Page 54 of Sin of Love
I’m distracted from my melting mind when Julep grips my thigh. Voice slurred, he murmurs, “You’ve done very well. As a reward, I’ll let you shower after I fuck you tonight.”
“Thank you, that sounds nice.”
He jerks back with a short, surprised laugh. I smile at him—at the sweat beading on his face, the eyes struggling to focus. He has no idea what’s happening to him because he’s never touched poppy tea. Never smoked, snorted, or injected any form of the number one export of his family’s business. It was the first requirement of leadership imposed upon him as a teen by his father, and he’s never strayed.
He thinks he’s had too much to drink.
He doesn’t know he’s dead.
“Marco? Son? What’s wrong?”
“Stomach,” he mumbles, reaching for his water and missing. “Something I ate.”
“Oh, no!” I exclaim, wrapping my arm around his shoulders. I offer Raphael my most concerned expression. “You know, he mentioned this morning that he wasn’t feeling himself. Maybe a stomach bug? He does feel warm.”
Julep groans, jerks in my arms, and throws up all over the table. Raphael stands and yells for a doctor. Guards scramble around, helpless, as waiters run from the room.
I press my lips to the dark hair at Julep’s temple. “Tick tock,” I whisper. “Time’s up.”
“No… you…” he pants.
I stroke the back of his head. “I’ll see you in Hell.”
He grabs for me, but I slide off my chair and out of reach. The effects of my own overdose are delayed, but they’re coming. My muscles are already too loose, elastic, and I stumble as I move away from the table.
He starts seizing, limbs jerking. His chair crashes to the ground. With every second that passes, his chances of survival decrease. I send up an aimless prayer that a doctor won’t be found in time.
Then I scream, “Somebody help him!”
In the pandemonium, I slip from the room.
I want to see the ocean.
Behind me, a woman’s bloodcurdling scream splits the air.
“Find her! Find Deirdre! Marco—NO!”
I keep walking.
