Carter's Pov It was still pouring outside, when we stepped out of the motel. Willow and I were soaked within seconds. I welcomed the rain. I relished the icy cold as it seeped past my dress shirt. I looked at Willow. She sneezed, inciting a shiver. Uh-oh. “Come on. I’ll have you warmed up in a moment.” I reached out for her hand. Again, she flinched and stepped away from me. No surprise there. A part of me had thought that after our little talk, things would get slightly better. I didn't totally believe it, yet, it didn’t make it any less annoying. “My car is over there.” I pointed ahead of us. My car was parked at least half a yard away from the building and I winced. Why hadn’t I parked the fucking car closer to the building? There was no way I was going to let Willow get wet anymore than she already was. I turned to face her, but before I could ask her to wait underneath the shed of the building, while I went to bring the car around, she broke into a run. She was headed towar
Carter The rain poured relentlessly, the thick glass windows muting out the sounds of droplets hitting the roof. I sat in a baby blue, thick leather chair facing an even thicker oak desk. It wasn't comfortable, not even in the slightest. Mother liked to make her visitors squirm. And squirm I did. I tapped my foot restlessly on the plush carpeting and my fingers drummed on the solid armrest. I busied myself by looking around even though I'd been in this office countless times. I remembered jumping from the high oak table to the floor, trying to tuck and roll as I did. God, I was so little then. What was I? Maybe four? The office had looked like its own mini kingdom and the desk had been so enormous in my eyes. It was still imposing, the office still the grandest in the house. I still admired everything about it but I wasn't four anymore. I looked straight at my mother. Her head was down as she alternated between writing away on a notepad and typing on the keyboard of her computer
Willow The wind whipped my hair into a frenzy. I could feel the chill in the air, it was going to rain soon. I ran my hands along my arms, hugging myself for comfort. The chill I felt wasn't just from the weather. I felt cold deep inside, like parts of me had gone numb with shock at the events of the past few days. My mind was jumbled up in twisted knots. It seemed everything was happening too fast for me to keep track. All of a sudden, I was a married woman. Bound to another by no will of my own. And it seemed like there was nothing I could do about it. What the hell was Carter thinking? As soon as Carter's mother had walked out of the office earlier, I'd followed suit. I raced up the stairs, taking them two at a time till I reached the balcony. I needed to be alone. No one ever really came up here. It was usually empty except for a few times Carter's father had hosted a few guests up here. Asher had once described it as a lonely space, which was perfect for me. Asher. My cha
Willow's Pov Carter's room was enormous. I'd never been in it before. The bed alone took up nearly half the space which was perfect, even if we did sleep on the same bed, we wouldn't be too close to each other. The creamy white sheets felt soft and comfortable,I had to hold myself back from jumping into them. Just as Carter had said, my things had been transferred to his room. My bathrobe was hung beside his in the bathroom and my fluffy white slip ons were placed just underneath my side of the bed. My makeup kit and skin care products were neatly arranged on a bigger and more beautiful dressing table. I had stared at it in awe when I first entered. The ornate wood was intricately carved with beautiful images of birds and flowers and the wood curved out into two swans perched atop the big mirror. It even had lights affixed to the edges. It looked like something out of a movie star's dressing room. It was obviously new, as were a lot of things in the room. There was
WillowI stayed still, completely silent for a while as I tried to process what I had just heard Carter say. This couldn't possibly be happening to me.This had to be a joke.For goddess sake, how was this non consensual marriage increasingly getting from bad to worse? I was barely done with my anger towards Carter for deciding to marry me against my will and now I had to deal with this too?I wanted to scream. I wanted to yell at the top of my lungs how I wasn't comfortable with any of this. I wanted to hurl a mug at the wall. Toss something on the ground, smash everything I saw in my way. I wanted to throw a tantrum but all I could do was stare in disbelief. There had to be a way out of this because there was no way in hell I was getting marked by Carter, there was no way in hell I was staying in this marriage, if I could even call it that.A marriage I had not signed up for, it was more of an abduction than a marriage.I let out a controlled sigh, trying to control my breathing bu
Willow's I woke up to the sun's blinding shine.I sat up and glanced over at Carter's side of the bed and he wasn't there.He hadn't come back to the room last night after he'd stormed out and I felt some type of way about it. I wasn't sure how to feel, if I was being honest. On one hand I was happy for the quiet that came with the morning. It gave me ample time to reflect on last night's events, and on the other hand, I was sad. Sad because I had said some harsh words to him last night. Honestly,I didn't regret any of them. They were the truth. He was using me and whether or not he cared about me was inconsequential especially since he was so adamant about pleasing his mother. He was getting more and more ridiculous.How could he expect me to be okay with these chains of events?Did he not realize I had a heart and marrying me against my will too? What the hell was that? Were we in some kind of twisted fairytale? I stretched in my bed and stood up, put in my fuzzy slippers and went
