Page 129 of Show Me How
SHADE
“Shit,”I mutter when I pull up outside the towering castle of a house.
It’s closer to a mansion than anything else, but I’m still not sure if this is actually where Millie lives or if this is a resort. Surely, she didn’t grow up in a resort, but I can’t comprehend living somewhere like this.
It’s three stories high with a wide, curling driveway in front and dual balconies attached to both sides. The exterior is a dark stone with a white-and-black double-sided door, because obviously, one wasn’t enough. The longer I look at the place, the more I hate it. This type of flashy wealth has never appealed to me. When someone bleeds money like this, they always make a show of making sure everyone who stumbles upon them knows it.
I don’t need to look inside the separate eight-car garage to the left of the main house to know it’s crammed full of luxury cars that never get driven and every toy imaginable. Side-by-sides, dirt bikes, maybe even a boat with a giant ski tower on it. They’ll never get dirty or feel the rock of a wave, but when it comes to giving a house tour, they sure will draw a few surprised approvals.
Shelly knew exactly where she was sending me when I asked for the address. When Millie filled out all of the paperwork to stay at the campground, she didn’t know she was giving Shelly permission to Google stalk her house. The nosey woman probably looked that first night and kept her opinions on the place to herself this entire time.
Pulling up beside the giant water fountain in the middle of the driveway, I try to ignore my discomfort. It doesn’t matter what these people say to me or about me. I’m here for Millie, and I’m not leaving without her.
There must be people trapped in the goddamn shrubs because I can feel myself being watched the moment I step out of the car. I can’t spot anyone lingering out here, but they’re around somewhere. It’s enough to have my skin crawling.
I don’t bother locking my car before heading for the front door. Nobody here is going to try to steal it. The closest they’d get is having it towed so it didn’t sit like a shit stain on their driveway for too long. Fuck, I don’t know how Millie lived here for so long. I’ve been here for three minutes and can already feel the poison in the air start to affect me.
Skipping both of the stone steps, I knock on the door and ring the doorbell twice. It’s not snowing here the way it was the first half of my drive, but the ski hill I had to pass on my way up here was still busy, thick with it. The fake kind of snow that sticks beneath your boots and gets as slick as ice after a wet freeze.
The door opens after a minute. I hold myself steady when a woman appears in front of me, somehow glaring down her nose at me despite being far shorter. Dark hair is swept tightly behind her head as she taps her hip impatiently.
“Who are you?”
Jesus, she reminds me of Bryce’s mother. From the smug expressions to their hoity-toity voices, I have to do a double take to make sure this isn’t actually her. The solidifying differenceis that not even Bryce’s mother could afford earrings with diamonds that big. They damn near look painful as her lobes droop.
I skip her question entirely, my gut telling me she already knows. “I’m here to see Millie.”
“Oh, I bet you are,” she snips, giving me a brutal up-and-down look. Her disgust seems to triple by the time she’s done. “You can leave now.”
“Nah, not yet. Let me see her.”
“Do I need to call my husband?”
I chuckle, flattening a hand to the door when she tries to shut it in my face. “Yeah, you go do that.”
“This is breaking and entering!”
“Call it in and I’ll report you for kidnapping.”
Her gasp is dramatic as hell, nude-painted lips spreading wide. “That’s outrageous. You don’t have the nerve.”
“Try me,” I dare, voice low.
She doesn’t hesitate to jump out of my way when I push past her and enter the house. It’s worse inside than outside, all high ceilings and chandeliers that glimmer from the exuberant number of crystals on them. I fight a cringe and continue walking, not stopping until I’m at the bottom of a rounded staircase that looks up onto a balcony.
“Millie!” I shout, caging my mouth with my hands. “Millie!”
I can hear high heels clipping on the floor behind me. “You need to leave.”
“Not without your daughter.”
Her mother grabs my wrist and tries to pull me. “Now!”
One tug and she’s releasing me, leaving red marks from her nails. I step away from her and go to the stairs, glancing back for half a second.
“Is she upstairs?”
Her lips clamp shut, eyes glowing with silent rage. It’s the only answer I need.
