He huffed out a soft laugh, and I wondered if it was my sense of humor or if he was high on something, too. “You’re funny, Zara. I have to admit, it’s after a very long time I have met someone so vibrant in the face of their potential death. It almost makes me want to spare you.”“I’m guessing you won’t.”“More like I can’t. If I let you go right now, Maddox might mistake it for my weakness. He’ll think I don’t have the balls anymore. And I hate it with passion when someone underestimates my competence.”If it wasn’t for animosity or their gender preferences (I didn't know Richard though), these two would be a match made in heaven. “Why does it matter what he thinks?”“It doesn’t. I’ve just grown to like the fact that every day a powerful man like him wakes up with a dread of losing someone he loves.”Something in my chest unfurled at his words, like a brush of soft feathers across my heart. I turned my head away from him. “He doesn’t.”“Doesn’t love you?” He asserted, and I felt a sh
[MADDOX]“Are you sure this is the right place?” Glancing at the lone red-bricked house, far from the main city, I cannot help but ask.Turns out, I have a thing for bad decisions and pissing people off. Even though the latter one comes off as no surprise, it bothers me to think I’m willing to take such a colossal risk by putting my faith in Jade. She doesn’t deserve it as far as I know. But something tells me if I didn’t give her this chance, I wouldn’t get another either. And I have too many regrets to add more to the stack. So, here I am. At the exact location, she got it from one of her guys, waiting for a sign that this isn’t the worst fuckup of my life.Nathan was absolutely against revising the plan at the last minute. But I asked him to trust me. He said he couldn’t. And, yes, that was pretty much the end of the conversation before he waited for me to get out of the car and left to follow our original course of the plan.He expects me to fail. But I hope that’s only because he
[FLASHBACK]“Boss!” A man doubled over, panting like a dog. “We’ve got a situation.”Richard stared at the man for a long second, face contorting into one of confusion. “What happened?”“You’ll have to see it for yourself.” The panicked minion sputtered out and stepped to the side. “Before it spirals out of control. Please.”Richard looked a second close to kicking the man out of the room, but he schooled his expression quickly enough and sighed heavily in his chest. Turning to face the woman lying on the gurney, he shot her a small, apologetic smile. “I’ll be right back. Till then, enjoy the show.”It was then Zara noticed another stretcher across the room. Just like her, a woman strapped on it. The only difference—she was still blindfolded with a black cloth and had a metallic mask clasped around her jaw.Richard removed her mask and moved a shower sort of device over her face.The woman begged him to stop whatever he was doing. “Please, let me go. Please, please, please. I won’t te
[ZARA]I woke up in a dark room.For a second, I thought I was back in that hellhole.I sat up with a jolt, so fast my head swayed and the entire room spun. A dark figure loomed near the foot of the bed and fear hijacked my mind.I whimpered, feeling something hard against my back, stuck in the middle of a shadow of the man and something that barred me from crawling backwards. Panic prickled the back of my neck, chewing at the little sanity I still had intact. But it was only when the shadow moved and took a step closer, I screamed like hell.“Zara!” Someone called. It came from the dark figure. “Calm down. It’s me.” He said and took another, cautious step in my direction. The shaft of light sneaking from the cracks between the curtains struck his face. My shoulders dropped, and panic melted when it hit me who he was.“Brandon?” It really was him. But…“Shit! I didn’t know you could screech like that.” He said and I could tell he was trying to act all cool while from the inside he was
“It’s not true.” He retorted, but when I gave him a pointed look, he shut his mouth and let me finish.“That what you think, what you say and what you do is best for everyone. That you have the right to decide for everyone because, in your head, no one is more capable than you are. You’re so controlling that you don’t even care how suffocating that could be for someone. In fact, not just me, for anyone at all. You make the rules and expect everyone to follow them without question. You are so deep in your head that you’ve become delusional. No one can reason with you because you don’t listen and neither do you trust. You know of whom you remind me?”There was a beat of silence before he spoke, the crease across his forehead tightening. “I am NOT like Richard.”“No. You aren’t. But you’re no different either. You are just as tyrannical, if not less.”He peered down at his hands and shook his head. “I…I don’t know how that happened.” A look of surprise crossed his face, water glistening
[MADDOX]“How long are you gonna sulk?” Nathan asked, and the whim to throw him out of the car was exhausting.“I’m NOT sulking.” Without saving him a single glance, I told him as calmly as possible. I looked outside the window instead and searched for a familiar face.Five minutes ago, we pulled up outside the police headquarters. Zachary and his brother, Kevin, were supposed to meet us here. For now, all I could see were cops and irrelevant people moving in and out of the building. No sign of the Gracias family.“And not growing any younger, either.” Nathan deadpanned, and I finally decided to fix him whatever glare.“Did you just make a joke about my age?” That should be hardly any concern to me. Especially when mom did it all the time. But since the moment I woke up this morning, I hadn’t been in the mood to take anyone’s shit. It might have had something to do with the fact Zara ended everything between us yesterday and left for good. Actually, fuck that! My mood was spoiled beca
“Thanks for coming on such short notice. Mr Gracias. Mr Richmond.” Officer Newman greeted us, gesturing us to take seats.Zachary and I took seats across from him while Nathan and Kevin decided to wait outside.“It’s no problem, officer. How can we help?” I asked.“Well, as we conversed over the phone, we found some bodies. They are, as expected, burnt and impossible to recognize. The face, that is. And because, Mr Gracias, your sister is still missing, we were hoping you will be willing to go through the accessories and clothes we found on the victims. This will help us narrow down our options and decide what the next course of action should be.”“Of course.” Zachary said, and for the first time, I caught the strain in his voice.“Great.” Officer Newman said and retrieved three transparent packets from the desk behind him. Carefully, he laid them all on the table and stood up. “I’ll give you guys a minute.”’Once the officer left us alone in the room, I turned to face Zachary. “Do yo
[MADDOX]It’s odd how often I have driven by her house, but never really cared to turn my head and look. But now that I stand in front of it, I know why she fought so hard to take it back.The house is nothing out of a fairy tale. It’s decently constructed, has only one floor and is yellow. Not just any yellow but the one that makes you question why someone would do that to their house. Do they not love it? Is that supposed to be a punishment for the eyes of the beholder? How could a house be so yellow? It’s literally tormenting.But maybe it’s because I have known Zara long enough that I can tell you for sure this is just her way of showing a middle finger to the world. A message in capital letters that she doesn’t care about and can’t be bothered by the opinions of others. She’s gonna be herself no matter what and the rest of the world can simply fuck themselves.If one can look past the yellowness of the house, one would see the details that make this house a home. There’s a picket