Perfect Liar: A Dark New-Adult Romance (Perfect Liars Book 1)

Prologue

For seven years, I had watched her like a depraved stalker. Watching her, wanting her, walking away only to give in and seek her out once more.

But this time, I didn’t plan to walk away again.

The sun continued moving west, and I adjusted my position to stay in the building’s shadow. Beads of sweat ran down the sides of my face and soaked my back.

Ellie James propped open the art studio’s back door and dragged her easel and a metal stool closer. She swept her paintbrush over the canvas, her wrist creating a graceful rhythm while the faint scent of lavender floated out into the alleyway.

She’s beautiful. Mine.

My brother jogged up the backstreet and stopped beside me.

“What do you want, Ethan?” I asked.

“I told you to stay away from her. But you can’t ever fucking listen.”

He stared inside the studio at her.

“Look how she holds her head at an angle, so she can move her eyes this way…she knows you’re here. Christ, you’re probably scaring her.”

And because he didn’t get a response from me, he went on.

“What’s worse, it’s not only you now, because you brought John along and let him get caught up in your obsession. And you haven’t even approached her. Seems like you’re rather content with just following the girl. No, I don’t think so, brother…not anymore…it’s time for you to cut the shit and get over this compulsive behavior.”

A stray retriever mix came out from behind a rubbish bin. He sat down at my feet and leaned his slight weight against my leg. I scratched his head.

“Keep your psychoanalytical bullshit to yourself, Ethan. Why are you here anyway? There’s no role for you on my mergers integration team. Go back to London. Meet with your sources and find me another deal in Manhattan.”

We had co-founded a widely successful private equity firm, which gave me an opening to come to the US when I wanted.

My brother straightened his back, narrowed his eyes.

“We’re all going back on the flight set for tomorrow evening. I want you and our little brother on that plane by nine.”

I jerked my head to loosen a joint in my neck.

“We won’t be there. You go ahead and leave tonight.”

The dog barked for more attention.

Ellie spun round on her stool and stared in my direction.

I put out my arm and pushed Ethan back, forcing him out of her line of vision. I stepped into the light, wanting her to see me, desperate for her to make eye contact with me.

But right then someone inside called out her name. She startled, and her gaze jumped to the front of the room before connecting with mine.

Ethan shook his head, took out his mobile phone, and searched his contacts.

“You know, I think I’m going to do that. Time is money, and I’m wasting quite a lot here trying to reason with your stubborn arse.”

As my brother walked away, the dog followed on his heels.

“Good. And get that dog something to eat,” I said.

He raised his hand, gesturing over his shoulder.

I turned back to the art studio and watched Ellie show her work to another woman. She slowly traced over her brushstrokes to demonstrate the technique she had used.

The clever little smile on her lips concealed a secret, one I guessed she would never share.

I checked my watch.

The sun would set within the next hour.

She would walk home alone.

And I would follow her.

My late father had trained my brothers and me to be his soldiers of fortune, his killers.

Thomas was two years younger than me, and as hard as we had tried, Ethan and I failed to protect him. John was quite young when our father died, so he never endured the same abuse we had.

As a military intelligence agent, our father had supplied counter intel and conducted assassinations for the government. In return, the ministers whitelisted him, protecting him from prosecution for his crimes and for the hits that lined his own pockets.

For the hits he had made to honor his agreement with Edward James.

All the while, those ministers kept a running tab, accumulating credit against my father’s sins like cash in their bank accounts. But when my father died, his debt wasn’t wiped clean—it landed on the backs of my brothers and me.

So did the promise to protect Edward James’s daughters.

Now, my name appeared on that fucking whitelist, and I went along with it, but managing the situation differently than my father had. I made sure the ministers owed me, not the other way round. The arrangement helped me keep Ellie safe.

It all came back to her.

Everything about her haunted me…her stunning green eyes, her smile, the way she sang when she thought no one was listening, the sway of her hips when she walked.

John followed me into the kitchen, tapping me on the shoulder to draw me out of my thoughts. He leaned against the counter and stared at me with a smile on his face.

“I think you’re going to meet her this time,” he said.

After pulling on my shirt, I nodded.

“Wait for Ben and stay together at the festival. Be alert but do not engage without me.”

John picked up his mobile from the table.

“Yeah, I’m good. I can blend in quite a lot better than you.”

I kissed my brother’s forehead, then jogged out to my car.

Stonington’s annual festival packed the streets, but it was a small town, so it didn’t take me long to find Ellie. She and her friend pushed through the crowd and settled on a curb near the pub where they worked to watch the parade.

Ellie waved and blew kisses to a little girl dancing on a moving stage.

The crowd shifted and blocked my view.

I crossed to the opposite side of the street to see her face.

About twenty seconds later, a police officer stepped in behind her. He stared at her arse, then changed his posture and stared at the side of her face. He had targeted her.

The motherfucker had five seconds to move on.

My palms itched.

He reached for her hair.

I stepped off the curb and weaved through the procession.

A second officer appeared behind her and made eye contact with me. He gripped his partner’s shoulder, and they rushed away, covering two blocks on foot before leaving in an unmarked car.

After returning to my spot, I found Ellie again. But this time, she took me by surprise…she locked her eyes on mine.

My heart’s pounding intensified.

Christ, the raw hunger in her eyes. And the beautiful innocence. The combination drove me mad. It sealed her fate.

I would never leave the US again without her.

Then the longing in her eyes turned to sadness.

Her suffering made me want to shelter her in my arms and protect her from every-fucking-thing. I wanted to kiss away the unhappiness. I ached to be inside her, to show her that she mattered, that she had a place in the world with me.

Heat surged through my body, part anger, part desire. But when she licked her pretty lips, my need for her took over. My cock grew hard, and familiar thoughts about having her in my bed consumed me…the same fantasy that tormented me night after night where I restrained her, kissed her, fucked her until she screamed my name.

Ah, but it wouldn’t be a fantasy much longer.

No, her time had run out, and I would do those things and quite a lot more to her soon.

When I let one corner of my mouth draw into a smirk, her eyes changed again, provoking me, pushing me for more. And then she smiled, hitting me with a lovely strength so powerful that it could have easily put me on my knees.

I was lost to her.

I wanted to drown in her beauty, in her goodness, in the way she shined her pure light into my darkness.

You’ll ruin it all…you’ll ruin her.

She broke our eye contact.

I walked away.