Free Deceived 6 - Ultimate Deception by Eve Carter Page A

how to pick a lock. I’d used the skill once or twice as a teenager, but it had been a while. Fortunately, the desk’s lock was simple and, after just a minute or so, I could feel that little metal bar slide to the side and I was able to pull the drawer open.
    At first, I wasn’t sure what I was seeing. I’d been expecting valuables. Bank statements from the Caymans. Savings bonds. Instead, I was looking at photo albums. I picked up the first one, curious as to why Nina had felt the need to lock these away.
    The first couple pages were typical old family pictures, some black and white, some sepia. Then the pictures started to get more recent as the people in them grew up. At the middle of the album, I started to see the same two girls over and over again. One was older, but they both had the same dark hair and eyes, and their bone structure was similar enough that they would’ve been identical at the same ages.
    Something at the back of my mind said that I should recognize them but I didn’t until I got nearer to the end and the girls were now young adults. I sank down on a chair, feeling the blood drain from my face. I slipped the picture of the two women from its plastic sleeve and flipped it over, even though I didn’t need to see names to confirm what I was seeing.
    Nina and Anna.
    Their resemblance left no doubt as to their relation. Nina, the woman my wife considered a close friend, the woman in whose house we were staying, was the younger sister of a woman who’d tried to destroy me and everything I loved.
     

Chapter 9
    Chloe
    I had to admit, while I preferred my own bed back home, this one wasn’t half bad. I’d fallen asleep at some point when Patrick and I had been talking, but I didn’t know how much time had passed. I didn’t think it had been more than a couple hours since I didn’t feel stiff and my naps had been getting shorter, but this whole bed-rest thing had really screwed up my internal clock.
    My brain was still foggy and I didn’t feel an urgency to open my eyes, so I kept them closed, enjoying the peaceful cloud I was hovering on. I could feel Patrick sitting on the bed next to me and Victoria was doing her usual high kick routine inside me. All was right with the world.
    I wasn’t sure where Patrick was in the room but when he shifted, I felt a tension fill the air.
    “Nina, I was hoping I’d see you.” His voice floated in from somewhere near the door to my room but I didn’t open my eyes. Then I heard a nervous laugh from Nina as she said, “Patrick. I didn’t expect to see you there. I thought you were in the kitchen making dinner.”
    Although the last of the sleepy haze was gone, I still didn’t open my eyes. I strained to hear more. I was now fully awake, but something in that laugh made me want to hear the rest of the conversation so I pretended to be asleep.
    “Not yet. I wanted to ask if we could share another bottle of wine while I was waiting for the food to cook.”
    Another bottle of wine? What was going on here? I almost frowned but caught myself in time. I didn’t want to give anything away. I needed for Patrick to explain himself because this couldn’t be what it sounded like.
    “I thought you were upset with me.” Nina’s voice had taken on an almost childish, pouting tone that I hadn’t thought a classy woman like her would use.
    “I’ll admit, the kiss caught me off guard.” The weight on the bed disappeared and I knew Patrick was standing.
    I couldn’t keep myself from opening my eyes as a surge of anger and jealousy went through me. If this was really happening, I had to see it for myself. Still, I had enough presence of mind to just open them enough to peek.
    Patrick and Nina were standing much closer than they should have been and my hands curled into fists. Neither of them was paying any attention to me.
    “I can’t stop thinking about it,” Nina said. She reached out for my husband and my heart broke when he took her hands in his.
    “Me,