Page 12 of Blood Moon

They were all left extremely wealthy after their grandmother died and left billions of dollars to her beloved grandsons. None of them likely needed to actually work. Though neither did Peter and I now. Funny enough, other than that kind of thing, there wasn’t a lot that came up in a search for any of the De Lucas—just gossip-type shit.

As a notorious playboy, Leo had a lot of that.

People labeled him as a careless playboy more interested in partying and women than in doing anything productive with his life. The media had splashed his exploits all over the place without sharing anything of substance about him. None of them addressed that look in his eyes. None of them speculated how hard it must've been to lose his identical twin. None of them mentioned that it wasn’t until his brother died that his behaviors became wild.

I couldn’t imagine losing Peter—especially not like that.

I’d probably go off the rails too.

My heart broke for Leo at the same time that it fluttered at the thought of him. I’d had to stop myself from taking a little trip back in time to see the Leo that I’d found a single picture of—the studiously quiet intellectual. Someone had captured a candid photo of him when he was in college. He’d been in the library, with his study materials spread out around him. Wearing black-framed glasses, his expression had been focused and serious.

Maybe it wouldn’t hurt to see if he was up for a second go. A friends-with-benefits type relationship. Scratch an itch for both of us. He could be my outlet after I traveled. The more I thought about it, the more I wanted him. The fact that I’d just returned set aside, I wanted him. My entire body began to tingle with awareness as my nipples peaked as if it were the middle of winter.

Debating hard on the subject, I decided I would go to the high-rise that the De Lucas owned. I’d use my wiles to try to get up to his condo. If he was there, then I would fuck the hell out of him and be gone. If he wasn’t, I’d go home to my vibrator and a bottle of wine.

Mind made up, I slipped my shoes back on, straightened my jacket, and picked my way through the bushes and trees. Two steps from the clearing, a hand covered my mouth before I was immediately tugged back into the foliage. My arms were trapped under the steel band of my captor’s hold, leaving me helpless to fight him off. I tried to scream behind the hand, but it was so large it covered my nose too.

“Shhh… not a word,” the man’s voice whispered into my ear.

Unable to breathe, I was panicking. Tiny black dots spotted my vision before they spread and everything went dark.

Chapter5

Leo

“The Ending” — Papa Roach

As I smugly sipped my shaken espresso, I watched the people pass by the coffee shop window. I’d become a pro at giving my babysitters the slip. Gabriel would be pissed—again—but I didn’t care.

My cup barely touched my lips when a woman in a hot pink suit passed by. I blinked slowly for a second, then shot to my feet and raced out the door. The bright color was hard to miss as she moved through the early morning crowd.

She crossed the street, and I followed. It didn’t matter how many times I told myself it was impossible, there was no shaking the feeling that it was her. It had to have been a good twelve or thirteen years since I’d seen her, yet her outfit, the messy blonde bun, and the curve of her slender neck were things I’d obsessed over—you didn’t forget something like that.

But…how?

When she entered the prestigious Neverland Auction House, I waited outside the doors. I’d made a few purchases there over the past year or two, which is how I knew that you had to have an appointment to make it past the impressive marble reception counter in the lobby. Armed guards stood strategically around the first floor in case someone thought they were going to sneak in. If my brain had been working better, I might’ve tried to get up to see Peter.

The problem was, they owned the entire building, just like we owned ours. Like us, they leased out several floors to prestigious corporate businesses and legal firms. I had no idea where she was heading, and I didn’t want to miss her somehow.

I didn’t care if I had to stand there all fucking day. I was going to be waiting when she came out. If I could see her face again, I’d be able to confirm my suspicions. It was crazy and so impossible that my heart hammered against my ribs.

About an hour later, she exited the building, and my knees almost buckled trying to make sense of what I was seeing. There was no question, it was her. She had the same small black bag, the exact same suit, and those black heels that clicked on the pavement in an eerily familiar way.

Her bright blue eyes were exactly as I’d remembered, and I couldn’t believe that I hadn’t recognized them when they’d been looking up at me a week ago. It had taken seeing her in that suit. My brain actually hurt trying to reconcile what I was seeing with what I remembered from when I was maybe thirteen.

It completely defied logic.

Blinking hard, I continued following her down to Millennium Park. We skirted around the tourists in front of the big silver sculpture people had dubbed the “Chicago Bean.” I trailed her as she made her way around the pavilion until we passed the BP Pedestrian Bridge.

That’s where she stopped.

When she glanced around as if she were trying to see if anyone was paying attention to her, I ducked behind a group of people speaking French and arguing about where to have lunch that day. Yes, I understood them—I spoke five languages fluently.

For a second, I lost her, then I caught a flash of hot pink between the leaves of the copse of trees and tall bushes.What the fuck was she doing in there?

I quickly followed and caught up to her in the shadows just as she literally disappeared in what seemed like a cloud ofglitter.

My jaw dropped, and I stood there dumbstruck. Using the heels of my hands, I rubbed at my eyes. My head spun as I tried to remember if I’d taken anything, because nothing else explained everything I’d seen that morning.

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