Page 1 of Deceit

Prologue

Sofia

Imagine what it would be like if you wereinvisible. Would you behappy to spend your days floating through life like a ghost, ignored by almost everyone?

Or would you hate it?

Would you yearn for justoneperson toacknowledgeyour existence and seeyou for who you were? See you for more than what you were destined to be?

Let me tell you.

Being invisible sucked.

Not necessarily because I was lonely. Sure, I often grew tiresome of my owncompany, but thatwasn’tthe sole reason beinginvisiblewas sodamnsoul-destroying.

It was because no onecared.

Mypapacertainly didn’t care. There were only two things in his lifePapacaredabout: his organization and my twin,Rafe. As long as I was an obedient daughter and never questioned him about thefuturehe had laid out for me, then he didn’t have toacknowledgemy existence.

As forRafe, he was one of the few who saw me for more than what I was. If it hadn’t been for him, I would havegivenup on life when mymamawas killed ten years ago. But sinceturningsixteen,Papahad begun includingRafein more areas of the family business, and his mind, along with his presence, had been elsewhere.

I hated it.

As did Rafe.

But this was the life we were born into, whether we wanted it or not.

The only other person I could rely on wasKat, my childhood friend. Herparents were on my papa’s payroll, and wehitit off theminutewemeton our first day at a private school years ago.

We were the best of friends, but of course,Papahad tried hishardesttoruinthat. He shipped me off toItalywhen I turned fifteen, claiming that being educated in an Italian Catholic school would improve my chances withfuturesuitors.

Despitethe distance, we stayed in contact. I often envied her life; she was asinvisibleto her parents as I was toPapa, but the difference was, shewasn’tunder theircontrol. She could live her life however shedamnpleased, and she lived it to the full.

I lived vicariously through the stories she regaled, of parties she’d been to,guysshe’d hooked up with, and experiences I’d never get to sample.

Kat knew my papa dictated my every move, which is why she came up with the crazy plan that led me to doing somethingincrediblystupid. Like using a fake ID to get into a sex club when I had only just turned seventeen, and while in a city I wasn’t supposed to set foot in.

But I was invisible, so who cared?

“I told you this place wasincredible.”Under the dim light of the room,Kat’sface waslitup in astonishment.

As was mine.

Shewasn’twrong. I’d never seen anywhere like it before. More astonishing,though, was that no one seemed embarrassed that right in front ofus, asexactwas taking place. Anactthat should have had me clutching my pearls, and yet, Iwasn’t.

I was in awe.

In awe of the naked couple on thestagewho were unashamedlyfuckingeach other’s brains out as a smallcrowdwatched on, and from the look on thewoman’sface, she was in total ecstasy.

I wondered what it would feel like to be her.

To be bent over a velvet bench while the man behind her thrust relentlesslyinside her pussy, his hips pistoning with power.

What would it feel like to have anaudiencewatching in your most intimatemoments, brought to the verge of orgasm?

Seeing you.

I couldn’t imagine. Not just because I wasinvisibleto most, but because Iwas a never-been-kissed virgin, who was practically banned from talking to men, let alone getting to know them enough to reach a point of intimacy.