memory I tried to forget for years. “That one time you lied to me.”
“I’m not lying to you,” I said, trying to sound as convincing as possible, even when a sharp pain slashed my heart. “I don’t know who is behind the abduction. I have no idea who hacked your system. And I definitely can’t tell you what I don’t remember.”
“Fine.” He stepped away from me. “So, you didn’t smell the faint female perfume in here?” He lifted a brow when I shook my head, even though it had tingled my nose since she showed up. “You didn’t hear the balcony door closing?”
I gave him the same reaction, hoping it would satisfy him, but knowing Malin, I was sure he wouldn’t stop until he solved every mystery.
The best I could do was share what I knew with him, yet it would condemn ma vilaine to a slow, torturous death.
It was unacceptable. I hated what she had done, but she didn’t deserve to become Malin’s next test subject.
“You’re a terrible liar, Dorian,” he pointed out, shaking his head in disapproval. At least I hoped it was only disapproval. Disappointment would’ve been much harder to stomach. “A great poker player, but a terrible liar.”
He slammed my shoulder hard and disappeared back into my office to continue hunting a ghost, while I searched every shadow for one glimpse of the woman who fucked me up like no one had in a decade.