Once we’re both dressed, I look at him and raise an eyebrow. “So, now what?” I can hear the party is still raging on the other side of the thick door of the study. “Do you think we can slip out unnoticed?”
“We’ll slip out unnoticed,” he says as he leans down and picks up his cane. He then reaches for the bottle of bourbon he had been drinking and takes a long swig of it before placing it back down, reaching for my hand, and asking, “Shall we?”
I take his hand, and he leads me to a bookcase. He then begins tapping books with the bottom of his cane. There’s a clicking noise when he knocks on one, and he chuckles. “There you are.”
He then pushes the book forward and the bookcase moves, revealing a secret passageway on the other side.
“This should lead us out,” he announces.
“How did you know this was here?”
“I’m Nick Hudson. It’s my job to know everything.” He then gives me a wink and charges us into the dark hallway.
I suppose every mansion has secret passageways when the owner lives in the world of high-stakes business and may need a fast getaway, but how he knew… I guess I shouldn’t question but instead be grateful.
“How do you know where it leads?” I’m hesitant to enter, but I don’t resist. I don’t have any other choice but to follow.
He doesn’t answer right away, but instead walks me down a dark corridor. My eyes try to adjust to the darkness, but they can’t. I’m not sure how he knows where we’re going, but I cling tightly to his hand and stay close to his side. It’s cold, dank, and leads to the unknown, but I still march forward.
I hear him opening a door in front of us, and the fresh air of the outside kisses my face. The starry sky welcomes us from the darkness. We stand about a hundred yards away from the Morelli mansion. I turn to see the party still at its height, and no one the wiser that we were there, and now that we are gone.
He gestures me out the door. “Until we meet again…”
I walk into the cold night air.
By the time I turn back, he’s already closed the door. Already disappeared. It almost feels like he was a figment of my imagination. As if he never really existed. Except that I’m standing here, not being used as ransom by the Russian mob.
There was a moment tonight that I truly didn’t believe I’d leave the mansion alive. I look up at the night sky, feeling relief that it won’t be my last night alive.
PART II
THE MAD HATTER
Chapter Six
Lyriope Bailey
There is a fine line between obsession and addiction.
If you ask me which one I suffer from, I can’t give you a clear answer.
I’ve been obsessing over a man. The constant thoughts of him are addicting and I don’t try to fight them off.
Obsession or addiction or both?
There has never been a man with this power over me before. But this man… he’s different.
Nick Hudson.
And not just thoughts of him, but also his private playground known as Wonderland. I’ve always wanted to go, and after that night four months ago, I am starving to see what lurks beneath the man even more.
It was only one night, and yet, it had been the most all-consuming night of my life.
It had been a whirlwind of emotions, and as quickly as everything had happened, it ended.
We kissed. We touched. He dominated my body, and then left me wanting more. It was a wicked taste of him and his world, and I’d do anything to experience it again.
I will experience it again.
Tonight.
“You look amazing,” Sasha Morelli says with a flick of her dark hair, and one last glance at her own appearance before she closes her compact mirror, placing it into her purse. “You’ll fit in perfectly at Wonderland.”
I somehow control my huff that struggles for an escape at her words. I’m good at hiding my feelings, my emotions, and I’ve become a master at the ‘fake it until you make it’ school of thought. But the harsh reality—my reality—is I’ll never truly fit in anywhere. Regardless of what I wear, how I do my hair, or where I go, fitting in is elusive and always will be.
Especially tonight—going to Wonderland. There is no way in hell I’ll ever belong in a place like that. But I sure as hell can act like I do.
We both sit in the back of Sasha’s town car, and though I have anxiety over what’s to come from our night out, Sasha doesn’t seem to have a care in the world. She’s actually a buzz with delighted energy instead. I wish it would rub off on me, but I’m growing more nervous by the second.