CHAPTER ELEVEN
The cream–colored envelope arrived precisely when Arta expected it would. She watched from the mansion’s curved staircase as David collected the mail, his fingers trembling slightly as he sorted through the stack
His sharp intake of breath when he found the unmarked envelope made her grip the banister tighter, pleasure coursing through her veins
David glanced around the foyer before rushing to his study, Amateur move. Aria counted in thirty before following, her heels clicking deliberately against the
marble floor
She found him hunched over his desk, photographs spread out like fallen leaves. Sotia and a dark–haired man, caught in various compromising positions outside a motel on the edge of town
“Darling?” Aria kept her voice soft, concemed “everything alright?”
David’s hands flew across the desk, sweeping the photos into a messy pile. “Arial i didn’t—I was just –
“Working on quarterly reports?” She smiled, noting how his left eye twitched. A tell she’d discovered early in their relationship, “You’ve been so dedicated lately.”
His throat worked as he swallowed “yes, exactly. The board meeting’s coming up.”
Ana dritted closer, trailing her fingers along the polished wood of his desk. “You work too hard. Why don’t I have some tea sent up?
“No!” David’s voice cracked. He cleared his that “No, thank you I need to focus.”
She nodded, allowing concem to crease her forehead. “Of course. Though, you haven’t seemed yourself lately. Ever since- She let her voice trail off, watching pain flash across his features.
“I’m fine,” he said automatically.
Aria reached across the desk, squeezing his hand. The photos crinkled beneath has other palm. “You know you can talk to me about anything, right?”
His smile was strained. “Ilaiow.”
She left him there, surrounded by evidence of one betrayal while blind to another. In the hallway, she checked her phone. The David had hierd—an amateur named Remolds–had reported his latest movements to her own investigator
Time to give Reynolds something Interesting to photograph..
The Grand Metropolitan’s lobby sparkled with old money and new chandelier light. Aria wore her vulnerability like an expensive perfume as she hurried through, looking appropriately distressed for the camera she knew was watching.
She’d chosen the timing carefully. Marcus would be finishing his lunch meeting in the restaurant, likely to exit through the lobby any minute. Reynolds would get his shots–the powerful CEO pursuing his son’s fiancée, the reluctant woman trying to escape his advances,
Right on nie, Marnis’s voice boomed across the marble floor. “Asia! wait!–
She quickened her pace, shoulders hunched. Let Reynolds capture her distress, her fear
Marcus caught up to her by the elevators, his hand closing around her am “You can’t keep invading me. We need to talk about my proposal”
“Please,” she whispered, loud enough for anyone nearby to hear. “You’re hurting me.
He released her immediately, confusion flickering across his face. This wasn’t part of their usual dance. But Marcus was nothing if not adaptable he stepped back, hands raised in apparent surrender.
“I apologize,” he said stittly. “But my offer stands.”
Aria wrapped her arms around herself, the picture of a woman caught in an impossible situation. “I can’t You know I can’t.”
She fled to the street, where her driver walted. Though the tinted windows, she watched Reynolds scramble to follow in his nondescript sedan.
That evering.
, she found David in his shady again, the photographs nowhere in sight. His laptop screen reflected in his reading glasses as he scrolled through what she assumed were Reynolds‘ photos from earlier.
“Busy day?” he asked, perching on the edge of his desk
He closed the laptop too quickly. “Thrusual. You!”
“Orchestra business. Though…” She bit herlip, letting worry seep into her voice. “I ran into your father at the Grand Metropolitan. He was… Interse.”
David’s buckles whitened around his whiskey glass. “What do you mean?”
“oly it’s nothing “Aria waved dismissively. “Ite’s just been very – porseit lately. At rehearsals, events.
- x. I’m sure he’s just being supportive.”
ty with this new suspicion about his father
She watcard the grais rom behind David’s eyes, watched his try to reconcile the photos of Sofia’s intiklelity wi
“Has he made you sconfortable?” David’s voice was carefully neutral.
Aria stood, snotfang ber skirt, “Let’s not talk about it. I’m sure I’m imagining things.
She left him to stew in his confusion, in the angle of lies she’d woven around him. In her room, ale opened her laptop to check the feeds from the tiny cameras she’d installed throughout the mansion.
David paced his study, phone pressed in his ear. Probably calling Reynolds, demanding answers about his investigations, un doubt seeing the same photos of Sofia that had disturbed David so deeply.
Aria smilled, closing het laptop. Let him chase their separate mystery. She had preparations to make for the next act of her performance
inhercloset, behind a row of designer dresses, the kept a small sate, Inside lay more photograpta, more evidence, more carefully crafted breadcrumbs leading
CHAPTER ELEVEN
exactly where she wanted them to go.
Soon, she would scatter them along the path to truth. But not yet. For now, she needed David distracted, Marcus obsessed, and everyone else convinced of her
Poor David, she thought, sliding between silk sheets. He had no idea he was just another instrument in her orchestra, playing exactly the note she’d chosen for him.
