Love Redesigned (Lakefront Billionaires #1) by Lauren Asher

He pats my hand like one would a scared child. “Don’t worry. I’ll be back.”

“No! You can’t say shit like that!”

“You’re something else.” He shakes his head and laughs before darting up the stairs with his phone in hand.

I turn my phone’s flashlight on and stay frozen in place as he disappears up the stairs and around the corner in the direction of the east wing.

“Julian!” I whisper-shout a minute later, only to have my call go unanswered.

“Seriously. Quit fooling around and come back here. We can fix the power tomorrow, once it’s daytime.” I speak louder this time.

Something crashes above, sending my heart into overdrive. “Julian?”

I last four whole minutes without power or proof of life before I walk up the steps myself.

“If he’s not dead by the time I get up there, then I’m going to kill him myself.” My own voice can barely be heard over the hard pounding of my heart.

“Julian? Where are you?” I call out as I reach the landing.

I call his phone again, but it goes directly to voicemail.

Shit.

A noise similar to heavy furniture being moved around sounds from above.

“Not the attic,” I moan to myself.

My neck tingles, and a sensation of being watched makes the hairs on my arms rise.

I don’t turn around despite wanting to check if someone or something is behind me. “Hey, Gerald. We come in peace. Please don’t kill me or my naïve friend who doubted your existence. I swear he didn’t mean it when he said ghosts aren’t real.”

The feeling of being observed never goes away as I walk toward the stairs leading up to the attic.

I pause at the bottom step. “Julian? Are you up there?”

The door to the attic is shut, and a soft light that matches Julian’s flashlight pours through the bottom crack.

I press a hand against my chest, right over my racing heart.

You’re Dahlia Muñoz. You’re not afraid of anything.

Says the woman diagnosed with anxiety when she was a teen.

Despite my stomach churning, I climb the stairs before stopping in front of the attic door. After a second of hesitation, I roll my shoulders back and turn the knob.

The door opens with a creak, and I take a cautious step inside. Another blast of cold air hits me from behind, and the door slams shut, causing me to jump in place.

“Hello?” I’m afraid I might burst into tears if anything else happens.

Soft scampering has me turning my flashlight in the direction of the noise.

“Oh, fuck!” My phone drops as I let out a bloodcurdling scream.

A massive, fuzzy spider with beaming red eyes, incisors the size of my fist, and legs the width of my thighs stares back at me.

It moves, and I lose my shit.

“Julian!” I scream.

Light floods the attic, and it takes me a few seconds to process the laughs of the two walking dead men hiding behind the support beams.

“I’m going to kill you!”

Their laughs cut out as they show themselves. I completely ignore Rafa as I launch myself at Julian. He catches me, locking my arms behind my back before I have a chance to wrap them around his throat.

“Gotcha.”

“I hate you!” I lift my foot, only to smash it against the wood floor as Julian avoids my stomp.

He tugs me closer to his chest. “That’s not nice.”

“Neither was setting me up to believe you died!”

Rafa chuckles at his phone screen before the sound of me crying out Julian’s name fills the room.

“I can’t believe you helped him with this.” I jab a finger at him.

Rafa shrugs. “Julian was right. This was fun.”

“Fun? I’m traumatized, you jerk.”

The sound of my screams echoes off the walls as Rafa replays my video again while he walks toward the stairs. “Can’t wait to send this to the family group chat.”

“Rafa! Get back here!” I fight Julian’s hold. My phone pings on the floor. “You sent it already?”

Rafa tips his chin in Julian’s direction. “Thanks for the invite.”

“I’ll be sure to extend one for Julian’s funeral,” I call out.

He turns away and heads down the stairs. “See you on Sunday, Dahlia,” he says from a safe distance.

I lash out against Julian’s hold, only to pause as I rub against something that shouldn’t be hard.

“You’re turned on?”

“With the way you’ve been squirming against me for the last minute, it’s impossible not to be.”

I fight harder, earning a hiss from him.

Good. Serves him right.

“Cut it out, and I’ll let you go,” he says while tightening his grip.

I still in his arms. “I can’t believe you did this.”

“Consider it payback for my office.” He pulls away.

I throw my hands in the air. “What I did was cute! This is…disturbing!”

“Were you scared?”

“Terrified.”

His head tilts. “Yet you still came to my rescue despite being afraid.”

“A temporary lapse in judgment.”

“Were you afraid I got hurt?”

I frown. “More like I was scared you got possessed by a demon, but then I should have remembered that’s been the case since you were born.”