I run to the bathroom, barely able to hold back my vomit before I make it to the toilet.
Nico said he bought me a costume.
Is he trying to turn me into Catherine?
“You look pale,” Lynette says as we walk down to the party together.Nico never came to be my escort, and when my sister came for me, I knew he wasn’t planning to.
“Don’t you look ravishing,” Marco tells me as we hit the bottom of the stairs.He hands me a golden mask, and Lynette is given a black one.
“Shall we?”she tugs on my arm, leading me toward the sitting rooms that have been transformed into foggy dance floors.Like this place needs any help to be spooky.
I steer my sister to a nearby chair.“I’ll go find us some drinks.”I move off before she can respond.Is Nico even here for his own party?
Everyone is wearing his or her costume and masks.I have no idea what Nico is dressing up as.Not that he needs a mask to be a monster.He wears that face already.
I go off in search of him, not knowing where to look, but I find myself going down the darkened hall of his office where no one should be tonight of all nights.
The door to my husband’s office stands wide open.I see him although he’s too absorbed to notice me.He’s there, his expression like a bad storm, with Marco and Frankie.Their backs are to me, but I recognize them easily enough.I lean against the wall, holding perfectly still, just outside of the doorway.
“You’ve been making too many mistakes,” Marco says.“Things aren’t going like you promised.”He throws his hands up and paces the length of the room.
Nico stares him down, his brown eyes so intense they are nearly black.“Business is down, but it’s fine,” he says, clipped.The charming mask is gone, replaced with a dangerous edge I recognize all too well.I remember that darkness coming off him in waves last night.My husband can be a brutal force when warranted.And even when it isn’t.He knows how to be cold as ice.
Nico holds his ground, but Marco seems to back down.My eyes dart between the two of them, and I can’t pull myself away.Frankie stays silent, observing them like I am.
“Your head’s not in the game,” Marco’s voice drips with malice, “since––” He pauses mid-sentence and looks straight at me.Not at me.Through me.For a split second, I panic.Does he know I’m listening to them?My spine goes rigid and ramrod straight, but he’s already back to arguing with Nico.
“After Catherine.”
“Don’t go there, little brother.”
A strange feeling comes over me as I continue to eavesdrop on a conversation none of them would want me to hear.I’m not scared, but I’m also not even close to being relieved that they are talking about Catherine.I thought he was going to say my name.That I’m a distraction.
“After she was gone, you were back to yourself.Things were falling into place.Frankie got Lynette out of the picture, and you just had to go and marry fucking Odette.No one’s scared of you anymore.What are you gonna do when they come for you?Ask her for help?”The way he says it leaves no doubt.He means me.My pulse races.Each word tangles with the next.He’s questioning Nico’s power, his hold.Saying he’s soft now.Because of me.Is Marco planning something?Is he going to act against Nico?I’m wrapped in a dizzy haze of dread and fascination.
I need to go.I need to stay.
Every piece of me is humming with electricity.
“All you care about is fucking that slut.”
I gasp so loud I’m scared they’ve heard me, but Nico waves a hand across his desk, sending the contents crashing to the floor.
“Get the fuck out of my face.”He lunges at Marco, and Frankie gets between them.I run down the hall, not sure where I’m running to.
Frankie seduced my sister to stop her from marrying Nico.Guess my stepping into her shoes wasn’t in their plans.
I run toward the garden, finding myself at Catherine’s grave.I take off my mask and try to catch my breath.I can never tell Lynette.I can’t break her heart.She’s having his child.How could he do that?Why would he do that?
Did Marco kill Catherine because she was too much of a distraction?
“What happened to you?”I ask her grave, but she doesn’t answer.
I’m not sure how long I sit on the bench in the cold, but eventually I make my way to the party.Nico hasn’t come looking for me once.He’s not distracted by me.Nothing makes sense.
The party is alive and well when I re-enter the manor.Everyone is dancing and laughing.Having the time of their life.
I need answers, but the only man who can give them to me isn’t talking.