Willow The world around me blurred immediately. I blinked back a couple of times, but it did nothing to ease my vision. instead, the more I blinked, the more blurry things got. I pressed a hand to my forehead. A dull throb was beginning to form and it was well on its way to spreading throughout my forehead. It hurt, but I didn't think anything could top the news I'd just heard right now. "If you so much as fail, then consider yourself no longer a part of this family." Clara's words echoed in my head, and the more it did, the more the weight of everything rested on my shoulders. Why did I have to go through all of this? Was this all some kind of a test? if it was, was the result worth it? Because there was no way I would be going through all of this and not get anything worthwhile out of it. It wasn't a secret that the circumstances around my marriage to Carter weren't ideal, but that didn't mean I wanted to be chased out. I was literally all alone now. My hopes that As
Carter I sat at the bar in the dimly lit mansion, nursing my drink as I stared into the amber liquid swirling in the glass. If I stared hard enough, I could make out the bubbles that seemed to move sideways with even the littlest movement of the glass. Usually, I didn't care for things like this, but right now, I honestly didn't mind. It was a distraction and I would be lying if I said I didn't need any right now, whether it was working or not. I frowned, before tipping the content of the glass into my mouth. My throat burned as the vile liquid made its way down my throat. I wasn't normally a fan of vodka, but rumor had it that if you wanted to get knocked out pretty quickly, then vodka was your best bet. I never actually believed it, and I had never stuck around to give it a try until now. Or more importantly, I hadn't been more down and at the lowest point in my life than now. I chuckled lightly, the hollow laughter reverberating throughout the entire hall. It was funny, t
The night was dark, with only the gentle light from the moon shedding and casting its warm glow over the earth. Stars littered the night sky, and against the pitch black backdrop of it all, the scene above looked nothing short of a beautiful painting. The sound of leaves crunching underneath someone's feet cut straight through my thoughts. Immediately, I turned to the side, and standing a couple of feet away from me, was a black wolf, tall and mighty with its beady eyes staring down at me. A couple of moments passed as we both stared at each other, none of us daring to move. Something swirled in the pit of my stomach and before I could make sense of all that was happening, I found myself transforming back into my human form. My fear heightened when I realized whoever it was, was still in its wolf form. I didn't have to think too much because I'd barely mumbled the rest of the questions, before the wolf morphed into his human form, and the moment he did, a huge smile made its wa
I gently pushed the door to my bedroom shut. When a small click reached my ears, I heaved a sigh of relief. I had no idea why I'd just done that. Mum was probably halfway to slumber town now, so why was I so worried that I would have woken her?I sighed again, before gently clasping my hands together. A slight tremble rocked my fingers, but I kept them together, going they would stop soon.Luckily for me, it didn't last long. The moment I witnessed the last of it, I headed to my study desk in the corner of the room and pulled out my books. I had a test in the morning, and AP Chemistry, isn't something you just waltz through with an empty brain. I knew there was trouble the moment I read the first line and was unable to grasp anything. After trying for the second and third time, and still nothing had changed, I just knew I was cooked. There was no way I could focus on studying, not when there was something on my mind. No, not something. Someone.Zayn.No matter how many times I t
Silence filled the air, except for the tip of my fingertips drumming against the steel table in front of me. I had no idea why this man, Shadow, had gone with steel tables. Did he not have any class? I understood that he ran an underground business and was trying to keep things tough and scary, but who said the affairs of the underworld couldn't be spiced up with some class?Take for example. I was a perfect fit Or perhaps the steel table wasn't such a bad idea. Now that I thought about it, it wasn't exactly useless. Let's say Shadow's warehouse happened to get raided by a rival group right now, this steel table could actually come in handy. Just by flipping it over, it could actually give Shadow ample time to bring out his gun and attack. “Why don't you take a picture?” I let out suddenly, causing Shadow to flinch. I watched as he blinked back a couple of times, obviously trying to readjust his eyes to his surroundings again. A sly grin made its way to my face immediately a
