❝Your secret is a painting?❞ I took a few cautious steps; the hairs on my arms stood on end.
❝Not just any painting.❞ Dorian approached the easel, shadows on his face as he touched the cloth protecting it. ❝It's a dark object, the manifestation of m...
The next day I walked into work and took a seat at my desk, numb. Everything was the same, but nothing was as it should've been...
"Um-m-m, I think you're sitting in my seat?" A pretty young woman looked down at me, a stack of folders between her manicured hands. She smiled, brows raised in apology.
"Excuse me?"
"That's my seat. I'm the new new intern. Mr. Darkwater just hired me."
"New intern? But that's my job."
The phone rang.
"Oop! I should probably get that. 'Scuse me..."
Ushered from my seat, I grabbed my purse and notebook, watching in astonishment as the new girl took my place, the receiver pressed to her ear.
"Salt by the Sea Gallery. This is Jane, how may I help you?"
Feeling eyes boring into the back of my skull, I turned, locking eyes with the figure watching from the second-floor balcony.
Dark Dorian smiled, whiskey glass raised in salute.
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Livid, I barged into Miriam's old office, marching to the man seated at her desk.
"First you hire me, then you fire me? What is this? Why am I even here? Are you doing this just to torture me? Because let me tell you--"
"I'm giving you an upgrade." Dark Dorian smirked, a drink from the decanter on his desk.
"I... What?"
"Oh, yes. I've seen your work. Your talents are wasted behind a desk. That won't do at all. You will procure the darkest and deadliest paintings you can find and shall bring them directly to me. Congratulations--you're the gallery's head curator. Well, should you accept."
"Do I have a choice, Mr. Darkwater?"
"We all have a choice." Dark Dorian walking around the desk to face me. He leaned against the edge, a sly grin on his newly handsome face. "Isn't that what you said, Ms. Thorne?"
It was a trap. It had to be. But lives were at risk if I said no.
"Fine. But I want a raise. A big one."
"Done and done." Arms folded, he smiled back at me, dapper in his Burberry suit. "Anything else?"
"Yeah. Tell me something. You have freedom--a real chance at a new beginning. Are you sure you want to sacrifice it on... whatever it is you're doing?"
"What do you know of sacrifice?" Still smiling, Dorian inspected his drink and took a sip. "Have you ever given up something so precious, so perfect..." He reached out, fingering the gold chain at my throat. "For a chance to have everything you've ever wanted? No? I thought as much. Too afraid to leap, you'd rather settle. Poor Miriam, she was smart. She leaped."
