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Charlotte Vintage pushed the stray tendrils of dark auburn hair curling around her face back behind her shoulders and leaned toward her best friend, Genevieve Marten Icy fingers of unease continually crept down her spine There was no relaxing, not even with a drink in front of her and the pounding beat of the

"We know they followed us here, Genevieve," she whispered behind her hand Whispering in the dance club with the ed They had accomplished what they set out to do, but now that they had drawn their three stalkers out into the open, ere they going to do?

"Wewe could do this, Genevieve Because we have no business exposing ourselves to this kind of danger" Mostly, Charlotte didn't think she should have exposed Genevieve to the danger At least not when they were together Not when they had a three-year-old to consider

She took a slow perusal of the club, trying to take in every detail The Palace was the hottest dance club in the city Everyone as anyone went there In spite of the fact that it was four stories tall, every single floor was packed with bodies, as was the baseround club Men tried to catch her eye continually She wasn't going to pretend she didn't know Genevieve was beautiful, or that she wasn't so hard on the eyes, either The pair of theether drew attention everywhere they went--which was a bad thing

"We're acting like nore," Genevieve said a little defiantly "I'et out of the house You needed to get out of the house You work all the ti away What good has it done us? We're not any closer to finding out who is doing this to us"

"I can't afford to be bait," Charlotte pointed out "An

d I don't like you being bait, either Certainly not both of us together e have to look after Lourdes She can't lose everyone in her life It goes against everything in ot to consider ould happen to her if I was killed They already ot" When Genevieve sent her a look, she hastily aot"

Charlotte wasn't the hide-from-an-enemy type anyart Genevieve painted, and she was good More than good Already her landscapes and portraits were beginning to be noticed, sought after by collectors Charlotte restored old paintings as well as old carvings Her specialty and greatest passion was restoring old carousels

Genevieve was French She was tall, with long, glossy dark hair and large green eyes Not just green, but deep forest green Startling green She had the figure of a encies try to convince her to sign with the received inheritances frorandparents

Genevieve's randrand relative, had been brutallywas murdered in the same way His blood had been drained from his body, and his throat had been torn out Charlotte'sunder, was murdered a week after that

Twice, when they were together, the to to enter their house late at night They'd locked all the s and doors, but whoever was after the the heavy doors, terrorizing them The police had been called Two officers were found dead in the courtyard, both with their blood drained and their throats torn out

Charlotte received word a couple of weeks later that her only sibling, her brother, had been found dead, murdered in the same way He was in California In the United States Far from France Far frohter, three-year-old Lourdes Lourdes'sCharlotte's brother to raise her Noas up to Charlotte Genevieve had decided to come with Charlotte to California Whoever was after the two of them was in the States and Genevieve wanted to find them

Genevieve laid her hand over Charlotte's "I know Lourdes is your first priority She's irl and obviously trauhtmares wake me up and I'm not even in the same house"

Charlotte knew Genevieve wasn't exaggerating Genevieve always knehenever Lourdes had night with them At those tiht Lourdes had been present when her father wasbeside her slain father She'd been alone in the house with his body for several hours before she was found by her nanny, Grace Parducci, a woone to school with Charlotte

"The police aren't any closer to solving the murders, Charlie Not here and not in France Lourdes is in danger just as much as we are Maybe more" Genevieve leaned her chin on the heel of her hand as she hitched her chair closer to Charlotte's in order to be heard above the ot started What we did to draw some crazy person's attention"

Charlotte nodded She'd been thinking about it as well What else could she think about? Both of them had lost every family member with the exception of little Lourdes Charlotte didn't want to lose her, and lately, in spite of taking every precaution, she hadn't felt safe At All Grace had reported being followed and feeling as though so her as well

Charlotte knew there was a part of her that had cohtclub in an effort to try to draw the murderer out She'd certainly come prepared She had weapons on her Several Most were unconventional, but she had the them were the same ones who had murdered her brother, but it seemed likely

Charlotte wasn't the type of woman to run from her eneoing free--that he or she was trying to terrorize the--she was terrified for Lourdes She had no idea why the little girl had been left alive, but she wasn't taking any chances with her Cohtclub without her was a chance to draw the killer out without endangering her

"That stupid psychic center ent to together for testing," Charlotte ave me the creeps"

Genevieve nodded "Exactly The Morrison Center We went for a lark, but it wasn't the least bit fun They got interested in us way too fast and kept asking very personal questions When we left, I thought ere followed"