The house creaks through its silence.
I fall to the ground with defeat and rub my swollen eyes.
I couldn’t manage to accomplish the one thing Pavel asked me to do. He wanted me to help Mikhail, and instead I ruined him. I betrayed his hard-earned trust, and he won’t forgive that.
Did I betray him?
Mikhail respected his father to an undying level; he should be able to understand my reasoning, but he doesn’t. His hate toward me blindsides the reality of this situation. Mikhail wanted someone by his side, and I was there. I have been here the entire fucking time.
I didn’t mean for emotion to play a role in any of this, but nothing about this is going according to plan.
My head turns when I see the lights of a car shine through my window. I race over and see Max getting into his car. He’s not wearing his regular outfit—he’s in a suit and tie.
I push open the window and scream his name, but he doesn’t hear me.
“Max!” I scream.
Again, nothing.
Peering my head out the window I look at the drop. “Fuck,” I mutter as I lift my legs over the edge.
The brick exterior of the house digs into the palms of my hands. My legs dangle over the edge before I take in a deep breath, letting go of the ledge.
I tumble onto the grass and race to the street. My hands hit the car, and I see blood on the window. Max stops and gets out quickly, holding a gun to me.
“Stop,” I shout. “Fuck, why do all of you want to kill me?”
Looking down at my hands, I notice cuts that are deep. My adrenaline is at a high, so I didn’t even notice the pain before I saw the marks.
“Yeah, I wouldn’t mind shooting you. I fucking told you to come to me when you needed insulin, and you didn’t,” Max says, lowering his gun.
I stare at him. “Are you kidding me? That’s the least of our concerns.” Out of breath, I say, “I need to find Giovanni and Mikhail.”
His eyes widen, and I wave him off as I walk to the other side of the car. He gets in and tells me to buckle my seat belt. “How do you know Giovanni?” he asks.
“I’ve only heard of his name before the fundraiser,” I begin.
For the entire ride, I tell him everything that Pavel told me to do, and how I’ve failed.
“I don’t know what to do.”
He pulls the car into a large parking lot flooded with people wearing elegant dresses and masks on their faces. Digging through the center console, he pulls out two masks. “We’re going to go find him. Giovanni will be here tonight, and my guess is that he will be too.”
I grab the mask from his hands. “Why do you have a spare?” I ask.
“I was going to pick up my friend, Maddy, but she’ll just have to miss out. You’re more important.”
Hiding my smile, I look down at my clothes. “I can’t go in like this,” I admit.
He brings his hand to the back of the seat and pulls up a dress on a hanger. “This was for Maddy, but you two are roughly the same size. She’s taller than you, so you’ll have to hold up the dress. There should be heels in the back too.”
I nod, thankful he even has something for me to wear. “Thank you,” I tell him, and I scoot into the back seat of his car. Before changing, I push up the rearview mirror and get an eye roll in return. “What? You’re not getting a free show.”
“I’m the last man you have to worry about. My eyes are meant for only one woman.”
“Who?” I ask quickly. “Maddy?”
He laughs. “Nah, but it doesn’t matter,” he says, dismissing me.
I shrug my shoulders and change as fast as I can.
Looking out through the window, I see many people walking up a long staircase. There are small lights lining the bottom of each step. Potted trees stand either side of the steps with decorations on the branches.
Opening the door, Max offers me his arm, and I take it.
Turning around, my heels dig into the sidewalk, and I stabilize myself. “Sway” by Michael Bublé plays through the speakers. I grab onto the stone railing and step up the stairs, exchanging smiles with many others as I walk through the doors into the building. Blue lights fill the room. They shine through the white curtains.
I have no idea what tonight will bring, but that’s what excites me.
“Miss?” A stranger stops me. “You forgot your card.”
I take it from him. “Thank you.”
Max grabs one too, and I follow by his side. My stride slows as I notice the intricate detail in the room. The outside looked like an old museum, but the inside looks like a castle. Small designs are chiseled into the ceiling. The drapes cover most of it, but it’s stunning.
“What’s the plan?” I whisper to Max.
“Well, I’m going to eat,” he says with a grin. He grabs a plate of fruit from the table next to the bar. I hate how he isn’t taking this seriously. Giovanni is married to his sister—he should care more, right? If he doesn’t, Mikhail is still involved, and I know he cares for him.
I stare at the table of food. It’s strange how fruit reminds me of Mikhail. I never thought I’d associate something as simple as fruit with a person, but I can’t help but think about all the breakfasts we shared together. “Now we wait. I think Mikhail will play the game tonight.”
I make a face and step in front of him. “What game?”
“The murder mystery. I guess we’ll see if he makes the game realistic or not.”
I hit him in the arm. “Max, this isn’t a game!”
“Everything is a game.”
