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"I’o hoement?"

"It was fake We both know that It was a stupid idea I shouldn’t have taken advantage of your good nature I just wanted to be with you I wanted to see e" His voice trailed off and he looked away "It’s not i, that’s it?"

"What do you wantin this world"

"Because I’hter "That has nothing to do with it"

"Then why?"

"Why do you even want to stay, after what just happened?"

"Because I like you," I said softly What was so hard for hiet that I had co had been exciting for me because I liked him? I’d been attracted to hiod, and the fact that he had been attracted toinside of uy to like" He frowned

"You could becouy to like"

"You think it’s that easy?" He cocked his head and surveyedand naive, Lola I will never becoed, uy that can take o"

"Do you really think you can handle that, Lola?" His green eyes looked at me skeptically "Do you really think you’re prepared for an adventure that has no guarantee of a happy ending?"

"When does anything have a guarantee of a happy ending?" I answered hiht back to my past relationships and heartbreaks I liked Xavier, and even though I didn’t knohat gaet to know hiued me and infuriated me, but I couldn’t walk away fro we’d been through

"Very true" He gazed at ht has been too much dra Too fro worried His words sounded o to tellto have to leave But that wasn’t what scared me the most What scared me was that as much as I didn’t want to leave, another part of o back to London and pretend that I’d never met Xavier Van Ro that saddened

Chapter Two

Xavier

I didn’t realize how easy it was to be a murderer I didn’t kno easy it was to have ht I kne easy it could be to kill someone I knew that because I’d wanted to kill Casper and Tarquin when I’d seen the Lola She’d so nearly been taken advantage of byto ry with the to expose her to this world of depravity and sin She was too young, too inexperienced, too naive and willing I’dher to Ro to have her be a part of my world It was too dark, too sinister, too full of debauchery for her She wasn’t ready for the life that I lived And I knew that I couldn’t allow her to becoames that we played

Casper and Tarquin had known exactly what they were doing I felt sorry for Tarquin He was too young, and too easily influenced by his brother He was a boy, trying to be a h I didn’t consider that to be an excuse I wouldn’t be able to forgive him And I’d have to speak to Sebastian about Tarquin’s behavior They’d have to cut ties I was not going to allow anyone in my immediate circle be influenced by Casper and Violeta Not at all Not when I had so much to lose And I knew that I couldn’t lose Lola Not now Not when everything inside ofme that she was the one The only problem was that I didn’t know if I wanted to have a ‘one’ What did that ood could I bring to Lola’s life? Maybe I’d brought enough trouble as it was Maybe the best thing I could do would be to let her go But everything in ht I unclenched my fists as I walked into my study, locked the door shut, and walked over toon my planner and sat down in my leather chair I picked it up and closed my eyes I had a decision to make and I had no idea what to do I opened my eyes and stared at the words, printed in black on the ivory linen paper There was a gold line around the edge of the paper that I knew to be real gold I had two days to e my life forever Two days that would not only decide my fate, but Lola’s as well

Chapter Three

Lola

My heart felt heavy as I sat in the bathtub full of salts and oils I played with the bubbles and watched as ers swished the water back and forth The et the situation I foundI had always dreamed of He was not a man who could takein , he needed someone to take him away from his world It was so dark and unbelievable, so coarse and uncaring And ht that rich people and royalty had to be worried about gold diggers and people using theest worries ca their poorer and non-noble friends Now I knew differently Now I knew that their other rich friends were even worse The games they played with each other and others were alht back to Casper and Tarquin and their proposition for a threeso or at least thinking I was engaged to their cousin? Didn’t they have any shame? I could still see the desire in Casper’s eyes and the challenge He hadn’t been embarrassed at all He had no hesitation, either If he could have taken me to his bed and had his ith me, he would have He wouldn’t have cared I would have been his conquest and he wouldn’t have cared if he’d hurt his cousin Tarquin, I knew, had uilty, but that was probably because he was younger