I stood rooted in my spot, my blood boiling. I didn't even bat an eyelid when the sound of Alessandro's car driving out of the compound reached my ears. My mind whirled with a million questions and a thousand more thoughts. How dare he? How could he even do such a thing?I'd always perceived Alessandro to be a heartless and ruthless monster, but the last thing I expected was him bringing a little boy into the equation. Leo was still a little child for fucks sake!I pressed my eyes shut, and the moment the darkness engulfed me, I regretted it immediately. Leo's bruised back and face filled my vision, his wounds taunting me. I shook my head as I imagined his wails and sobs.Leo was a delicate boy, the best kid in the whole world. He didn't deserve any of that and that wasn't even the worst part. The part that made my blood boil and crack at the same time was the fact that it wasn't his fault in any way. I'd brought this up on him. Me, I did that. Strip. Alessandro's authorita
My heart leapt to my throat as the sound of something scurrying along the floorboards reached my ears. I sucked in a deep breath as I sunk deeper to the edge of the wall, my back coming in contact with the bed's fluffy headboard. As I hugged my knees, I rocked back and forth, hoping the little gesture would calm my thumping heart and calm me down a bit, even if it was in the tiniest of ways.It didn't work. It wasn't working. Not at all. Not yet. I sucked in a deep breath as I allowed my heartbeat to return to its steady pacing. I heaved a sigh when it finally stabilized. I was tired, tired of living like this. But did I have any other choice? I wasn't sure. I didn't think so. It'd been two days since I walked out on Alessandro. Tao days since I'd locked myself in my room and refused to come out, and even as time ticked by, I still wasn't sure if I regretted my decision. A frown appeared on my face at the thought of a sour memory. No matter how hard I'd tried to forget a
Fear raked through my body as my heart steadily picked up its pace. Cold chills raced up and down my spine as I stared wide eyed at the scene in front of me. At this point, I wouldn't be surprised if I was cursed or something. Cursed to always find myself in situations like these. But that wasn't the part that bothered me. A little curse here and there never hurt anybody. Hell, maybe I'd even cursed myself. I did have a knack for messing around with Ouija boards and all when I was little. The part that bothered me was how I always managed to find myself in situations like these, no matter how hard I tried to avoid it. After Dagger had dropped the bombshell and given me an ultimatum, I was stumped. I went blank. He couldn't get my attention until he poked me with something. I didn't think much of it, but now that I did, I couldn't shake off the feeling he'd done something. Ejected a tracking device or chip into my body maybe, or perhaps he'd even poisoned me. The ideas were end
I watched as the blue flames lit the tip of the cigar that was tucked in between my fingers. As I pushed the flames closer to where I wanted it to be, something caught my eye. How the hell I was able to notice it was strange to me, but now that I'd seen it, I just couldn't ignore it. Just in between my fingers where the cigar sat, Red hue tainted my skin. I wasn't exactly sensitive and I barely bruised, so this was definitely a discovery. A sly smirk made its way to my lips. I didn't even have to think hard to figure out why the skin in between my fingers was pink, or better still, turning red. For the past hour, or more, I'd been replacing rolls and rolls of cigars the moment I exhausted the last one. At some point I'd lost count of how many of the smoke machines I'd inhaled, but I knew they were a lot. I was pushing myself and maybe if I didn't hold back, I would finally know my limit. If I actually had one, that is. I exhaled a huge puff of smoke, after inhaling for a coup
My mind reeled with a million and one things all ar once and I swear if I didn't find a way to stop it, I just might run mad on the spot. I'd just told them I knew Alessandro. Shit. If I was being honest, I had no clue if I'd done the right thing or not. I suspected foul play the moment I realized I wasn't Alessandro’s captive. Who else knew of my existence? Papa had taken a wide step back from indulging in businesses that were a norm in mafia families, so there was no way I could be in someone's radar. But the moment he knew I recognized Alessandro, I just knew I was in deep shit. I hated Alessandro, literally everyone did, even Antonio. But as I stared at the murderous glare my captor wore as he arranged an array of weapons I didn't recognize, I quickly came to the conclusion that there were more people that hated the man. Even more than I did. And it shocked me to the bones.Who the hell was he? Was he working alone? What was his relationship with Alessandro? And what
Chapter 82Destiny's POV I was anxious, and literally nothing I did was calming me down. Instead, the more I tried, the more I failed woefully at it too. There wasn't any technique I hadn't tried. I had tried counting to ten and back again, and even making a conscious effort at trying to regulate my breathing, but it just wasn't working. It was a surprise how Carter hadn't noticed how fidgety I was. Or maybe he had, he has just decided that he wasn't going to comment on it, and even that didn't sit right with me.My stomach churned, pulling me out of my quick monologue. Before it could let out another sound, I folded my fingers in front of my belly. I wasn't exactly sure it was going to do anything, but it was too late to try to take back what I'd just done. So instead, I fixed my gaze as I tried to remove the invisible dirt that had found their way underneath my nails. The car was silent, save for the gentle hum from the engine. The civilization that whooshed by also seemed to