After nearly half an hour, more people show up. It’s going to be one hell of a night if there are this many people playing the game.
A man with a mask covering half his face comes over to me and hands me a flute of champagne. I take it from him and lift it up as a thank-you, taking small sips as the music fades and someone clears their throat in the mic.
“Hello, everyone!”
It sounds like Giovanni. He’s wearing a mask too. That means Mikhail hasn’t gotten to him just yet. He should be here.
I scan the room, but everyone looks the same.
“I know I’m not the person who normally speaks up about the rules of the game, but tonight is to celebrate my wife, Nina, and me. We’re going to carry on the tradition as we found our love through a night like this. The beauty of love is much deeper than one’s appearance. It’s who the person is at their core that we fall in love with.” He takes a moment to glance around the room. “We have two murderers tonight, and it’s our job to catch them before they kill other people. Please take a moment to open your envelopes.”
I take the card out and rip the top of it open.
I’m innocent.
Thank God.
“Be careful out there. As Nina’s father would say, ‘Be wary, watch your back, learn who to trust.’”
Laughter fills the room.
“To Nina!”
Everyone lifts their glasses in the air in a toast. I do the same.
Max smiles and leans into me. “I’ll tell you what I am if you tell me what you are.” He squints his eyes at me.
“Max, please. This is serious.”
“Sloane, he’s not going to kill Giovanni. That would declare war. Mikhail’s not stupid.”
“We need to find him.”
“We will. Once you tell me what you are.”
I roll my eyes and hold my card out to him, and he does the same. We’re both innocent.
He sighs with relief. “Oh, good.”
“Ready?” I ask him.
“Wait—I want to get a drink first.”
I nod in frustration. “Would you relax, Doll? If you don’t want to out yourself, you need to make it look like you’re here for the game.”
“But I’m not. I’m here for Mikhail.”
“And as soon as he sees you, he could act out. What do you even plan on saying to him anyway?”
I shrug. “I don’t know. Just explain the situation more, I guess.”
“Why don’t you tell him what you want rather than what Pavel would want you to?”
I hadn’t even realized that. I feel as if I failed Pavel. Explaining myself was my way of making amends for fucking up the situation. But Pavel isn’t here. Mikhail is—and I want Mikhail to understand me.
We reach the bar and look at the menu. “They must like Moscow mules—that’s like the only thing on the menu,” I say.
“That’s Nina’s favorite for this kind of game,” the bartender tells us. He’s about my height with short blond hair.
“Why is that?” I ask.
“She says it masks the alcohol taste, and it makes it more fun when people don’t know how drunk they’re getting,” Max adds.
That’s funny. I never thought of it like that. I’m beginning to think Nina and I will get along better than I thought we would.
“We’ll take two of whatever flavor—surprise us,” Max says.
“How many times have you come to this event?”
He leans his weight on the bar top and turns his head toward me. “Many times. When Nina and I were young, we would tear apart the dessert table.”
“And now it’s the bar.”
“Well, not for her. She and Mira can enjoy the dessert table this year.”
I laugh as we tap our copper glasses together and drink the entire thing. “Nina would be proud,” he tells the bartender.
He grins as he mixes more drinks.
I put the empty cup down on the bar and look at Max. “You ready now?”
“Ready as I’ll ever be.”
We run out of the room, my dress weighing me down. I take my heels off as I race up the marble stairs. Looking around, I see the walls are covered in art. I feel as if I’m in Europe right now. The style of this building is insane.
“Come on!” I shout to Max as he takes his sweet time walking up the stairs. I rush back down to him and grab onto his hand, pulling his arm to get him to walk faster. Am I delusional for thinking Mikhail is capable of killing Giovanni? Max doesn’t seem to be worried at all.
When he meets me at the top, we look around the corner to see if anyone else is up here. There are a couple of people running out of a room.
“Why don’t we—?”
“Shh!” I interrupt. I duck behind the wall quickly when I see a man with red in his hand step out of the room.
Max stands on the opposite side of the wall, the archway separating us.
“Do you still see him?” I whisper.
He nods his head slowly as he backs up more.
We should go back downstairs, but I don’t want to. This feeling is incredible. I can understand why they made this a tradition.
“Shit. He’s coming,” he tells me as he runs across the opening quickly. I begin to laugh, but he covers my mouth with his hand. “You have to be quiet.”
I hold my breath when I see the back of the man walking toward the stairs. If he were to turn around, we’d be screwed.
He stops and turns slowly. We lock eyes, and he smiles wide.
“Okay, okay, go!” Max says with enthusiasm.
I rush back to the stairs and run for it without looking back. Once I’m in the main room, I stop and look around me.
“Where to now?” I ask, but I get nothing in return. “Max?” I ask and turn around.
He’s gone.
