Page 1 of Lethal Obsession

Prologue

OFELIA

Everyone knows that mirrors lie. I’ve lived the lie so long, I almost believe it myself.

Almost.

Truth is the fading scars the mirror doesn’t show.

My obsession with the man who made them.

Knowing that if those secrets are ever revealed, both our lives are over.

“Ready to face the enemy?” my stepmother asks around the bathroom door.

“I’ll just be a minute.”

Darya and Papa don’t understand why I’m having my twenty-first birthday here, in Granada, instead of two hours away at our family finca in the south of Spain.

“Have people begun to arrive yet?”

“Just family, so far.”

Just family?

If only it was that simple.

She touches my shoulder. “You look absolutely perfect, if that helps.”

It doesn’t.

Perfection I mastered a long time ago. As far as the mirror goes, at least.

Elegant blonde chignon. Antique diamond and pearl earrings. Midnight silk gown with a crossover neck and hanging back ties. Stiletto mules.

My dress isn’t too low, and my heels aren’t too high. My chignon is neither sleek or messy, my makeup is neither theatrical nor too casual.

Perfection is easy.

Perfection is part of the lie.

Perfection has nothing to do with why I’m still upstairs staring at myself in a mirror, instead of downstairs, drinking champagne and waiting for my guests to arrive.

Darya puts her cheek next to mine. “I love you,” she says to my reflection.

I lean my face into hers. “I love you, too.”

It’s true. I know many people hate their stepparents, but my siblings and I have adored Darya from the moment she entered our lives.

“Ofelia,” she begins.

Oh, fuck.

I recognize her concern in the lightly furrowed brow, the penetrating stare. Darya has been giving me these covert looks for years, ever since my sister Masha and I were kidnapped by the Orlovs. Darya was once their prisoner herself, so unfortunately she has firsthand knowledge of their brutality. I know she’s always wondered if I told the truth when I said they didn’t harm me.

I did tell the truth.

The Orlovs never harmed me.