Page 87 of House of Lies

I pull my arm away. “Ethan wouldn’t like that.”

Angelo’s expression goes stiff. “No, of course he wouldn’t.” He straightens and glances away, suddenly bored of me now that I’ve made it clear I won’t be jumping into his bed. “I guess you’ll just have to ask Ethan, then.”

Fuck, I blew it. Why the hell couldn’t I have let this creep think I’d screw him, even just for a second?

Because the thought makes me want to puke.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to offend you?—”

His brash laugh cuts me off as effectively as a slap would have. “Oh, sweetie, no offense taken,” he lies. His eyes narrow as he gives me a last condescending scan. “Ask him what happened the night she disappeared. Maybe he’s a better liar now than he was back then.”

If I hadn’t been resting against the railing, I might have sunk to the ground in shock.

Becks disappeared?

What a fucking coincidence…unless it’s not a coincidence.

What if it’s just history repeating itself.

Mom ran away from her family home when her family couldn’t accept Thomas as her husband.

Then Mom ‘found someone new’ and ran away from me to start a new life.

What if that someone was Ethan?

But she’s not here anymore, which means, either she realized she made a mistake and ran away from him too…or he punished her for trying to leave.

Angelo taps the edge of his business card where it protrudes from my bodice, bringing me back to the here and now with a jolt.

“When you’re ready for the truth…you know how to reach me.”

My jaw tightens as he walks away, but I don’t call him back.

I want to know the truth, all right, but I prefer getting it straight from the horse’s mouth.

Chapter 35

Cassidy

I find Ethan in the library, standing by the big arched window overlooking the circular drive. I assume he’s watching the buyers leave. Probably making sure no one ran off with one of his paintings.

Clasping my hands tightly in front of me so he won’t notice that they’re shaking, I force myself to walk up to him.

I’ve been thinking about this all of ten minutes as I hunted through the manor for Ethan. He claims not to know Rebecca Monroe, but it’s possible she only ever addressed herself as Becks. That could be why he claimed not to have met with her when Detective Lewis called his office.

And because the thought of Ethan finding out who I truly am before I’ve exhausted all other avenues of inquiry terrifies me, I think I’ve come up with the best way to question him without revealing who I really am.

“Who is Becks?”

Ethan’s shoulders stiffen, and I suddenly wish I’d been standing in front of him before asking the question.

My bad.

But he’s already so intimidating with his back turned, I probably wouldn’t have been able to work up the courage to ask him if he’d been facing me.

He glances at me from the corner of his gray eyes as I step up to him.

“So you were in the basement.”

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