Chapter 3 3

The maid turned the corner at the end of the hall.

Katelyn's brain fired on all cylinders.

If this stranger opened his mouth, Arnett would lock her in the basement. She would never get out.

As she walked past Etienne, her hand shot out.

Her fingers clamped around the thick fabric of his hoodie collar.

She threw her entire body weight backward, yanking him hard.

Etienne didn't resist. He let her pull him.

They stumbled into a small, unlocked linen closet.

Etienne kicked the door shut behind him with the heel of his sneaker. It closed with a muted thud.

Total darkness engulfed them.

The tiny space smelled overwhelmingly of starched linen and bleach.

Katelyn shoved him hard against the wooden door.

She pressed her forearm against his chest, her face inches from his.

"What do you want?" she hissed, her voice dropping its pathetic tremor, turning sharp and lethal. "How much money to keep your mouth shut?"

Etienne let out a low, dark chuckle.

The vibration of his chest rumbled against her arm.

"Money?" His voice was a deep, gravelly rasp that sent a shiver down her spine. "That's a little cliché, don't you think?"

Before she could react, his hands clamped around her waist.

With a sudden, effortless display of brute strength, he spun them around.

Katelyn's back hit the metal shelving unit. Stacks of folded towels tumbled to the floor.

Etienne pressed his body flush against hers, pinning her in place.

He lowered his head, his mouth hovering just a fraction of an inch from her ear.

"That skull," he whispered, his breath hot against her skin. "Was the sexiest fucking thing I've ever seen."

Katelyn froze.

Her breath hitched. For ten years, her art had been called garbage, crazy, a symptom of her disease.

No one had ever called it that.

"Katelyn?"

The maid's voice echoed from the hallway outside. Footsteps approached the closet.

Katelyn's blood turned to ice. Her muscles locked up.

Etienne pulled back slightly. He looked down at her, his eyes glinting in the sliver of light coming from under the door.

He opened his mouth, as if he was about to answer the maid.

Panic and a sudden, violent surge of rebellion exploded in Katelyn's chest.

She didn't think.

She grabbed the sides of his face, went up on her tiptoes, and smashed her mouth against his.

Etienne's entire body went rigid.

For one agonizing second, he didn't move.

Then, a feral groan ripped from his throat.

His hands tangled in her hair, gripping her scalp, and he kissed her back with a punishing, bruising intensity.

The doorknob rattled.

The metallic click echoed like a gunshot in the tiny room.

Katelyn flinched, but Etienne's massive hand shot out, clamping completely over the brass doorknob. His grip was a vise of pure muscle, holding the mechanism totally immobile, preventing it from turning even a fraction of an inch from the outside.

"Stupid lock," the maid muttered outside.

The footsteps slowly faded away.

The danger was gone, but the kiss didn't stop.

It spiraled completely out of control.

It was no longer a cover-up. It was a desperate, violent collision of two people drowning in their own adrenaline.

Etienne's rough hands slid down her back, gripping the zipper of the ugly gray dress.

He yanked it down. The cheap fabric tore slightly at the seam.

His large, warm hands touched the pale, freezing skin of her back.

Katelyn squeezed her eyes shut. She didn't care who he was. She didn't care if she died tomorrow.

For the first time in ten years, she wanted to feel alive.

Downstairs, the VIP lounge door flew open.

Chelsea marched in, dragging a group of giggling socialites behind her.

"You guys have to see this," Chelsea gloated. "My crazy cousin actually painted something decent for once."

Chelsea grabbed the corner of the drop cloth and ripped it off the easel. As the heavy fabric fell away, the direct afternoon sun streamed through the cracked window, hitting the thick layers of wet paint at a sharp, unforgiving angle. The sudden shift in lighting completely shattered the optical illusion Katelyn had so carefully constructed. The layers of paint caught the light, and the skull seemed to physically leap out from the canvas.

The words died in her throat.

The socialites shrieked, stumbling backward in horror.

The sunlight hit the canvas, illuminating the grotesque, blood-red skull screaming out from the center of the peaceful landscape.

It looked demonic.

Chelsea's face turned purple. Her hands shook violently.

"Find her!" Chelsea screamed, her voice cracking. "Find that psycho bitch right now!"

Back in the closet, the air was thick with heat and the smell of sweat.

They collapsed onto a pile of fallen linens.

Etienne stripped off his hoodie and shoved it under her back to protect her from the hard floor.

His movements were aggressive, demanding, yet laced with a strange, consuming fascination he couldn't understand.

Katelyn bit down hard on Etienne's bare shoulder.

She tasted copper as she broke the skin, swallowing her own shattered moans.

Outside the door, the security radios erupted into a frenzy of static and shouting.

Inside the dark, suffocating space, the two liars pushed each other over the edge.