A knock sounded at my apartment door, startling me out of my thoughts.
Weird.I wasn’t expecting anyone, but sometimes deliveries showed up fairly late in the day. I didn’t remember ordering anything, but that wasn’t unusual—I had a bad habit of online shopping late at night and then completely forgetting about my purchases until they showed up at my door days later.
Sure enough, I found a package waiting on my doorstep.
Let’s see what terrible purchase I made this time.I carried the box over to the kitchen table and proceeded to tear it open.
Inside, in a pool of blood-red silk, I found a business card. There were no words on the card, just a symbol—three interlocking triangles with a rose at the center. Just like on the invitation. My heart jumped up into my throat as my fingers tugged at the silk, pulling the top layer aside.
Beneath, shining up at me, was a mask.
It was so beautiful I’m pretty sure I gasped out loud. Gold and silver beads glittered across curves of delicate metallic lace, like gems caught in a spider’s web. On the outer edges, just beyond the eyes, the lace had been built up in layers to suggest dew-kissed roses, and each had a tiny silver bell at its center that tinkled as I gently lifted the mask from the bed of blood-red silk.
Someonereallywanted me to attend this masquerade. The question was, who?
2
Enter the Masquerade
“Ican’tbelieveyou’regoing.” Isaac’s voice rose from the voice chat app. My cell phone was currently sitting on the front passenger seat of my car, right next to my pair of silver stiletto heels.
“Oh my god.” I could practically hear Esmer roll her eyes as she responded. “Stop with the conspiracy theories. Goldie’s going to be fine. No one’s going to murder her tonight.”
“And it would really help if you would stop mentioning ‘murder’ for the time being,” I added, my bare foot pressing down on the pedal as I rounded a curve in the road. “It’s kind of a mood killer.”
“You’re the one who’s obsessed with all those serial killer documentaries,” Isaac pointed out.
“That doesn’t mean I want to meet one in real life,” I countered. “Or imagine myself getting chopped up into little pieces for sport by some sick billionaire.”
I didn’t have to see Isaac’s face to know he was unhappy that I was going through with this. There I was, literally on my way to the Crestwood Estate, and he wasstilltrying to talk me out of it. Maybe it was because he was the guy in the group, but he seemed to see it as his job to protect me and Esmer.
“There’s practically nothing about these guys online,” he said. “Do you know how weird that is these days? They must have a whole team scrubbing the internet on their behalf. I can find a few mentions of donations they’ve made and stuff like that, but nothing personal. Not even a satellite picture of their house.”
“Maybe they just like their privacy,” I said.
“Or maybe they’re pulling someCount of Monte Cristoshit,” he replied. “No one really knows who they are or where they’ve come from. But they’re rich, so people let them get away with stuff.”
“Mm, yeah,” Esmer offered. “They’ve got thatrich dickenergy.”
I laughed as Isaac groaned.
“You’ll keep your phone on you all night, right?” he asked me. Despite his fear-mongering, there was something calming and stable about Isaac’s voice, and I’d always sort of pictured him as a larger guy, the kind who had a warm face and gave great hugs. I’d never actually seen him—the three of us had decided long ago to keep photos and video calls out of the equation—but I felt like Iknewhim, better than just about anyone. And I appreciated his concern.
“Obviously,” I assured him. “I’m not an idiot.”
“And she can take care of herself,” Esmer added. Her voice was earthy, but with an edge that left you with no doubt she was a badass. “If anyone tries anything, Goldie, just stab him in the neck with your stiletto.”
“I’ll do what I can,” I promised. “And remember, I’ve got that mini pepper spray in my purse.” Not that I thought I’d actually need to use it. I was nervous, sure, but not because of all this talk about murder and stabbing. It had been a long time since I’d been to a party, let alone one where I didn’t know a single soul. Even though I wouldn’t have called myself shy—I had no problem interacting with customers at the tea shop, and I’d even been described as “chatty” on more than one occasion—I was still human, and this situation was weird enough to warrant more than a few jitters.
Honestly, there was a good chance I’d spend the better part of the evening hanging out by the buffet table—assuming fancy masquerade partieshadbuffet tables, of course.
“I hope you packed a few condoms, too,” Esmer said.
“What? No.” I laughed to cover up my embarrassment.
“You never know…” Though I couldn’t see her, I imagined she was waggling her eyebrows suggestively. “Better safe than sorry. You never know what could happen.”
There was a part of me—a very secret part of me—that could almost imagine it… Locking eyes with a handsome stranger across the room, sharing a dance, sneaking away to a dark corner to share an intimate moment.
