Two Can Play (Celeste and Dominic) novel Chapter 297

Chapter 297

After the hottest shower I could stand, exhaustion finally dragged me under. But the night wasn’t so warm for Jasmine whom I heard crying softly under the sheets before I drifted off.

The next day passed in a blur of preparation and anxiety, the kind of day where every minute felt simultaneously too long and too short.

I spent an hour on Tasha’s makeup, another hour on her hair, transforming her from the sweet, fresh-faced girl, had spent years protecting into something that could stop a man’s heart at fifty paces.

She was already beautiful; she had Lynette’s bone structure, those high cheekbones and that delicate jaw, the kind of face that made men want to write poetry even when they did not know how, but with the right makeup, the right dress, the right lighting, she was devastating. Weaponized beauty. The kind that made you forget your own

name.

After all the drama with Julian, Tasha and I finally left.

The car ride to the Beaumont was silent, but it was the kind of silence that had a pulse. Tasha sat beside me in the back seat, her hands folded in her lap, her eyes fixed on the side of my face with an intensity that I could feel even without looking at her. She had questions. Of course she had questions. I had not told her a thing yet. She just quietly followed all of my instructions and arrangements.

The driver took the corners too fast, his foot heavy on the accelerator, probably because Julian had threatened him with something unpleasant if we arrived late. Tasha’s hand found mine on the seat between us, her fingers cold and trembling, and I squeezed them once, twice, a silent promise that I would explain everything as soon as I

could.

When we pulled up in front of the Beaumont Hotel and Suites, the doorman swept forward to open our doors, and I stepped out of the car with the practiced grace of a woman who belonged in places like this even when she absolutely did not.

I held Tasha’s hand as we walked through the revolving doors and into the lobby, the floors stretching out before us like a frozen lake, the chandeliers overhead dripping crystal and gold. I waved at the driver and his silent partner without looking back, and the moment we passed through the inner doors and out of their line of sight, Tasha stopped walking.

“I have a lot of questions.” Her voice was small but steady, the voice of someone who was holding herself together through sheer force of will. “Scarlett, you have not explained anything to me.”

I glanced at the clock above the concierge desk and did the arithmetic in my head. Ten minutes before we had to be upstairs. Ten minutes to tell her everything, to make her understand why I had done what I had done, to prepare her for what was waiting behind that penthouse door.

“I know.” I pulled her toward a seating area off to the side of the lobby, a quiet alcove with velvet chairs and a potted palm that offered at least the illusion of privacy. “We have about ten minutes before we go up to Sparrow’s room. We cannot afford to be late.”

“Sparrow?” Tasha’s brow furrowed. “Didn’t you tell Julian we were going to see Mr. Dominic Ford? Who is this new man?”

The question hung in the air between us, and I felt the weight of every lie I had ever told pressing down on my chest.

“There was never any Dominic Ford.” I kept my voice low, leaning forward so that only she could hear me. “I met no such person. I was just lying to Julian because I needed him to allow you to come with me. The man upstairs is

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Sparrow. He is the only one who can help us escape Big Bryan.”

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Tasha’s eyes went wide, then narrow, then wide again. I watched her process the information, watched her work through the implications, and I could see the exact moment when the pieces started clicking together in her mind.

“Yesterday you told Julian that you needed to take Jasmine along with you today,” she said slowly. “I was listening from inside the room, even though I pretend to be asleep.

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