Page 44 of The Perfect Deception

He shakes his head, his eyes wide and frantic as reality closes in around him. “No. You don’t have to.”

“Oh, but I do. And more than that, I want to.” I lunge forward and grab his hair in my hand, twisting it around my fist until I have enough leverage to yank his head backward.

“I didn’t—” he begins, but I push the tip of the blade against his neck until the skin is pierced and a small stream of blood appears. “I swear to you I didn’t say a fucking word.”

“You said enough.” I didn’t come here to have a conversation, to rehash events that may or may not have happened. I’m here with one purpose in mind. To end his life. “Just relax, and this will be over before you know it.”

He doesn’t relax, of course. He squirms and cries and begs, pleads for his life to no avail.

“Relax,” I whisper before plunging the knife deep into his throat, and slicing it across his neck. I get mesmerized by the way the blood shoots out in spurts before landing on the carpet and the walls, narrowly missing me by mere inches. “There we go, it’s all right,” I whisper as his body slumps over.

His death isn’t as satisfying as I wanted it to be. Oh well. Maybe next time.

I take my time cleaning up, ensuring not a single trace of my presence remains. By the time I slip back out into the night, it’s as if I was never here at all.

But I was. And the high of the kill buzzes beneath my skin as I make my way back to Frankie, back to the mask of the doting boyfriend.

She’ll never know the monster that shares her bed.

Not until it’s far, far too late.

CHAPTER TWENTY

Frankie

Being drugged has a way of changing the way a girl thinks about her life.

I don’t like it—this sense of vulnerability, of not being in control.

It’s a feeling I’ve spent my entire career trying to avoid. But I can’t dwell on it now. I have a job to do, and I need to focus on that.

So, I do what I always do when my personal life threatens to bleed into my professional one. I shove it way deep down, lock it up tight, and concentrate on the task at hand.

Namely, Jay on his way to the penthouse, so I take a quick shower and dress in one of my standard suits complete with a silky camisole and a gray blazer and pants set. Jay has a lot to say about every fucking thing and I’m in no mood, but the minute I slide into the passenger seat, he’s ready to pounce. “Morning,” I grunt.

“Are you finally ready to see things clearly or do you plan to take another vacation to lie to yourself?” Jay is his usually grumpy self, but it hits me harder than usual.

“Back off, Jay. I haven’t had enough coffee this morning.” I mean it, but I know him well enough to know that’s never going to happen.

“You’re too close to this shit to see it clearly, Frankie. I’m not trying to be harsh, but it’s true. Let me talk to Damien.”

“No,” I bark instinctively.

He lets out a frustrated sigh. “I’m serious. The very least he can do is point us in the right direction to let us know who might be doing this and why. The fact that he won’t is suspicious.”

He’s right but his suspicion isn’t what’s important. I’m worried about Damien and his reluctance to admit that he’sMichaelis pissing me off and making me worry.

“Frankie, listen to me. Have you considered that maybe your boyfriend is on the kill list?”

I nod. “Of course it’s occurred to me. It’s the whole fucking reason I agreed to another getaway in the middle of a potential serial killer case. But something got in the way of that, and we came home early.” I don’t tell him what happened, and I don’t plan to because it would only fuel his mistrust of Damien, which isn’t getting us any closer to the truth. “Where are we heading anyway?”

“Crime scene,” Jay grunts. “Friend of the vic showed up when he didn’t answer calls and missed some sort of standing card game.”

As we approach our destination, I sit up straighter, my brow furrowing. “Wait, isn’t this DuBois’ house?”

“Yep,” Jay confirms, his expression grim.

“You knew. You didn’t say anything,” I hiss.

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