Read Sweet Victory: A Novella (His Wicked Games #2.5) for Free Online Page B

the deadbolt and the chain are in place.
    “Dammit!” shouts the woman. “Let me in, Calder!”
    Calder is staring straight at the door, and his hands have curled into fists. He doesn’t appear to have heard my initial question, so I try again.
    “Who is she?” I ask, a little louder this time. “What does she want?” Is this some angry ex-girlfriend come to bring her wrath down upon his new apartment? But that doesn’t make any sense—we’ve both had long talks about our past relationships, and I can’t think of anyone from his past who’d show up out of the blue like this.
    It takes Calder a minute to turn his head toward me. When he does, he looks positively stricken. I swear he’s a shade paler than usual.
    “It’s Louisa,” he says, his confusion clear in his voice.
    Louisa? I’m certain I know that name, but it takes a moment for everything to click in my head.
    No, she’s not an ex-girlfriend, but rather something much, much more complicated.
    Calder seems aware of that complication, too. He’s already turning back toward the door, his brow wrinkling in some mash-up of emotions I can’t even begin to name.
    When he does speak, it’s as if he’s saying the words to himself, confirming that yes, she is at his— our —door.
    “My sister.”

CHAPTER FOUR
     
     
    What the hell ?
    I’m not even sure what to think right now. This is the girl who left Calder alone to deal with the aftermath of their father’s death. While he was mucking through the financial mess they inherited and fighting off swarms of paparazzi, she was happily at work over in Thailand. Family is supposed to stick together during the rough times—and Louisa abandoned him. She’s the only other remaining Cunningham, and yet she took off to the other side of the world when he needed her most. And now she thinks she can just show up at our new apartment and scream at him to let her in?
    No. This is supposed to be a special night for me and Calder, and I’m not about to let her ruin it.
    I storm across the floor to the door and fling open the lock. Louisa stops her incessant knocking at the jingle of the chain, and her shouting turns to laughter even before I’ve opened the door.
    “Geez, Calder, what took you so—” Her voice cuts off and her eyes widen when she finds me, not her brother, staring back at her.
    “Can I help you?” I say. I don’t even attempt to sound friendly.
    “I’m…” She glances past me, but I’ve only opened the door partway and I’m not sure if she can see Calder. “I’m looking for my brother. Calder Cunningham?”
    I’m about to tell her off, but suddenly Calder’s beside me, pulling the door out of my death grip.
    “Louisa,” he says, his voice completely flat.
    I glance between the siblings. Their blood relation is obvious; while Calder’s significantly taller than Louisa, they both have the same dark eyes and hair. Louisa’s is tied back in a ponytail, but several curls have come loose to dangle around her heart-shaped face. Her tight black pants and turtleneck make her already petite figure look even tinier.
    For a moment, the two of them stare each other down. Calder’s never talked much about his sister, and I’ve never pressed the subject. I’m not sure what their relationship was like before their father’s death, but it certainly isn’t very good now.
    Louisa breaks eye contact first. She glances back over her shoulder, outside of the apartment.
    “Look,” she says, “I know that this is a little weird, but can I come in for a bit?”
    Calder doesn’t even blink. “What did you do?”
    “Nothing that bad.” She shrugs. “At least, nothing I think you’d actually disapprove of, given the circumstances.” She throws another glance over her shoulder. “Come on, Cal, I’ll explain everything.”
    Cal?
    For a moment I think he’s going to shut the door in her face, but Calder heaves a sigh and steps aside, letting his sister into our home. He shoots me an