TouchNode | Complete

45 | An Unmasking of the Ages

Masquerade balls have always been my favorite. In the end, there’s always that tremendous feeling of freeness when the masks come off.

I backpedaled, nearly tripping over myself to get away from the man that had been haunting my every waking moment for days. He quickly advanced toward me, combing through the crowd until a member of Carter’s security team stopped him. Nigel effectively halted all his progress, stepping directly in front of Euphrates to stop him in his tracks.

Frustration brimmed in his eyes as he glanced from Nigel’s unrelenting stance to my trembling body. I cringed away from him, pulling my waist out of Carter’s hold.

“Where do you think you’re going, Dev?”

Carter’s icy voice sent tremors of fear down my spine, and for a moment, I forgot why I was fleeing in the first place. His arm encompassed my waist again and turned me back around, forcing me back to the bottom of the decorated staircase. My right hand seized his, begging without words for room. He only squeezed tighter and tighter, reinforcing the position that I was simply a pretty possession.

Less than two meters away stood Euphrates, still fuming. He balled his hands into fists as Carter drew slow circles along my lower belly. Glancing at me in confusion, Euphrates motioned his head at the action and tipped it to the side. I hardened my face. He was the one who had lied to me. He was the murdering bastard.

“Devani?” He mouthed my name. “What are you doing here? You need to leave.”

I shook my head. He couldn’t tell me what to do anymore. He didn’t control me anymore.

“Devani…. please listen to me. You do not want to be here tonight. This celebration isn’t what you think it is.”

Turning my head, I faced him head-on and mouthed back.

“Leave. Me. Alone.”

Anger clipped his expression and he stepped back, taking a deep breath. His eyes flickered to Nigel as his jaw clenched. He was quickly losing patience.

I lifted my head and leaned into Carter, speaking directly into his ear.

“I need to use the ladies’ room.”

His eyebrows pulled down as he frowned, but he nodded his head and handed me over to Ricky.

“Escort Devani to the ladies’ room, Rick.” The burly security guard motioned his arm up the stairs. “Have Daniel and Lee at the door. When she’s finished, bring her to me.”

My body shivered as I climbed the stairs. The steel in Carter’s voice was unbending. Whatever he had planned… wasn’t good. I made it to the second landing before glancing down to the floor below me, catching Euphrates’ back as he disappeared from the room.

With my head held high, I sauntered down the hall to the restroom. Lee and Daniel stopped and about-faced at the door, blocking the way for anyone else. When I entered the room, I checked every stall before standing back at the mirror and letting out a heavy sigh.

Tension melted from my body as I stared at myself. I fought the physical urge to splash water across my face, and instead, dropped my hands under a flow of ice-cold water. The temperature seeped up my limbs, chilling every part of me.

“Nothing has changed, Devani.” I whispered out, leaning closer to the mirror. “His presence here means nothing, everything that he said was a lie. He played you, idiot. Let him go.”

Sniffling, I looked down and reached out for a towel to dry my hands. A sob caught in my throat when I glanced back up.

“Please don’t look at me like that.”