The Arrangement (unenhanced Edition) by AnnaRCase (books to read now .txt) 📖

“Oh thank you so much. I really appreciate it! I’ll take some chocolate chip cookie dough please. It’s just to die for from McConnell’s. Thank you so much again for doing this for me Dr. Duvall, you’re a saint.”

After the butler had gone off to fulfil her request, all she had to do was wait for him to leave the penthouse. His departure was at twelve-fifteenish, which gave Amberleigh about fifteen minutes to complete her reconnaissance mission, in and out of Grayson’s suite before the maids returned, her first mission during Operation Cut the bullshit. Being caught red-handed would look bad on her part then again she could blackmail the maids if she had too. Technically, her trespassing would be on their watch and they’d fear for their jobs. But that was a bitch card she hoped she wouldn’t need to play, but she had to keep it in her back pocket regardless.

As soon as she knew it was safe as it was ever going to be to go snooping through the room undetected, she slip in through his bedroom door. She gave up a few seconds to admire the room, though it screamed masculinity at its core. The walls were a mix of a chestnut colored wood and dark green wallpaper. The bed, a monstrous four posted beast straight with room enough for a king and most of his harem. How many woman had Grayson taken upon it?

Leather sofas and armchairs, a high celling with exposed beams, and surprisingly a built in bookcase that took up an entire wall. So perhaps the Cobra Club Penthouse hadn’t been entirely born from Cole Godwin’s vision alone, or had his son inherited his father’s old fashioned, eclectic taste?

What didn’t come as much as surprise to Amberleigh was the vast collection of antique weapons displayed in the room. Antique swords were mounted on the wall above the bed, others in glass display cases to remain untouched. The variety was astounding from sharpened pieces of clay, no doubt from centuries ago, to muskets used in the Civil war or so the plaque claimed, bayonets, maces, mallets, battle axes, old tribal spears from Africa, poisoned dart guns,  anything you could imagine. It was legit like being in a fuckin machine about the history of war.

It seemed the things nightmares could be made of. Who the fuck would want to stumble through there half- awake to take a piss in the middle of the night and see an axe above their head? You’d piss your pants for sure. How these objects brought comfort to Grayson in his own happy place seemed to a mystery, or perhaps it spoke about the kind of man he was to have this bizarre collection in his own bedroom.

But before she could write him off completely as a toxic, aggressive, violent sadist, she noticed the spiraling wood staircase in the center which seemed to disappear into the ceiling.  She hesitated at the bottom, it was a beauty alright, but what she likely discovered up there would probably be horrific. Did he have like stuffed animals, bodies, or like a torture chamber? She’d come here for answers though, and she had to know. Now wasn’t the time to be a pussy. She began to walk up the stairs. She had to discover the pretty boy’s secrets, no matter to what dark places they might lead.