Page 151 of Darkest Deception

I will die protecting that smile.

I will kill while protecting that smile.

No deception ever felt darker than one I had with her, but it turned more real and more dangerous than ever.

It will never end.

44

A few months later

“I have a surprise for you.”

“My eyes are closed. Don’t worry. Bring it on.” I laugh.

Helia’s surprises are always a little weird.

Helia and I have spent the past three months trying to figure out how to work and live between two places. I am not ready to give up the Torre mansion, and with Mum out of the picture, it’s only me living there, but Helia wants me to move in with him.

While I can keep the Torre mansion and still live with him, his home is too far away for me to travel back and forth every day into Central London. I have also been waiting for the right moment to ask him what we will do about the working conditions between us. I still want ownership of Glamorous, but Helia needs it to hide his cash for two years, and while it’s nearly a year since he has been sitting at the top, I don’t know what he will do in twelve months.

We really need to sit down to discuss it, but the past three months have felt like a fever dream, like a dark fairytale. We still fight. We disagree hard. Then we end up fucking it out. That’s one thing I love about us, because it gets intense, Helia grabs my throat and kisses the soul out of me.

Helia doesn’t love softly. He has more harsher sides to him than soft, though he has never made me feel anything but loved. Whenever I stay over at his house, he wakes me up with breakfast. I often walk out of the bedroom and find him shirtless, cooking for me, with Blaze zipping through the house, full of energy.

We run together through the forest near his home all the way to the cliff edge, where the small waterfall flushes out my worries, and Blaze has the time of his life shooting through the sky while we both catch our breath.

Sometimes, Helia joins me while I do yoga at the end of the day. His wandering hands always end the practise early, because he can’t keep his hands to himself and fucks me right then and there.

Life feels like life.

Like it’s worth living.

During the past few months, I haven’t had any thoughts of not wanting to live. I haven’t for one second thought I’m unlovable, and Helia has been there to support me on days I’ve felt down.

“You know, I want to come over today. I was thinking we could—”

“No.” Helia stops me.

I frown, my eyes still shut. “Why? You have been saying no for the past couple of weeks.”

“I told you; I am renovating some parts of the house, and it’s not safe for you to visit. I’m not even staying there at the moment.”

That doesn’t make sense.

“You can open your eyes now.”

The moment I do, I spot Blaze sitting on his shoulder in my driveway, tilting his cute head at me. Helia is wearing a black windbreaker with its hood on and black trousers. We both came back from the office a couple of minutes ago, but he told me not to go inside yet because he had a surprise.

With autumn now here, the skies are darker. Brown and orange leaves are scattered across wet pavements, and the sharp wind pierces my skin.

“What’s this?” I take the white paper he offers me, scanning the words.

When I finally register what this is, the paper shakes in my hand, and my breath falls in short, quick puffs.

“Helia… this…”

His eyes crinkle in the corner, his lips lifting in a smirk.

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