Page 38 of Red Masquerade

And how would I tell her? Any way I spun it in my head sounded like the ramblings of a madman. “I…” Choking on the words, I took a breath and willed the tears away. “The old church, the party—he was there.”

“You went back?”

I should have brought her with me. I shouldn’t have gone alone.

Nodding, I swallowed the lump in my throat. It all came rushing at me, everything I had tried to push down these last fewdays, few weeks; the ache I never let myself feel when we’d heard the news six years ago.

“Mr. Sinclair invited me back, I suppose.” I sniffled, wiping my eyes, but the blurriness was replaced by fresh tears. I laced my fingers through hers. “I couldn’t say no. You know how beautiful it is there, howamazing.”

She nodded.

“And I went to a part of the house we’d not gone to the other night. Upstairs.”Hownotto sound like I had been hallucinating?“There was a… separate party, and I saw Mr. Sinclair there. And he led me away to a room, and there Adam was.”

“He was justthere?” she balked. “Waiting for you?”

“It seemed so.”

He had been waiting for me, like heknewI would be there. Like he knew I would arrive that night.Did he wait every night?

And Sinclair had been the one to convince me to find the upstairs party. To lead me to Adam, who seemed to know what was going on, who knew Sinclair and was unfazed by the blood.

Had AdamtoldSinclair to find me?

“I can’t believe it, Helena.” Flora pulled herself up further onto the bed, crossing her legs. “This is crazy!”

I forced a laugh under my breath. “I know.”

“So he just fooled everyone then?” Her brows knit together. “How long has he been back?”

“I don’t know,” I admitted.

“And when you say that he was at that house—”

“I think it’shishouse.”

It was the only thing that made sense. How he was so casually relaxing in a study, as though he owned the place. Well-to-do men like Sinclair at his bidding. That soft, confident smile, before I ran away.

“So AdamisVince Thornton,” she said, not sounding entirely convinced.

Lifting a shoulder in a shrug, the weight of my own disbelief heavy. These were facts I had been mulling over for days, thoughts that I had turned upside down until they were no longer recognizable.

“And Dixon knows Vince Thornton.” She came to some conclusion in her head and scowled. “That bastard. And he didn’t tell us! I have half a mind to show up and rip him a new one!”

“Maybe he didn’t know,” I said. I had never seen her so angry. Her cheeks began to flush, her ears turning red as she stewed.

Perhaps she was learning then how us girls were just playthings to these men.

“We should go back.”

“What?” I paled.

“We should go back. To the mansion.” She said it simply, but I saw a fire in her eyes that had never been there before. “Just us. I don’t want Dixon there this time.”

“But why?”

“Because. We need to talk to Vince—Adam.Iwould like to know what he’s been up to.”

I fell back onto the bed, feeling drained of my energy again. “Flora, can we not?” My pulse was beginning to pound at my temples. I rubbed my eyes. I wasn’t sure if I ever wanted to go back.