Page 39 of Veil of Obsession

I freeze, pressing myself into the shadows near the curve of the staircase, listening.

Dana Hoffman, Lucio’s date. Her voice is low, pleading, laced with desperation. And then, the other voice: James. His London accent comes through strong, unimpressed and sharp.

I peek from behind the stone railing, my breath slow, controlled. The golden glow from the ballroom doesn’t reach them, leaving their figures shrouded in shadows beneath the carved pillars of the terrace. I can’t believe that they’re still talking after she tried kissing him.

“I don’t understand,” she says, her voice wavering.

James exhales, the sound one of impatience, irritation. “Then you’re thicker than I thought.”

She takes a step closer to him, and I see it: her desperation. The way her hands clutch at her gown, the way she tilts her chin just enough to mask how fragile she is beneath it all.

“It’s just an arrangement,” she says quickly. “You don’t have to love her. You don’t have to love anyone. Besides, fidelity in our world isn’t expected.”

James scoffs. Cold. Dismissive.

“I don’tloveher,” he says simply. “But that doesn’t mean I want you. And you of all people should know how much Ihatecheaters.”

Silence.

It stretches, thick and uncomfortable. Dana’s breath hitches, a quiet, ragged thing. Then she laughs. A choked, bitter sound.

“You’re lying,” she says, desperate now. “You…you used to want me. Before.”

She sounds borderline unhinged.

James stiffens slightly, his shoulders squaring, expression darkening. She’s pushed too far.

He doesn’t move. Doesn’t even flinch. But his voice? It turns to ice.

“Take the rejection and fuck off.”

Her breath catches as if he’s struck her, as if the weight of those words alone is enough to shatter whatever fragile hope she was clinging to.

I don’t need to see her face to know her eyes are burning, her throat closing around the sting of humiliation. Still, she doesn’t move.

Foolish girl.

James sighs heavily, and when he speaks again, his voice is lower, more dangerous.

“Did you hear me?” he murmurs. “Or should I say it louder?”

That does it.

Dana stumbles back, her movements stiff, sharp. I can feel the embarrassment bleeding off her. The anger. The quiet, seething rage that comes from being discarded like she’s nothing.

But sheisnothing. At least she will be soon.

James leaves, his footsteps sharp and agitated as he vanishes into the night. His rejection lingers in the air, thick and suffocating, wrapping around Dana like a noose she doesn’t yet feel tightening.

She doesn’t leave right away. She stands there, trembling, her breath uneven, her delicate fingers clenching around the fabric of her dress. She’s unraveling. A pathetic little thing, discarded and unwanted.

Finally, with a shuddering breath, she stumbles forward. She moves with no real direction, just the blind instinct to flee.

I don’t follow immediately. I wait. Watch. Let her get lost in the maze of manicured hedges and forgotten pathways.

She’s heading toward the man-made lake at the edge of the hotel grounds.

Perfect.