Twisted Roses by Vega Sienne

Author:Vega, Sienne [Vega, Sienne]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-01-04T18:30:00+00:00

meet me on the second floor in the head curator’s office. ten o’ clock. i’ll be waiting.

I check, no one’s watching me. Everyone is far too busy being fabulous and wealthy, mingling and flaunting, they don’t notice a thing.

No wonder Flynn snuck off so easily.

Sneaking up to the second floor is less easy than sneaking around the crowded masquerade downstairs. Museum security stand as sentries at different elevators and staircases leading upstairs, dressed in all-black with earpieces they take orders from.

The top floor is for museum personnel only.

I manage to sneak by when a white-haired woman in pearls needs one of them to escort her to the nearest bathroom. I wait for him to turn his back to explain where they’re located before taking a chance and scurrying past him and up the staircase he’s guarding.

The second floor of the museum feels a world away from the masquerade downstairs. Whereas the attendees on the main floor socialize among art displays that cost more money than the average person has ever seen in their lives, the second floor is dim and practical.

Offices and storage rooms. A couple safes protected by steel doors with spoke handles.

I’m almost thirty minutes early. I wanted a chance to scope out the area. Lurk and observe any potential clues.

I approach the head curator’s office at the end of the hall. The layout is an office within an office. You enter and walk into a reception area first, where likely the curator’s assistant sits and fields any visitors. The second door leads into the much roomier, dignified larger office.

A sliver of light peeks out from the cracked open door.

No one is inside. But someone wanted me to think there was.

I back off and leave the curator’s office altogether. The situation calls for extra caution. If there’s even the chance this is a trap, I need to be on guard.

“You shouldn’t be up here by yourself,” Salvatore says, appearing at my side the second I walk out of the curator’s office. He slides his hand over mine and picks up his pace, tugging me along in a brisk walk.

I really shouldn’t be surprised. He shows up whenever I’m alone. Whenever I’ve snuck off and I’m doing something I shouldn’t be doing. I knew he was here tonight. Why else would he be if not to keep an eye on me?

Salvatore drags me into another room, locking the door. Shadows fill up the space, making it difficult to see. I bump into a desk, mere footsteps inside. He stands by another table and twists on a lamp.

With his demon mask on, the meager light framing him where he stands among the shadows, Salvatore’s never looked more like the devil trying to tempt me to the depths of hell.

Half a room of space between us and it’s not enough.

I back away a couple more steps and hit the desk a second time. “I should’ve guessed you’d follow me up here.”

“What did I say, Phi? What agreement did we make?”

“I agreed not to track down any more criminals in my off-time.

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