In this book within a book, plunge into the escapades of Satine Fontaine, who's on the run from her tumultuous past. The vibrant streets of New York beckon her, and fate conspires as she stumbles into Brooklyn's dingiest bar, encountering the enigma...
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PRESENT DAY
London, England, November 2000 DOKYEOM
The manuscript drops from my hands onto the table with a thud. I want to gasp, curse, cry even, but I'm physically and mentally paralysed.
There's no way. There's no way the woman I've loved for years is capable of such evil; of murdering my greatest friends.
I read it as an alternate ending, something she crafted to shock readers - it was a smart tactic. That's what I told myself at first, before I turned page after page, delving deeper into her brutality.
The entire manuscript was her way of savouring her brilliancy - of taking pleasure in her crimes.
And it was all fucking real.
A wave of nausea overwhelms me, and my body buckles, leaving me gagging over the small bin.
"Oof, crazy right?" Her southern accent seizes hold of my heart and squeezes until there was nothing left but a lingering numbness and the sound of dripping blood in the corner of my mind. "Personally, I think that ending was way juicier than the published version but oh well, the heart wants what the heart wants, ay honey?"
Silence prevails and I slowly lift myself to see her resting against the doorframe. She's bare and natural with her honey blonde hair sleek and straight, just skimming the curve of her breasts peeking through her silk robe. She blinks prettily, her long black lashes and dusky pink blush lightly dusting her bronzed complexion - the one overflowing with that signature Fontaine glow. She always looks immaculate, even after I had her screaming into a pillow less than fifteen minutes ago.
Fifteen minutes... Fifteen minutes is all it takes for everything to change. It's not fair.
"I don't get it..." I manage to utter out, the acid in my throat spreading like wild fire. "What is this?"
"Come on now, Dokyeom, you're not stupid. I wrote a book and altered the ending to suit me, it's not hard to understand. I wanted Mingyu, so I got him."
No doubt she was watching me read the whole time; enjoying my expression change with every heinous act.
It's now my turn to come face to face with Stella Fontenot. She's confident, arrogant, and insanely beautiful in a way even more maddening than before. I'm not supposed to still be attracted to her but I am; she's the true definition of a femme fatale. She was born to seduce - to ensnare her lovers - to lure them into deadly traps.
And I don't doubt for a second that this is one of them.
"But, but it's all a lie, you don't have him?" My fingers curl around the arms of the chair to conceal my genuine fear. "You don't have him because he's fucking dead... because you killed him..."
I can feel myself falling deeper and deeper into a state of shock and there's no way of escaping it. I try to stand up but overestimate my balance and stumble back against the large windowsill. I consider my options, of course, I could open it and jump... plummet... I don't know- I would do anything to get away from her.
