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
DARLENE“Rise and shine sleepy heads! Breakfast’s ready!” Prince Charles’ booming baritone cracked through my skull before a wash of yellow light bored through my closed eyelids so that I groaned, breaking into a chuckle when Alexander groaned beside me.“Fucking hell Charles, did your parents not teach you to knock?” My husband hissed, throwing the soft white duvet away from his hard body and stretching to his feet to snatch the coffee mug the purple-eyed man held out like a peace offering in one hand, his gaze sliding over to me and darkening a shade before he smirked.“I don't believe they did,” He whispered breathlessly, nodding his head to the door where the strawberry blonde-haired man was leaning against the doorframe in brown capri pants, a pearly grin stretched across his smooth face.“Have some decency Frederick, my wife’s in the room,” Alexander whispered, scoffing loudly and sipping his tea as I stretched a yawn and shimmyed away from the bed to rest my head on my husband’
FREDERICK“Die motherfucker,” I gritted, pressing my finger into the claw of the trigger and feeling the gun jerk in my hands, the impact pulling me forward so that I tumbled into the stone flooring.“Come on! Go go go!” I screamed through gritted teeth, waving my hands wildly at Darlene and pushing her around the car as she surged through the barrage of shots pummeling us and firing off a few more rounds as the Umbrella man roared with pain, tearing the knife from his eye with an impossibly loud sucking sound.“I need to get closer,” I hissed through my teeth as I rounded the bend of the car to meet Alwxander’s tense body where he was hunched, hiding from the rain of bullets with Darlene curled in his arms.I swallowed the bile that had risen in my throat, jabbing my fingers into my palms to battle the wooziness that stabbed the sides of my head and peering through the rim of black sedan to see that the man now had a gaping hole in one eye that still spurted blood as he glared around
STEFAN MCCOYMy knuckles were white on the trigger as I watched the man’s hard body as he walked slowly into the room, his eyes never leaving the gun I had pressed dutifully against his wife’s empty ass head.“No sudden moves Alexander or I’ll have the woman’s brains plastered across the floor,” I growled through clenched teeth as Alexander staggered into the room with his father and more of my men surrounding them.I had known something was off the minute I left the penthouse, even before the sound of gunshots echoed out behind us and I asked Markov to turn the car around.The white penthouse with its flashing lights and tall pine trees loomed as ghastly as ever, as I motioned the men every which way, feeling adrenaline rush through my veins when the sounds of gunfire exploded around the sides of the house as my men sniffed the bastards out like the rats that they were.“Please, McCoy, don't do this, My wife has nothing to do with this okay? I’ll, I’ll give you whatever it is you wan
DARLENE“Something’s wrong,” I whispered breathlessly, feeling the hairs on the back of my neck stand straight as I watched the man with the Jerry curls stride away from the large lattice silver gates, a gun held tightly in his right hand.“What the fuck do you mean something’s wrong? McCoy’s going with most of his men! This is our cue to go in, grab the twins, plant the bombs, and hightail the fuck out of here in time for Mrs. McKenzie’s dinner special,” Erwin snapped blithely from his crouch beside me, the rim of a sniper rifle held tightly in his hands, as he peered through the scope.“Lassie’s right, this seems too easy, they must have found out about the decoy car approaching already, that's the only reason for him to leave...and yet,” Williams McKenzie growled on my right flank, raising the tight hulk of his frame into a low squat and inching to slap himself against the tree, the burnt orange blackness of the forest blending perfectly with our camo gear.“We should-” Erwin start
