Page 5 of The Villain We Tempt

I giggle, but then I glance at my watch and a shiver ripples through me.

Go time.

It’s the thrill that keeps me doing this. The rush of adrenaline. The knowledge that Ishouldn’tbe doing it, and that getting caught would mean this whole thing blowing up in my face inspectacularfashion.

Plus, deep down, Ilikebeing seen.

Watched.

Desired.

“Okay, guys.” I glance at my friends as Wren rejoins the group. “Think I’m gonna go pee and then mingle a little.”

“Should we tell Mr. Scream Mask that you’re ovulating?” Ari says with a grin.

I roll my eyes, promise to find them again soon, and then slip away.

But not to use the ladies' room.

I make my way through the party, saying hi to a few people I recognize. Then I take the stairs to the second floor of Kingsward Hall.

The third floor, with the bedrooms of the Para Bellum higher-up members, is off-limits for the party. There’s even a little “No admittance” sign on the staircase heading up there. But that isn’t where I’m going.

I gradually make my way to the back of the second floor of the sprawling mansion until I reach the door to the library. Like the staircase up to the bedrooms, there’s another small sign hung on a little chain across the doorway that says “No admittance”.

Perfect. I won’t get interrupted.

I glance around to make sure there’s no one about, then deftly open the door and duck under the chain to step into the room.

It’s practically pitch dark inside, the only light coming from the moon and the low pathway lights dotting the campus outside. I shiver with a flash of excitement in the stillness, feeling my pulse beginning to quicken.

Showtime.

I find my bag hidden exactly where I stashed it yesterday, still with the leather schoolgirl-inspired fetish wear and mask inside.

Trevor Cohen, heir to a mid-level Kansas City mafia family who happens to be in my Psychology of Deception and Performance class, has been trying to get me to "come over and hang out" with him at Kingsward Hall since he pledged Para Bellum last year.

Yesterday, I finally took him up on it. Not because I suddenly decided I was open to Trevor’s obvious come-ons, but because my fanscravea little drama. They'd love a tease about who I might be. And since Mariana Guzman raised the stakes the other day by pointing out that my last video was shot in Ravencroft Library here on campus, I’ve decided to raise them a bit more.

On my own terms.

Just to be safe, I lock the door. Then I pull the tripod out of the bag I hid in here after spending a grand total of three minutes with Trevor, who clearly thought he was going to get lucky.

After that’s set up, I attach the ring light and turn it on so I can see what I’m doing. I strip off the pink and white dress I wore tonight and gently lay it over a nearby table. My bra and panties are next, and I shiver a little as the forbidden thrill of being naked in the Kingsward Hall library ripples across my skin.

Tonight’s costume features aninsanelyshort pleated leather skirt, thigh-high fishnets, a white, short-sleeved blouse that ties in a knot just under my tits, and a leather choker with a gleaming silver O-ring at the front of it. Oh, and of course, my long blonde wig and black-and-crimson masquerade mask.

There’s nothing under the skirt, because…well, for one, I’m mostly filming from the waist up anyway. But also?

It turns me on.

It gives me a secret thrill: performing for strangers, masked, and therefore able to be a version of myself that I normally keep hidden.

Everyday Galina Nikitin isgood. She has two loving, wildly overprotective fathers and a slightly annoying but likewise overprotective big brother. She listens to bright, bouncy pop music, dresses in preppy J. Crew type clothes, and wears her red hair either in a prim, high ponytail or else neatly brushed down over one shoulder.

She’s a model student, the perfect daughter, and typically has no trouble making new friends wherever she is because she's so darned cheerful.

This other version of Galina is the part that lurks inside me.