The Devil's Game Read Free Page A

Only pack the most important items you need for the month, as everything else will be provided for you. I’ve enclosed a check to cover your portion of the following month’s rent.
    Damien
    The note was cold and professional, and it made her stomach tighten that much more. Tomorrow morning. Less than twenty-four hours until she ran off with this man, this stranger.
    She looked at the check made out to Ginny. Virginia A. Redding, to be exact. Karina pulled it from the stack and walked over to the chair Damien had sat in only yesterday.
    “This is for you,” she said, handing the check to Ginny.
    “What’s this for?” she asked.
    “It’s my rent for next month.”
    “But why—” Ginny’s eyes went wide. “Holy shit, this check is from Damien Bishop! Why is Damien Bishop giving me a check for your rent?”
    Karina took a deep breath. “Because I’m going to be with him for the next month.”
    Ginny’s eyes went even wider, and then she smiled, and Karina felt sick.
    “Are you sleeping with him?”
    Karina shook her head, and Ginny’s forehead wrinkled.
    “Then why are you going away with him?”
    Karina finally spilled the whole story. When she finished, Ginny looked to be in awe where Karina had expected disgust.
    “Wow,” said Ginny. “I’m so jealous.”
    “Jealous? Are you kidding me?”
    “He just solved all your problems and now you get to spend the next month by his hot, gorgeous side. Of course I’m jealous.”
    “But I don’t know the man!”
    “You know that he’s rich,” Ginny said. “And built like a Greek god.”
    “Do you realize he could be some psychopath? In fact, I’m starting to think that he is. This is not what normal people do!”
    Ginny shook her head. “I’d bear it for thirty days.”
    “Then maybe you should trade places with me.”
    “Gladly.”
    Karina remembered Damien’s words to her yesterday morning. I want you . She doubted he would accept a substitute. Even a more attractive one, in her opinion.
    “I should go pack,” she said, knowing that Ginny would never see it from her side. “Not to mention call the shop and my parents to let them know I won’t be around for a month.”
    “Try not to sound so excited about it,” Ginny called out as Karina walked out of the room.
    “Fuck you,” Karina called over her shoulder and shut the door.
     
    By that night, Karina had packed all the items she deemed necessary to get through the next month and had made the dreaded phone calls. She told the shop that there had been a family emergency and that she would be out of town for a month. Her boss had been annoyed about the short notice, but even he agreed it would be easy to fill her shifts. Everyone was looking for more hours these days.
    Lying to her parents had been harder. If they wouldn’t have thought it odd not to see her for a whole month, she might not have said anything and just claimed to be busy whenever they tried to plan anything. In the end, she told them that the coffee shop was opening a new store in Miami and they had asked her to go down and help get it going. She figured that way they would know where to go looking for the body if she never came home. Not that Karina really expected it to come to that. Damien had left his fingerprints everywhere.
    Her dad seemed a little suspicious, but Karina’s mom was excited for her—she thought it was an honor for Karina to be asked and the perfect opportunity to escape the dreary spring they were having.
    Karina was exhausted when she climbed into bed that night, but sleep eluded her just as much as the night before. She tried not to, but she kept glancing at the clock, counting down. Ten hours until Damien came for her. Nine…eight…seven….
     
    Karina woke early the next morning despite the few hours she had managed to sleep, and she showered and dressed before moving her bags out to the living room, leaving them ready by the door. She made a cup of coffee and then sat by the window, staring out