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MARIUS
Ihadn’t planned to tell her about the other girls. But Sarah is stubborn as fuck, so she needs to understand the gravity of her situation.
Although I’m the one who put it there, I don’t like seeing the horror in her eyes. It’s not the kind of fear I can play with.
Sam, the bartender, chooses the perfect time to pour our drinks out of a large champagne bottle they pop open in front of us. They fill our fancy engraved flutes with their winning smile.
“Here you go! Congrats again on getting the girl.” Sam winks before sliding across the bar to serve someone else.
Sarah’s sadly recovered from the initial shock my words brought on.
“What do you mean, they’re dead?”
I sigh. “It looks like the stalker’s MO is spy, find sensitive information, move on to blackmailing, amp it up, all the while recording all of it. Then within a few months the victim dies, and the sicko moves on to the next.” In this case, Sarah.
She shakes her head. “That doesn’t make sense.Brandonwas spying on me and blackmailing me. And I didn’t die within a few months.”
“I didn’t say I had all the answers.” I run my hand through my hair, smoothing it back. “My PI only tracked down the girls today. I got the results right before heading to the pet shop. Maybe they killed themselves to get out of his game. Maybe he offed them. The fact that a few of them are missing could mean they’re on the run, or at the bottom of a shallow grave. We don’t know. What we do know is that you’re in danger so long as you’re isolated.”
Silence falls between us. Sarah might be only too happy to snap at me, push me, refuse to do what I ask, but that’s because she doesn’t fear me. I showed her my worst that day in my old room, and she knows she can take it. That shadow following her? She’s terrified of it. With good reason.
“You really think I’ll be safe because the world thinks I’m your girlfriend?”
“Yes.”
I get that it doesn’t make sense to her; but the thing is, I’m not only trying to protect her from her stalker. The biggest and most immediate threat to her isn’t that elusive dick. There’s a team of highly efficient bodyguards trailing her every move; they’d be able to stop an attempted attack. The person who could and would hurt her is my father.
The moment Eriks Goltz hears she could be involved in blackmail, he’ll whisk her away to a secure location to make her talk. His method won’t be anything like mine, and I like her fingernails, toes, and various appendages exactly as they are. If she’s mine, he’ll consider her my problem to deal with.
Sarah wrinkles her nose. “Fine.”
“You could show a little enthusiasm,” I tease. “My poor ego can’t take the beating.”
“Your ego could use a good beating.” She brings the drink to her mouth and takes a sip. Her lids flutter as her mouth part. “Oh, this isgood.”
“Dom Pérignon,” I say, glancing at the bottle. I didn’t order it, but this bar doesn’t carry any bottle worth less. “Only the best for her highness.”
She closes her eyes, appreciating the taste, while I appreciate the view. It seems that I love watching that satisfied expression on her face whether my cock is causing it or not.
From my observations, Sarah doesn’t drink much, but she’s downing that flute like it’s orange juice. That should be interesting. I make a mental note to stock up on champagne.
“So, what’s our dating story?”
I tilt my head. “Hm?”
“We’re pretending we’re dating. What’s our story? How did we meet? When did we get together?”
She’s so funny. “We hang out in the same circle. Then, one day, you walked into an orgy. That made me look. And then, I couldn’t stop at watching. So I claimed you.”
If she wants to pretend any of that is fake, I’m not stopping her. For the time being.
She shifts uncomfortably on her seat, placing her flute back down on the bar. “Right. The best lies stay close to the truth.”
“Very close,” I say, topping up her drink for her.
She hesitates, but lifts her flute back up to her lips. My girl has a weakness for expensive champagne. I file that information in my mind, nursing my own drink, as I’m driving us home. I had wine with dinner a few hours ago—one is all I can afford.
It occurs to me that I would have happily taken more risks if I was alone, but with her in the car, I’m keeping a clear head. She’s changing me subtly, slowly making her way under my skin.
