It was locked now, but I had my special kit with me and I opened it in less than thirty seconds, looking inside the drawer and spotting the envelope.

It was a deep red, with only my father's initials printed on the back, so I decided to open it.

There was a small black card inside, and pretty cursive letters caught my attention, along with a picture of a mask. It was an invitation to a masquerade ball, on Saturday night... three days from now.

The location was a small town nearby, and I had heard of it before... I'd been to a party there, there was this huge mansion in the middle of nowhere that was always available to be rented, especially for events. The ball would start at nine p.m. and there wasn't a finish time, it was only written that the use of masks was obligatory... but then I turned the card around.

It was an annual ball... hosted by Catherine Horan.

And that's not all, I realized it was actually a fucking auction... an annual party where they sold special pieces to celebrate now the 15th year anniversary, for special customers only.

Special pieces? Was Catherine actually going to auction girls to her disgusting clients? Was this a fucking sex party? My mind was working a hundred miles an hour and all the fucking possibilities were flashing in my thoughts, this was so much worse than we assumed... fuck, fifteen fucking years? They'd been arranging these parties for over a whole ass decade?

What the fuck.

"Des? Are you home already?"

Shit.

I quickly closed the drawer and shoved the envelope into my pocket, standing up from the chair and pretending everything was just the way I found, because I recognized Cindy's voice and I didn't need to give her a reason to fucking snitch on me.

Fuck, why was she here right now? Jesus, this woman was so fucking annoying, her voice was enough to piss me off.

"Oh... you." She walked into the office, smoothing her hands over her white dress as she looked at me with her green eyes. "Why are you here, Harry?"

"I don't owe you a fucking explanation, this is my father's place." I huffed, stepping closer to her.

"How did you get in?" She furrowed her eyebrows at me, raking her eyes down my body.

"Teleportation." I winked at her, leaning my arm on the door, right next to her head. "I assumed you'd know his schedule, since you follow him around like a lost puppy everywhere he goes."

"I know he's in a meeting," Cindy said, looking up at me with a cryptic look behind her eyes. Fuck, I hated that I actually forgot about her... if she told my father about this then it would only give him another reason to suspect me, and I had a feeling he was already onto something because of the way Cleo's mother mentioned them working together.

"Well, I'm about to go there, I just had to grab him something." I forced a smile at her, hoping I could distract her.

And it apparently worked because her gaze fell to my lips and she leaned forward, but I was quick to pull away right when my phone started ringing, wondering if she really thought I was going to do anything.

"Oops, I have to go," I said, making my way out of the office and taking a very deep breath as I prayed she wouldn't tell my dad about this.

Fuck.

I wish I had more time to go through the other shit he had there, but this invitation would have to do, maybe we could tell Amber? I mean, the FBI could literally ambush them in the middle of a huge ass trafficking party, lock them up and also arrest the buyers...

Temptress Where stories live. Discover now