Total pages in book: 35
Estimated words: 31355 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 157(@200wpm)___ 125(@250wpm)___ 105(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 31355 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 157(@200wpm)___ 125(@250wpm)___ 105(@300wpm)
That night, as I lay in the small bed in my caravan, the evidence I’d collected spread out around me like pieces of a sinister puzzle, I felt the walls close in. Outside, the laughter and music of the circus continued, a stark contrast to the storm of emotions raging within me. Dante, with his mysterious smile and eyes that promised both danger and desire, haunted my thoughts. Was he the mastermind or another pawn in the game? Tomorrow, I promised myself, I would confront him. Tomorrow, I would demand answers. But tonight, I would allow myself to remember the man who had gently shown me the ropes, who had whispered secrets under the cover of darkness, not just about the circus, but about his hopes and fears for the future of the Misfit Cabaret over our shared dinner. Tonight, I would dream of the man I hoped he would be, not the shadow my investigation threatened to reveal.
Unable to sleep and with the moon cast a silvery glow over the circus grounds, the hustle of the day melted into a quiet, secretive hush that cloaked my movements as I slipped into the circus office. My heart thumped in sync with my stealthy steps. At the locked filing cabinet, I knelt, my fingers deftly picking the lock—an old skill from a misspent youth I seldom admitted to, yet tonight it was a lifeline. The drawer gave way with a soft click, less a sound of defeat than a whispered invitation to uncover the truths hidden within. Behind the neatly filed documents, my hands discovered a false back, a secret compartment that chilled me with both its ingenuity and implication. Inside, passports and personal files of several performers who had mysteriously 'left' the circus—each document a somber reminder of the stakes at play. My fingers brushed over the names, each one a story cut short, a destiny altered.
As I re-locked the cabinet, the soft crunch of gravel behind me spun me around, my heart leaping to my throat. Dante stood in the doorway, the dim light casting deep shadows across his face, his eyes glinting with an unreadable emotion. How were we so drawn to each other, almost like magnets? His voice was soft, but underneath lay a taut thread of tension. "Ava, what are you doing here so late?"
"I could ask you the same," I managed to say, my mind racing to conceal the incriminating folder I had tucked under my arm.
His gaze flicked down, then back to my face, a gentle probe that felt like a jolt.
"Just some last-minute checks on my report... for tomorrow's performance review," I lied, hoping my voice carried more conviction than I felt.
“Oh yeah?” Dante stepped closer, his presence overwhelming, the air between us charged with an electric current that both attracted and alarmed me. "You're working too hard," he murmured, reaching out as if to brush a strand of hair from my face but stopping short, his hand falling back to his side. In the dim lights of the main tent in the distance, the world was ours alone, intimate and shadowed. “It’s my duty to know every move that takes place here.” Dante's eyes held mine, and he spoke of the burdens he carried, the threats that shadowed his every move since he'd taken over the circus. "It's not just about keeping the show running... It's about protecting everyone," he confessed, his voice heavy with a vulnerability I hadn't seen before. Each word drew me deeper into the labyrinth of his life, complicating my mission with new layers of empathy and confusion.
“I want you to see something," he said suddenly, his hand extending toward me. Trust warred with caution as I placed my hand in his, letting him lead me out under the cover of night to the animal enclosures.
At midnight, the world seemed to hold its breath as we stood before the new arrivals—exotic animals that Dante explained were part of his vision to rejuvenate and redirect the circus towards a more ethical, sustainable future. "Every animal here represents a new beginning," he said, his voice infused with a passion that made me see him anew. As we watched a pair of luminescent-eyed leopards pace gracefully in their enclosure, Dante's hand found mine, his touch tentative yet full of promise.
Each revelation, each shared secret, seemed to weave a complex tapestry of attraction and dilemma around us. As I looked up into his eyes, lit by the moonlight and filled with a raw, sincere intensity, my resolve wavered. Here was a man who held the weight of a legacy, walking a tightrope between the past's shadows and a hopeful, yet uncertain future. Stepping away from the cage, I felt Dante's presence envelop me like a warm blanket against the chill of the night. The emotional stakes were higher than I'd ever anticipated, tangled in a web of duty and desire, each step forward with him a dance on a wire suspended between truth and consequence.