ALEXANDERThe bright fluorescent lights tore through my eyelids to fry my eyeballs before I had even opened my eyes. I groaned, the soreness in my arms and stiff legs making me groan louder as I let my head fall back into my chest.What the hell did the bastard hit me with? Fucking hulk?“Ugh!” I groaned, screwing one eye open to lock gazes with my brother’s blanched face and watching him sag with relief when he saw that I had opened my eyes.“Alexander? Fuck! Thank saints you're okay,” He rasped breathlessly and I felt the scowl deepen between my eyebrows as I glared at the swollen purple bruises on his face that had left the skin of his face puffy and red.“Your buddy didn't take too kindly to you I reckon, stabbed you in the fucking balls just like you did to me you piece of shit!” I barked acidly, watching my brother rear back on the chair that he was strapped to like he had been slapped.I looked down to see I was lying on some makeshift gurney table, feeling my heart pound wildl
DARLENE“Where is he? Where’s my husband?” I whizzed when I caught up to the ring chief scowling in the middle of the road, his hands fixed patiently on his narrow hips.“He’s gone Dar, that McCoy took him,” Prince Charles gritted, eyeing me carefully before I noticed his hand cupping the large gash on his chest, the trickle of blood pooling on the purple suit staining the area black.“Here, let’s get you to the car,” I gritted through clenched teeth, managing to push the words past the lump that had grown in my throat and tugging the man’s hand free when he resisted before hooking it over one shoulder, grunting when he leaned his weight on me a little.I could hear the whirl of sirens in the distance as they got closer and I yelped, slamming to a stop when the purple-eyed man stopped suddenly in his tracks.What the hell was it with mafia men and having death wishes? I tried not to look at the nasty knife wound on his abdomen or the purple and red bruises on his chin and focused inst
FREDERICK“Did you have to do it that hard?” I whispered, feeling tears gather in my eyes as I watched the Umbrella Man tower over my brother’s limp body, his brown eyes almost luminescent in the dark.“Quiet Frederick, you're ruining my groove, take him.” Stefan McCoy growled and I felt my heart hammer in my ribs as the masked ninjas dropped from the trees like banana monkeys, hooking my brother’s hard body onto the stretcher as I watched on with widened eyes.“Is he dead?” I rasped breathlessly, feeling panic burn in my chest as I trotted after the men, the crunch of dried leaves under my feet sounding loud in the silence as the masked men marched my brother to the large white van that had been parked off to the side of the highway.“Not yet,“ The Umbrella man whispered, rubbing his hands together in glee as they loaded him into the van and I felt a flicker of doubt spark in my chest.“So it’s all good now right? Everything will go as planned now?” I coughed, scarcely trusting mysel
ALEXANDERIt took longer than I would have liked for my eyes to adjust to the near blackness as I entered the forest.“Where are you? You son of a bitch,” I ground through clenched teeth, waving the gun this way and that and aware of the way I was panting loudly, carefully placing one foot in front of the other.My arms were starting to get sore from holding the gun up and high, my knuckles white on the trigger as I crept along the line of trees, freezing when I thought I had heard the distinct sound of a tree branch snapping.Could this get any fucking worse? Did the motherfucker have to pick the shittiest forest in the whole of New York to make his dramatic comeback?“Go on and run away like the coward that you fucking are McCoy, I can smell that cheap perfume from a mile away,” I jeered loudly, feeling goosebumps rise on my skin when my distorted voice echoed back to me in the blackness.I tried to focus past the hum that had started in my ears but my mind was not following my eyes
DARLENEMy husband hadn't made any sense when he got off the phone with the purple-eyed man and it made even less sense now as we sped toward the edge of town with his knuckles white on the steering wheel.I braced myself against the cool leather of the dashboard, trying to calm the staccato beating of my heart in my chest as we sped through the stretch of asphalt and felt a wave of nausea press insistently against the roof of my mouth.“Are you sure about the address?” I wheezed, unable to bear the silence any longer and risking a glance at the chiseled line of Alexander’s jaw, the way his piercing green eyes were starting dead ahead, his flock of obsidian black hair falling over his face as the muscles of his shoulder and bicep flexed when he fishtailed the steering wheel.“White Villa at Maple Street, I didn't know he lived there, there's only one of the kind, you can't miss it,” He whispered, and even though I knew the steel in his voice couldn't have been meant for me, it made sh