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
FREDRICKI had known the woman lying facedown on my bed was dead before I had even touched her.“Fucking hell,” I cursed, swearing loudly before I slammed my hand into the popsicle-shaped lampshade idling at the corner, sending it careening into the rear wall with a loud crash.Not again, I couldn't do this now, not when that fucking detective had his nose buried in our soup like a damn hound dog. “Hey, lady! Wake up!” I hissed, flipping the porcelain-faced woman over with some effort and slapping her cheeks until my palm stung from the effort.It would be a hassle to move her to the underground lot. Goddamn it, It wasn't like I had Mary to do the grunt work for me anymore.“Poor girl,” I tutted, eyeing the woman’s frail neck that was still red with the bite from my teeth. Hickeys. The type I had imagined giving my brother’s wife.I was aware of how much of the line I had scattered under my feet, but it wasn't like I could stop myself.You can't help who you love! If only I had taken