Page 96 of House of Lies

The lights go off.

I run shin-first into the footstool and go flying onto my hands and knees.

“Fuck!”

There’s a soft snap behind me, and it has to be him jerking the rope tight between his hands.

This shouldn’t be as terrifying as it feels, but I’m in a strange place, and my eyes still haven’t adjusted to the dark. As soon as I get to my feet and dart forward, I run headlong into the dressing table’s chair.

“Come on!” I yell, staggering, arms flying wildly as I struggle to find my balance.

“Oh, I’m right behind you, toy.”

His voice is much too close for comfort. I squeal in panic and veer toward the last place I remember the door being.

Thankfully, my outstretched hand connects with the doorjamb a second later. I pull myself through on wobbly legs, desperately scanning the dark living area.

If his sofas hadn’t been a pale cream color, I’d have been screwed. But the long, sleek furniture practically glows in the dark, and it’s easy to avoid them.

I’m doing just fine until I hear footsteps thundering behind me. I don’t know why he charged me until I realize it’s because he has me cornered.

There’s a long dining room table that can easily seat twelve people ahead, another wall of glass looking out over the city, and a fireplace in the middle of the entertainment area.

He’s too quick for me.

I try to detour around the table, aiming for a doorway that might be the way out of this luxury penthouse maze, but a second later his hand is wrapped around my arm and I’m hauled back against his body.

“Let go!” I yell, trying to pull out of his grip.

Ethan herds me against the head of the dining table, and the next moment I’m being pressed face-down on the cool marble surface.

“What are you doing?”

Obviously something he’s done before. It’s terrifying how quickly he moves. Soft, silky rope wraps around my ankle, my foot slipping on the thick carpet as he tugs my leg to the side.

When I try to pull my foot back under me, I realize he’s tied me to the leg of the dining room table.

“Hey!” I thought he only had one rope with him, maybe to tie up my hands or something sexy like that, but when he grabs my second ankle and jerks it roughly to the side, I realize he must have brought more than one.

I twist around, trying to slap him, but he ducks effortlessly. Before I can pull my foot away, he ties my second ankle to the other leg of the table.

“Are you kidding me?” I yell as I desperately start tugging on the rope around my right-hand ankle. I don’t know what the hell kind of knot this is, but I can’t seem to find even a quarter-inch give. “Let me go!”

“I will,” he says. “When I’m done.”

When he’s done?

He fists my hair and drags my torso back onto the surface of the table and then gives me a resounding slap on the ass.

“Alexa, set the mood.”

“Setting the mood,” that same feminine voice announces.

A soft, diffused light fills the penthouse. Soft classical music plays. The fire whooshes on behind me, its flames adding a warm orange glow to the room.

I turn my head at the sound of a mechanical hum nearby. The blinds that had been covering the floor-to-ceiling windows retract, laying bare the twinkling city scape beyond.

It’s fucking gorgeous.

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