Black Dahlia (The Dahlia Trilogy of The Gilded Flower Series Book 2) Read Online Free Page A

herself back onto her bed and stares out the window. Even in this tranquil place, she still can’t get a moment’s peace. Vi and Lily mean well, but the sympathetic looks and constant platitudes are becoming tiring. She doesn’t want to have to think about her purpose or her future. She doesn’t want to have to think at all.
    The bright sun fills her room an hour later, compelling Dahlia to finally get out of bed. She throws on a thin, white sundress and pads down the floating wood stairs into the kitchen. She pulls out a bowl of mango from the refrigerator and perches herself on the countertop. No staff bustling around her. No Vi or Lily checking in on her. Peace. Finally.
    Out of the corner of Dahlia’s eye, she spots a tall, dark figure walking around the unoccupied guest house at the edge of the property. Dressed in casual shorts and a t-shirt, he doesn’t resemble any of the staff. He pushes hard on the locked door, which doesn’t open. He then peers through the sliding glass doors and tries to open them one-by-one. Adrenalin begins to shoot through her body as she watches him glide across the deck to the outdoor gazebo, moving the cushions aside then pausing to look at something. At what, she wonders? The view? Lily and Vi assured her the villa would be private and secure. Dahlia quickly regrets her need for solitude.
    “Crap,” Dahlia says aloud, sliding off the counter and crouching behind a chair. All of the windows are open, and the white modern, minimalist furnishings provide little to no hiding place. She looks around and realizes that she has no idea who to call in an emergency, magnifying her sense of vulnerability. Lily said she’d leave a number, but Dahlia doesn’t even know where the phone is. Who was it she was supposed to contact?
    “Why in the fuck am I hiding?” she mutters to herself, standing up. In a split second, her fight response kicks in, and she heads to the outdoor terrace.
    She notices the man take off toward the beach. “Hey! What the hell . . .” she calls after him.
    Dahlia follows him down a narrow trail, the hot, sharp stones hurting her bare feet. “And it keeps getting better,” she grumbles. “Some fucking paradise.”
    For a moment, she loses sight of him and wonders if it was just her imagination. Dahlia pauses and turns around, the tall trees and foliage obscuring the villa. She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath, reassuring herself that she’s not going mad. Or perhaps she is, and this is all just part of a bad dream. Maybe she’s still in Santa Barbara, Shane is alive and, as soon as she opens her eyes, the sound of the waves crashing will mean she’s in California, not on some random island in the Indian Ocean.
    A sharp prick on her ankle startles Dahlia out of her daydream, abruptly reminding her that she’s still on a private island that you can’t even find on Google Maps, pursuing a strange man through a tropical forest. She quickly glances down and lets out an earth-shattering scream when she spots a large black snake slowly coiling itself around her foot.
     

Chapter 11
    “Just lay still,” the man instructs Dahlia as she tries to sit up from the cot. She narrows her eyes, recognizing him as the guy she was following down the path. If it weren’t for him, she wouldn’t have been bitten.
    Oh shit , Dahlia throws her arm over her eyes. The snake! She tries to move her ankle, but it’s weighed down by something wet and heavy.
    “Don’t worry, you’re not going to die,” he says. “Although when you fainted, I thought for a moment you might have.”
    “Not sure I would care if I did,” Dahlia replies dryly.
    The man’s dark eyes grow wide, but he doesn’t respond.
    “Where the hell am I?” she asks, taking in her surroundings, a small room with a thatched roof, in what she can only assume is someone’s home.
    “You’re in the Old Woman’s house.”
    “Who?”
    “The Old Woman. Everyone around here calls her the Old Woman because