MARY ARGRETEE OF MCKENZIE MANOR“Lady of Grackles,” I panted as my hands shook on the wide rim of the overhead lamp holder as I tried to screw the ceramic off, biting down on a shriek when the white chalk of dust fell into my eyes.I coughed a panicked gasp, knowing that Our Lady had blinded me for taking her name in sin. I tethered wildly on the high iron of the potted plant where I had stood, flinging an arm out to grope around me before I felt the creak of the lampshade giving and the feeling of the floor coming up to meet me.“Ugh!” I groaned, struggling to my feet with the small black bulb of a camera fisted in one hand and rubbing the sore spot on my tailbone with the other.I had to get out of here before the Mistress finished with the Master of the McKenzie manor and came up into her room.I’d been foolish, letting that woman talk me into spying on the rich family when I had no business interfering in their lives.Yes, I was going to turn myself over to Sir Alexander’s mercy a
ALEXANDERThe three men that strode into the room looked normal enough. I could have mistaken them for business men, if it weren’t for the men they dragged into the room, bound hands and feet.A heck of a business torture and execution was. ‘Good sportsmanship Alexander, that’s what we do, we hunt our enemies for sport.’ My father’s voice echoed oddly in my head as I raked my eyes over the blanched faces of the men that had their eyes damn near swollen shut.“Well if it isn’t McKenzie’s old boy, my, my, you look a right fright don’t you?” The ring’s unofficial chief drawled, snapping me out of my reverie, as I turned with a grimace to meet his clear brown eyes.“I could say the same for you Erwin, but I’m afraid you aren't quite tall enough for my eyes to rest on.” I rasped airily, drawing a few chuckles from the ring members as the smirk fell like a handful of condoms from the man’s ruddy face.I heard Priest’s awkward laughing beside me as I glowered at the richly dressed man who
DARLENEIt hadn’t been easy, finding this death trap of a place that looked more like a graveyard mausoleum than it did a safe house. I had sprinted out of the grand manor like a bat out of hell, damn near fishtailing the sleek white Porsche into a tree as I spun out of the lot onto the highway.“Shit,” I grunted, letting loose a string of expletives as I risked a glance at my phone, snapping my eyes back to the stretch of asphalt lit only by the fluorescent white of my headlamps and blinking away the bright white spots that remained in my eyes.My phone had been ringing off the hook ever since the news of the affair had spread.“I should talk to Fredrick, make him see a reason to drop the issue,” I whispered more to myself than to the smiling penguin decor that swung lightly from its hang on the rear mirror.I felt the tightening in my throat thicken as I staved off a fresh bout of tears, deciding I would just have to call my mother later.The beeping noise from my car meter had me
ALEXANDER“Who’s there?” The intruder called as we crept toward the front room, making me still in my shoes.The familiar ring of a woman’s voice reached my ears just as we surrounded her and my eyes widened with realization, my hand shooting out to press down on the gun the purple-eyed man had raised just as the woman came flying toward us.“Darlene?” I gasped, watching relief flood her hazel-green eyes as she ran into my arms, making me hug her albeit reluctantly.The feel of my woman’s heart beating against mine made something soften in my chest before I looked up to see that the ring had formed a loose circle around us, and they were now pointing their guns at the back of my wife’s head.“McKenzie? Who is she?” Prince Charles drawled, the way one would when their kid was getting one too many impossible ideas.The pound of my heart stopping cold in my chest seemed to send a shock wave of fear right through me. Fear for my wife.“She’s his wife Prince, I’d recognize those curves an
FREDRICKThe one time I had ever been loved in my entire life, and my brother had to take it from me.I stormed into my room, slamming the door behind me so that the noise of the arguing downstairs dimmed significantly.Blind. That was what my parents were. “Fucking blind!” I roared, slamming my hand into the umbrella shell of my bedside lampshade so that it crashed against the rear wall noisily.Couldn’t they see? How trapped Darlene was with Alexander? What he was turning the curvy woman into?I had to act quickly. Faster than Usain freaking Bolt in the fucking Olympics!The thought of talking to her parents popped into my head before I shook myself, quickly discarding the idea.Mr. Bernardo was nice enough, almost too nice. Like my mother.For all he knew, his daughter- pride and joy- was happily married to the billionaire firstborn of Williams McKenzie.Mr. Bernardo wouldn’t understand the importance, the urgency we needed to remove Darlene from Alexander’s fucking marriage choke
DARLENE“That wouldn’t be necessary, we were just leaving.” Alexander rumbled in a tone that had me snapping my head up to see the thunderous look he gave the man they called Prince.I gulped reflexively, my eyes darting from the stone murals in the room to the man with the purple eyesI turned to see that the expression on his face had darkened as he stared stonily ahead, toward the gray-darkness of the road. The twist in my heart forked stronger than before as I watched his absinthe-green eyes flicker to me and return to the stretch of asphalt.“Alexander, I-” I started, cringing when my voice came more as a harried whisper than a cajole.Now why did I have to go and sound like a damn frog? I steeled myself opening my mouth to let the words tumble out when he flashed me a look that turned my insides to stone.“Enough Darlene.” He hissed, his knuckles white on the steering wheel as he gripped it so hard I thought for a moment that he was going to drive us straight off the road.“Alex
ALEXANDERThe air in the cold interior of my luxury, matte-black wagon, was stifling. It was all I could do to stop myself from reaching out and touching her. The wavy spirals of her shoulder-length hair, the high set of her cheekbones, and her pert little nose.I missed her so fucking much, and I hated her so fucking much.The one thing I loved most in my whole life and my twin brother wanted a piece of it!It was always like that, as far back as I could remember. The little shit had always wanted everything I had- Which wasn't bloody much considering.Darlene sniffled beside me, so that I felt the slouched line of my back tense, and I risked a look her way to see that she had her head turned decidedly to the window, jutting her bottom lip in that cute way she did when she was enraged.Had I been too hard on the woman? Saints! Lord knew she deserved it.“Look, I'm sorry okay? I didn't mean to tell Dar, but you are persistent.” I whispered, the spike of adrenaline humming on the bad
DARLENEI was alone when I woke up. The wooly cotton of the comforter was cold to my touch when I spread my hand over the space where my husband’s body was supposed to be.”Saints!” I gasped, shooting to sit up on the bed, before groaning and falling into the covers.What time was it? How long had I been out? Alexander must have carried me up to the room.I felt the knot of tension in my belly unfurl at the thought of him still caring.“Goddam it, Darlene,” I groaned, knowing I ought to strangle myself with the sheets but setting them aside instead to slide my feet into the soft, faux fur of my slippers.The fire in the stone hearth had simmered down so that wisps of frigid air burned my nose and eyes as I paced about the space. There were lavender petals etched into the overhead gold beams of the canopy that I hadn't noticed before, the potted plants beside the beds looking bigger and farther apart than I remembered.I paused, turning on the balls of my feet to take in the room wit