"DID HE FALL IN love this time?" Danica asked, watching her best friend struggle to straighten her dress.
The moment Danica stepped into the cabin, she found Nina in complete disarray. Her hair was hopelessly disheveled, a sheen of sweat clung to her flushed skin, and her trembling hands fumbled with the fabric of her dress.
She looked like she'd been thoroughly ravaged by Danica's rigid, control-obsessed manager, Paul Williams.
"If forcing sex," Nina said, sweeping her fingers through her tangled hair, "meant falling in love, then every victim would be drooling over, and yearning for, their rapists or assaulters."
Danica let out a slow sigh, scratching the arch of her brow.
Her best friend had a point.
Cold, rational, and undeniably true.
But it still crumbled beneath the logic Danica refused to abandon.
She had no intention of keeping Paul as her manager. No matter how ingenious he was at vanishing dead bodies or mopping blood off the floor without leaving behind a single stain.
She had tolerated him solely for her best friend's sake. Hoping that one day Nina would finally make him hers, and Danica could be rid of him for good.
But, that day seemed to have the balls to keep slipping further out of reach, because Nina had spent the last two fucking years trapped in this relentless push-and-pull with him.
How the fuck was Paul not supposed to fall for Nina?
He should.
Shouldn't he?
At least by now.
Nina was done straightening her clothes, looking almost put together again.
Almost.
The smudged crimson lipstick betrayed everything she'd tried to hide.
Danica stepped closer and gently wiped the stain from the corners of Nina's mouth, brushing away the traces of red attached to her skin.
"You've done everything in your fucking power," Danica said, rubbing the last smear of lipstick from the corner of Nina's mouth, "to make him fall for you. None of it has gone to waste. He's obsessed with you. He's just too fucked in the head to admit it."
Nina gave a short nod.
Maybe it was the blind reassuring the blind.
Maybe it was a delusion.
She didn't care.
Delusion had kept people alive for centuries. It could keep her going a little longer.
Danica stepped back, her gaze sweeping over her best friend's gorgeous face with quiet scrutiny before she added with quiet conviction.
"If he isn't obsessed with you already, then he will be." She gripped Nina's shoulders, firm enough to leave no room for doubt. "Time breaks everyone. Even men like him."
Danica's lips curved into a humorless smile. "Every sane person would tell you to be patient."
A beat later.
"Lucky for you, you're sane enough to listen. Unlike me."
The last shadow of unease vanished from Nina's face as she watched Danica's smile flattening into a razor-thin line and every soft edge of her expression turning to stone.
"But if you ever get tired of waiting," Danica stressed each word, "just tell me, and I'll make sure he marries you." A pause. "At gunpoint."
Nina let out a dry chuckle. "You're a psycho. My pretty psycho."
Danica's lips finally twitched.
"Always your partner in crime, sweetheart." she replied.
"I know you'll always be there for me. And that helps me sleep at night." Nina swallowed before forcing herself to continue. "Because my heart knows that if I ever start losing the possibility of having Paul by my side...." Her voice hardened. "You'll make damn sure that possibility turns into a fucking reality."
A fleeting smile crossed Danica's lips before she let go of Nina's shoulders.
"So, now tell me, Dan. Who's this new business partner?"
"This is a surprise for the world. But not for you." Danica's tone climbed a level as if she was barely containing her excitement. "The new business partner is Alfred Brown."
And Just like that Nina's smile got murdered on the fucking spot.
Shock crashed through her with ruthless force. Every muscle tightened, every limb turned to granite, pinning her where she stood, too fucking stunned to breathe for a moment.