Hope. We walked outside and away from the house toward the swimming pool. “How is he? When no one’s around, I mean?” “Bossy.” I couldn’t tell her about earlier. About any of it. “And gone, mostly.He just got back from wherever he was, actually.” “He looks at you like he wants to eat you alive.” He scared me, but I didn’t want to say that out loud, and not to Izzy. “I can’t figure him out. He is horrible one second, then nice. Almost…caring. Like he gives a shit what I feel or think.” I picked a single dandelion growing in the otherwise immaculate lawn. “But then he is a jerk again, and then he disappears.” “Is he making you…” she hesitated. “Sleep with him?” She nodded. “Not yet.”I lied “Good. Are you able to come and go?” “I don’t know. Not on my own, I think.” “Okay, that’s fine. I’ll just come get you. If he wants to send someone to follow us, we’ll deal.” “It doesn’t matter, Izzy. I’m stuck here.” “Luke and I…We are not going to sit back and let them have everything. L
Damian. Growing up, I had loved coming to the house in the Adirondacks, but that felt like a hundred years ago. Now, as we neared the property, Hope sat beside me in the car, everything about her tense. She looked beautiful in the cream colored dress I had chosen, her auburn hair piled high on her head, dark eye makeup accenting the almond shape of her whiskey colored eyes. I touched her knee as we pulled up to the security gate. She startled. “You will be fine. I will stay with you.” She nodded, but the tension kept rolling off her. I hated this. Knew as I waved to the guard and pulled around back to the garage that she was here to be shown around, shown off, a token of my father’s of my family's triumph. I also knew my father had not forgotten what she had done. He would punish her for it, and I had a feeling he would do it tonight. I just needed to keep her reined in nice and tight. After parking the car, I climbed out and met Hope on her side. “I feel sick.” I slid her h
Damian. I took my jacket off and hung it over the back of a chair, then loosened my tie, unbuttoning the top buttons of my dress shirt before it choked me. All the while, my eyes remained locked on hers. I walked toward her, rolling my right shirt sleeve up as I went. I wondered if she knew what was coming, what had to happen now. Why the room adjacent to ours became suddenly so quiet, as if there wasn’t an audience just beyond the doors to bear witness. I reached for the buckle of my belt and undid it. That was when she understood. She made to rise, but I was too close and caught her halfway up. “Make this easy on yourself,” I whispered, wondering if those in the other room heard the swoosh of my belt as I yanked it from its loops, pulled her up out of her chair, and pushed her to bend over the table that had yet to be wiped down. “Damian ,” she began. “Quiet.” I shoved her dress up to her waist. She struggled, but I held her flat and pushed her panties down so they slipped from
Hope. I looked at the window. Sunlight filtered through the crack between the curtains. I blinked, confused for a moment, but the soreness between my legs and on my ass quickly reminded me of where I was. The clock beside the bed read 7:04 a.m. I dragged the silk sheet up over my naked body, sat up, flinched, and lay back down. Beside me, the empty pillow lay sideways. I touched it, leaned over and buried my nose in it, then reared back and shook my head. What the hell was I doing? He had whipped me, humiliated me, then fucked me. I had cum. I had begged him to fuck me harder. I hated myself. No, I hated him. I needed to remember that. Why was it so hard to remember that? I got out of bed and went into the bathroom. He must have showered recently. Steam still fogged up the corners of the mirror, and the scent of his aftershave hung in the air. I found I liked it, felt somehow comforted by it. The devil you know. That’s all that was. I knew Damian . I knew his limits. Fuc
Damian. I could not win. No one could. What I said to her, I meant it. Francis spears would win. And everyone else would lose. Hope went straight to her room when we got back to the house, and I shut myself up in my study. She hadn’t talked to me the entire ride. Probably pissed at me, which I expected. I would deal with that later, though, because as soon as i booted up my laptop, I saw an e-mail from Roman regarding Luke’s activities. Luke had been busy indeed, meeting with various members of the Paganibfamily in the tristate area. We knew that, though. That wasn’t new. It was the next part that intrigued me. He was spending his nights in Isabella’s bed Isabella was Hope’s sister. That’s why it so surprised me to learn that I was wrong. That he wasn’t Effie’s father. But that wasn’t the strangest thing. In fact, what I saw made zero sense. I picked up the phone and dialed Roman, but before he could answer, the door burst open. Hope stood in the doorway, looking pissed off. “S
Hope. I couldn’t believe this. He had just left, walked out! I had really thought last night, after what had happened in the bedroom, the things he had said, I thought he felt something. And even as I had told him I hated him, I didn’t. I had held fast, refusing to let go. I felt something for him. Then this morning, when he had defended me, didn’t that mean something? And what about when he had been so possessive when he had seen Tony in our room? God, I was stupid. His cell phone buzzed again, and I got up. He had forgotten it in his rush. The latest text was on the screen. “Are you getting my messages? I need you!” The name of the contact read Naya. Naya needed him? Of course his ex girlfriend needed him. And he had dropped everything for her. In a fucking heartbeat, he had dropped everything and run out of the house, not even remembering to take his cell phone with him! Fine. That was fine. She was probably the reason he would release me from my contract. He didn’t want
Hope After a short rest and a microwave dinner later in the evening, I had gotten ready and gone to sleep in my old bedroom, the sinking feeling never leaving my stomach. It wasn’t too much later when I woke to rain beating against the window and voices arguing. I sat up and glanced at the time on my phone. It was a little after midnight. The display showed eight missed calls, all from surprise, surprise Damian . I guess he had gotten home from Naya’s. Asshole. I ignored the messages, got out of bed, and cracked the door open. The voices came from downstairs. It was Isabella and a man. Although I knew the voice, I couldn’t place it. It didn’t belong here. “You promised me. I don’t want him hurt!” My sister sounded agitated. “I’m placating. Relax.” “How the fuck can I relax? God, I wish this were over!” I stepped out onto the landing and crept over to the stairs. Hearing the familiar creak on the third step, I froze, hoping they hadn’t heard. They continued arguing. “You need t
Hope. I woke up suddenly, sucking in a breath, my throat incredibly dry. Looking around, I remembered where I was, remembered the night before. I lay in Damian’s bed, his scent still on his pillow, the indentation where his head had been now containing a small piece of paper. Unfolding it, I read: I need to take care of some business. I will be back this afternoon. I have Stravos’s phone, and I’ve programmed the number into yours in case you need anything. Damian I set it down and closed my eyes, feeling sheepish at what I had done, dropping his phone into the toilet. But now, I had to face the thing that had woken me, as unbelievable as it was. I wished I had kept my father’s note rather than throwing it away. At the time, I had been so upset. My father had committed suicide because he couldn’t live with the decisions he had made. Because he hadn’t been able to come to terms with the fact that when i turned twenty one, Damian would claim me as his. Did he have any idea how th