Page 9 of Unmasking My Dark Knight

Tallulah rolled her eyes back so far I thought she’d lost them. “Sorry, that’s not towards you,” she sighed. “Since I’m me, and not some literal princess from Dubai with connections galore or something, the ring is reserved for you instead.”

I loved Tal, but why would my brother accept someone outside of our business connections? Mami and Papi made it crystal clear to me what was expected of us. Mami refused to acknowledge their relationship the minute they announced their engagement. She believed when they dated it’d be just a phase for him, but it turned out… it wasn’t. She went so far as to cut Gustav off from his trust funds. The reason they were throwing this wedding for him was only to look good for the public, and, of course, with Antonio coming, we had to bring some level of elegance to the family name.

“Right… I promise I’ll take care of them.” I gave Tallulah my award-winning smile.

“I know you will; that’s why you’re my maid of honor,” she said, booping my nose like we used to growing up.

Gustav ran over, out of breath. “Change of plans. The entire party will be meeting us at the Scare Park a few blocks down. We need to leave right now if we want to make it to all the haunted houses.”

Everyone who had been here came over to figure out our new plans.

“No way! That’s awesome! We’ll do apple picking another time then,” Tallulah said, relieved.

Except I wasn’t relieved. Haunted house? Scaring? Park? This was my literal nightmare, and my stomach lost all of its air at the news.

CHAPTER 4

Ivy Jade

Deep breath, Ivy Jade. Deeeeeep breath.

My idea of fun included glamor shoots to catalog every single piece of designer clothing I owned, or flying to Paris with friends on a whim in Papi’s jet. But this… this was atrocious! Who in their right mind volunteered to be scared out of their body?

“Ow! Come on, Ivy! Stop dragging! We’re barely past the entrance.”

“Tallulah! You know I’m only doing this for you, but I can’t switch my fear off,” I told her, digging my nails into her elbow as if my life depended on it.

Someone in the distance screamed bloody murder, chainsaws buzzed near my ears, and even creepy, psychotic brides with rotting teeth came to smile right at my face. I screamed my entire head off! How was I supposed to survive an entire night of this? My heart beat triple time, and I swear, if it beat any faster, I’d be on the floor like the crawling baby monsters coming our way.

I pushed Tallulah forward. “Tal! Please!? Is there something else I can do, like, not be at this park?”

“No, come on! Do this for me, please?” Tal begged. “You can hold onto me. Just not that tight. Your stiletto nails are as vicious as your heels. Why didn’t you change into some sneakers?”

I blinked at her. “Sneakers? Ugh. As if! You’ve seen my closet. I don’t own a pair of sneakers! Besides, Gustav rushed us out! I had no choice.”

“You had plenty of time to change.” Tallulah laughed, actually laughed at me. “Anyway, the best part is about to happen.”

“What’s about to happen?” I shrieked.

“The big door is about to open.”

“What’s behind it?” I dared to ask. There was no chill in my voice, only in my bones.

I looked at her, and her smile was deviously large, like she was the devil coming down to make tonight miserable for me. I saw the door, a massive thirteen-foot gate of bones and wood that stood at the end of the cobblestone path. String lights and banners swayed in the breeze, as laughing children ran away from its direction. It was indeed a big door—a monstrous portal with rollercoaster lights and howling wolf noises that echoed from its confines. I was gagged.

“Stop it, you creep! What’s behind it, Tal!? I need to know right now! My anxiety is rising, and I don’t like when that happens!” I said, ready to rip her arm off with my squeezing grip.

“You’ll see,” she whispered, haunting-like.

A loud creaking of double doors opened just a yard up from us, clouds of thick fog slithered around, and out came hundreds of ungodly monsters headed straight to me!

Up ahead, a tall man stared right at me. Knife in hand, hoodie hovering over his ultra freaky-creepy mask. Matcha tea latte rose in my throat, and I was about ready to hurl all over Tallulah’s black, curly hair. I couldn’t even breathe, and I couldn’t look away until he started briskly walking my way.

“Tal! I cannot do this!” I released my grip on her elbow to run, but she grabbed onto me tightly. “That guy is gonna kill us!”

“Don’t be so dramatic. We’re going into the haunted house over here.”

I shook my head, still trying to push past her. “I can’t, I can’t⁠—”