Twisted Lies (Twisted, #4)

by Ana Huang

As the CEO of the Russo Group, a luxury goods conglomerate that encompassed over three dozen fashion, beauty, and lifestyle brands, he spent half his waking hours on business calls. In the absence of conversation, my mind drifted toward a certain brunette. If my thoughts were chaos, she was my anchor. They always went back to her.

Living in the same building as her was the worst kind of distraction, and I had no one except myself to blame. Twin flames of resentment and frustration burned in my chest. I was weak for Stella Alonso, and I hated it. I pulled out my phone and almost tapped into a certain social media app before I caught myself. I entered the code for my encrypted mobile network instead.

“Touch Stella again, and you’ll no longer have a fiancée.” I slammed the door in his face. Dante was my first client and an old friend. I didn’t provoke him often. But like I said, I didn’t like people touching what was mine.

Crosswords, jigsaws, ciphers, they all fed my insatiable need for a challenge. Stimulation. Something to brighten up the ennui of a world that was always five steps behind. The harder the puzzle, the more I craved and dreaded its solution. There was only one puzzle I hadn’t solved. Yet. I ran my thumb over the small turquoise ring nestled in my pocket. Once I did, I could put my disturbing obsession with Stella Alonso behind me once and for all.

“Stella, I’m telling you this as your friend and manager.” His voice was sterner than I’d ever heard it. “You want the Delamonte deal? You want a million followers? You want to show Raya and all the girls out there dying to see you fail that you still have what it takes to stay on top? Then get a boyfriend.”

Christian’s smile didn’t soften the smooth, bladed edge of his voice. “Have fun on your date, Stella.” The conversation was over, which was just as well. I was already running late. But as I left for my date, I couldn’t focus on the man I was about to see. I was too busy thinking about whiskey eyes and black suits.

“You might be able to convince me you believe in coincidence, but you’ll never convince me you believe in fate.” It was a notion for romantics and dreamers. Christian was neither.

“But…” Your face is so pretty. “People will know it’s you if we attend events together, so what’s the point of not showing your face?” “I have no problem with people knowing we’re together.” The smoothness of his words wrapped around me like a silk scarf. “However, I keep the details of my personal life private and my digital footprint as clean as possible.”