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
ALEXANDERThe handmaiden’s death had hit the McKenzie Manor like a shit tsunami on steroids.A spark of guilt ignited in my chest when I realized I hadn’t the slightest bit of recollection on what the woman looked like.“Eyewitnesses accounts say Mary Argretee had been murdered as she was fleeing from the Manor,” The young detective from the sheriff’s office boomed as the sharp blue crystals of his eyes fixed unnervingly on me.I shifted uneasily on the rich leather of the couch, feeling like I had just been soccer punched in the stomach.Mary was running from the house?It had to be on the night of the argument. My brain was puzzled at the thought.What the hell was going on?“That doesn’t make sense officer, why would she be running from the manor? Mary’s lived here since I married my wife,” I queried, matching his gaze squarely.I could feel Darlene’s dainty hands wrapping over the line of my bicep.I didn’t like the way he was talking, the definitive tilt of his chin, and the ste
LAURA DIEGOIt was still dark out when I sprang my eyes open, my heart thudding wildly in my chest when I realized it was the creaking sound that had woken me so suddenly.“God-fucking-dammit!” I cursed, groaning and pressing the pillow tighter against my ears in a bid to stem the clang of wood knocking together.The sound was coming from the woman in the basement. The quick quack of a chair grinding as I squeezed my eyes shut, gritting my teeth when the noise curled around the foams of my brain and pulsed erratically, drowning out the urgency of my other thoughts.“Useless!” I roared, feeling the red spring into my eyes as I snapped them open as I leaped out of the dingy bed, flinging the spongy duvet to the side to slam the floor-length mirror to the floor with a resounding crash.“Shut up! Shut the fuck up!” I screeched until my voice cracked as I slammed the furniture around in the concrete walls of the small cabin shack, panting with my hands on my knees as the redness seeped slo
DARLENEAlexander had not said a word to me since the detective’s visit to the McKenzie Manor. I still couldn't believe it, as I paced the tense air of the manor’s prince chambers.I risked a glance at him, the way he sat quietly on the beige cotton of the comforter with the bulk of his elbows resting firmly on his knees.”Can you stop pacing Dar?” Alexander’s quiet voice seemed to ring through the length of my spine as I felt the knob of my knees lock and still, my heartbeat thudding oddly in my chest.He looked different, sitting on our bed the way he was, his dark shock of hair falling over his face and over the absinthe green of his hooded eyes.When was the last time we’d made love? It seemed so far away, the memory of his large hands running through my hair, his lips following the line of my chest and navel, finding my clit wet and waiting.I shivered, walking to stand over him so that he had to lift his head to stare up at me.“Is it freezing in here or what?” I said airily, wr
ALEXANDERI had left the manor in a rush, chasing the coattails of the idea that had dropped into my head suddenly.My wife’s best friend had said she’d gotten the images from the woman, but she’d never said how.I pushed the headlamps of my eyes back into my head, searching, trying to recollect if Kayla Storm had ever stalked around the manor.Nothing. Save for the argument Darlene had with her in the living area.So who had placed the cameras? Fredrick? No. The little mugwort liked to boast, but I doubted he had the iron balls it took to do something like that.Or the malice. My twin brother was a white lamb trying to be a dark horse. It didn't come naturally to him, not as it did to me.My heart raced in my chest when I realized it could have been Mary. It was the only explanation that made any fucking sense.My father had queried the ground men and the maid servants that worked in the manor.Put them in a nice little lime with a nice little Glock pistol cooling on their temples
DARLENEIt was quiet in the house, for the first time since I’d stepped my maiden feet through the large brass of the front double doors.“Where is everyone?” I whispered hollowly as I braced myself against the rustic red wallpapers of the hallway, my heart thudding strangely in the cages of my ribs as my breath fogged in front of me.Hadn't the maidservants prepared the house heating? Everything was going to shit! Goddamn pesky little more savages couldn't do anything right!I swallowed reflexively, gritting my teeth against the throb of pain twisting at my temples and pushing forward.I hadn't realized I’d been heading for the upper floors.I froze on the creaky wood finish of the upper wing hallway, unable to relax against the feeling of the cool boards under my bare feet. Something was unnerving about the quiet. Something told me today wasn't like the other days, something was menacing about the draft from the overhead air conditioning whistling in the low-lit hallway.Something
ALEXANDERThe shifty-eyed chauffeur was the first person I’d seen who seemed to know something about Kayla Storms' disappearance as he fiddled with the worn rim of his uniform hat.“Lorenzo, was it?” I rasped, letting my eyes follow the dull gold of his uniform name tag before I snapped my gaze back up to catch him nodding the blonde of his buzz-cut head disjointedly, still unable to meet my eyes.What the fuck was wrong with New Yorkers? Everyone was losing their fucking dignity! Pissing their pants at every little inconvenience.God-fucking- dammit! I felt my eyes tighten to small green heads as I watched the rakish-looking man adjust his bony ass on the seat for the hundredth time, a spring of rage bubbling inside me.I hated using the ‘Do you know who I am?’ card, but the gaunt driver was not giving me a lot of fucking options!I glanced at my watch with a measure of impatience, realizing I’d been sitting in the same damned booth for over three hours, discussing the freaking New Y
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