Chapter 0122


    About fourteen minutester, I study myself in the mirror, my stomach a mess of butterflies.


    I’m better than I was about twelve minutes ago, though, when I’d been sitting on the floor drinking


    directly from the bottle of wine, hissing desperately into the phone to my sister while she tried talk me


    down. Luckily, thebination of alcohol and sister logic eventually pulled me together.


    “Get your ass up,” Janeen had ordered me, “put on that little outfit, and take charge. You’re the boss,


    Fay, not him.”


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    “Right,” I had gritted through my teeth. “Except he’s a literal mob boss. And I’m just –“


    “Nope,” she had interrupted. “Not today. Today you’re Fay, mob mistress, who gets precisely what she


    wants. Right?”


    “Right,” I had growled, briskly hanging up the phone and grabbing the scrab ofce before heading for


    the bathroom.


    Honestly? It looks really good on me, I think, turning to admire the way the cheeky little bottom of the


    Suddenly, a light knockes at the door and my eyes go wide.


    Shit. My fifteen minutes are up.


    “Just a second!” I call, diving for the bed and grabbing the requested Prada shoes from their ce on


    the duvet. Then, pulling them on, I kick the empty lingerie box under my bed and turn towards the door.


    I take a moment to close my eyes and take a deep breath.


    You’re the boss, Fay, I tell myself, my heart pounding in my ribcage. You’re in charge. Not him.


    The knockes again.


    I open my eyes.


    “Come in,” I call. My voice shocks me bying out calmer, deeper than I expected.


    Slowly, the door opens and I see his figure standing there, silhouetted against the bright light of the


    hall. That’s when I realize that I’m standing inplete darkness – apparently the sun had gone down


    Kent pauses, looking into the dark room, and then flicks a light switch by the door, turning on two dim


    sconces that hang on either side of my bed. The room is suddenly suffused with a pale orange light. My


    eyes go wide in it, seeing him standing there, one hand tucked neatly in his pocket.


    We just stare at each other for a moment, neither saying anything, and then Kent steps into the room


    and quietly closes the door.


    My stomach turns over and I do my best to control my breathing, to not let Kent see the anxiety roiling


    beneath my skin. He slowly crosses the room to stand before me, a jungle cat prowling towards some


    curiosity it finds in the forest.


    “Good evening, Fay,” he murmurs, looking down into my face, reaching out a hand to brush a curl back


    from my shoulder. “You look lovely tonight.”


    Something about the possession in his gaze riles me, and I’m d of it. I’d rather be pissed off than


    terrified. I raise my chin and look boldly up at him.


    “Do you like the outfit you’ve chosen for me? Does it meet your standards?”


    He takes a minute to consider me before he replies. “No more or less than everything else I choose for


    you to wear.”


    “Really,” I hear myself ask, raising an eyebrow. “This outfit…pleases you? The same amount as


    everything else I wear?”


    “Would you turn around for me?” he asks calmly. “I’d like to see the full effect.”


    I oblige him, slowly turning around for him to see me from all sides. When I turn to face him again, his


    eye are locked on mine.


    “Beautiful,” he says. “Stunning, Fay. Thank you.”