Unhinged Read Online Free PDF Page A

in my peripheral vision that the guard had put his hand on his
gun. What did he think I was going to do? Assault him with a little plastic
card so I could raid the property and steal Mr. Trovato’s cell phone?
    I tossed him a smile
over my shoulder as I pulled my license from my wallet before handing it to
him.
    “Just a minute.”
    I nodded.
    As I waited for the
security guard to finish scrutinizing my driver’s license, I glanced around the
grounds that I could see. Aside from the ornate iron work of the fence, I could
see trees. Lots and lots of them. A long row of them flanked the narrow drive
that led into the estate. I didn’t know much about trees, but they looked a lot
like the ones that were in my parents’ yard. Pecan maybe. Not that it really
mattered, but I didn’t have anything else to do except to study the landscape.
    On the side of the gate
that I was on, there was a small guard station with two windows. It had been
painted white, but the door was red, which I found odd. There was a fancy
looking golf cart parked beside it. I assumed that was security’s way of
checking the perimeter. That, or the house was miles away and they needed it to
get back and forth.
    I glanced at the clock
on my phone. Yep, my thirty minutes was up. If this guy didn’t hurry, I was
going to miss Aaliyah.
    “You’re good to go,”
the security guard said when he finally returned, his severe expression hadn’t
changed. He still looked like someone had shoved his night stick up his butt
and left it there.
    “Thank you,” I replied
sweetly, reaching for my license.
    When the gate opened, I
put my foot on the gas, embarrassed by the way that the engine roared, all
throaty and loud. The guard didn’t seem to mind. If anything, he was eyeing the
car with appreciation.
    I got that a lot.
Especially from men. They seemed to admire the car. The most awkward moments
were when they wanted to talk about it. I think it frustrated them when they
found out I actually knew a little bit about what was under the hood — 302 cubic
inches of Ford Racing V8 with a Vortech supercharger that turned 444 Dyno-proven
horsepower into 423 pounds of stump-pulling torque. Yep, it was safe to say
that I’d learned a little from my father when it came to cars.
    The car certainly garnered
more head turns than I did though. But since I’d spent four years working
diligently to get my degree, it wasn’t like I’d had any time to date anyway.
    Or at least that’s what
I told myself.
    Truth was, I don’t
think it had much to do with my busy schedule. It was more due to the fact that
I was just a little too plain. I wasn’t tall or supermodel thin, my legs
weren’t long, and I had an average face. My nose was a little too pointy in my
opinion, and my cheekbones a little too prominent. The only interesting thing
about me was the color of my eyes, or so I’d been told. Cat eyes, I had heard
the color referred to as. Kind of hazel, though more green than brown, but they
were constantly changing and sometimes appeared almost yellow.
    My hair was naturally a
mousy brown and would still be if it weren’t for the magic hands — and a steep
discount — of my hair stylist, Chloe. The girl was certainly my savior when it came to
looking good.
    After following the
winding road through the trees, I came upon the two-story white house Conrad
had mentioned.
    Right.
    Like that could
be considered a house.
    I actually hit the
brakes as soon as it came into view because I was so taken aback, I forgot
where the gas pedal was. And the clutch, which was why the car died. I had to
restart the engine before pulling forward.
    In the last week, I’d
spent a considerable amount of time researching Conrad Trovato. Mostly when I
had nothing else to do. I figured it couldn’t hurt to know everything there was
to know about the guy.
    From what I gathered,
he’d made his first million roughly twenty years ago. It wasn’t until the last
decade or so years that he’d hit