DARLENEThe cherry red door of our cottage house looked bigger than I remembered as I turned into the bracket of our white picket fence.It had been so long since I had been to my father’s house that I felt a twinge of guilt ripple through me as I idled my car in the driveway, inhaling deep breaths before I stepped out to let the car door fall shut noiselessly beside me.“Darlene? I-Is that you?” Dad’s voice came from up ahead and I jerked my head to the sound, catching his white face through the blue-tinted glass of the living room before it disappeared.I couldn't help the smile that broke out on my face as more frantic shuffling came from inside before the door snapped open and the ball of blonde hair came tumbling forward a split second before my sister slammed into me, damned near knocking me clean off my feet.“Oh emm gee! Sis! I've missed you!” Stella squealed, turning her big blue eyes on me so that I could see the tears that lingered there, and my heart sputtered wildly insid
LAURA DIEGOMy eyes were dark when I opened them, glancing about the pitch-black darkness with a choked whimper and believing I had somehow gone to Hades before snapping the thought out of my head. Fast.“Hello?” I screamed, but the sound seemed to stay only in my head, unable to pass through my mouth.I moaned loudly, feeling the tear of what felt like duct tape on my cheek before I managed to scrape one side off, banging my head against the surprisingly low ceiling when I tried to sit and feeling my eyes widened to the size of ping-pong balls.Where the hell was I?I felt my eyeballs twitch violently in my head before the memory of the purple-eyed man rose unbidden in my mind and I let out a frightened gasp, struggling against the band of restraints I could feel digging into my body so that it curled up like a freaking crayfish.“Mmmhph!” I managed to scream through the half-open tape, feeling tears tug at the corners of my eyes as the press of what felt more and more like metal res
ALEXANDERThe ring had not stopped watching me since the chief made his big reveal. I shifted uncomfortably, feeling spigots of sweat spring from my asscheeks and soak through the silky fabric of my pants into the cool leather seat I had balanced on, my eyes fixed unblinkingly on the white screen of the flat screen where the paused video of the masked woman stared back at me.It had to have been clipped from the split second her hesitation made her take a peep at the overhead cameras, the lilt in her body almost identical to Laura Diego.”What is the meaning of this?” I ground through clenched teeth, unclenching the fists that were shaking slightly on my kneecaps.”What do you think? Laura Diego set your wife up for cheating. Poor woman, having a husband so quick to leap to conclusions, exhausting isn't it?” Prince Charles drawled, heaving a long suffering sigh that made it difficult to ignore him. I fantasized briefly about jamming my knuckles through his white, boxy teeth. See how
LAURA DIEGOAlexander caught me easily when I launched myself at him with the last of my strength, letting out a crazed scream as the glass I had broken off from the ring chief’s taillight dug into the flesh of my palms.I bucked wildly, struggling against his iron grip as the din of laughter dulled in my ears, before he shoved me roughly to the side, making me let out a strangled sob. “Is that all you’ve got Edward scissor hands?” He joked, in a voice that sent razor-sharp daggers straight into my plump, cushiony chest.I had not wanted to believe that it was his stark, humorless baritone I had heard as I lay facedown on the carpet.It was impossible! “What were you doing at Du Merges Hotel?” Alexander boomed, and I scooted backward when I saw the hate swirling in his green glare.I struggled to still the wobble in my chin as my heart beat a jagged tune in my chest. My head felt hot, hotter than it had been since I murdered my father in his workshop armchair.I would not let these
DARLENEThe crunch of my fingers working between my teeth snapped me out of my reverie just before the knock came on the window again and I let out a shaky gasp, allowing my eyes to adjust to the stretch of darkness outside the white-washed pane rims.”Hey? Is that you?” I whispered, cautiously moving to the door and hanging my neck over the overhang, not at all feeling like I was peering through the hole of a guillotine that was bound to drop down at any moment.The man had been the only one I thought to call after Alexander had dropped me off at the manor and rushed away into the darkness. The memory of our lovemaking in his car seat made me blush so hard I brought a hand to my cheeks, stumbling back to let the man fall into the cool tiles of our bedroom floor.“Jesus fucking Christ Darlene, fancy keeping a man out in the cold do you? It's about as cold as Elsa’s fucking undergarments outside,” The copper-haired man growled, his almond-shaped eyes flashing with heat as he stretched
LAURA DIEGOI spat out the clumps of blood in my mouth as the wood-walled room whirled and blurred dramatically in my vision.It had taken me longer than I would have liked to realize I wasn't alone, the gray-eyed man with the dark linen of clothes hanging off his lithe, sinewy frame still standing only feet from me, the black plastic of my mobile pressed firmly against his ear.I let out a small breath, surprise choking my frame so that I couldn't call out to the Umbrella Man, and warn him that he was exposing us to the enemy.“Mmmph,” I groaned, sagging against the restraints the man must have put on me when I had been passed out and throwing back my head to meet his emotionless gray eyes as the whirl of the ceiling fan above us grounded.Goosebumps broke across my skin as I watched the man as though seeing him for the first time and letting him watch me too, predator to predator, as though we were sizing up ourselves. There was something wrong with the picture, the rake of a man a
ALEXANDERMy eyes felt like they just about exploded out of their sockets when I saw Darlene pacing around the lobby of my father’s secret penthouse.I fisted my hands by my sides, gritting my teeth when I met Dennis’ sea-green eyes.“Babe? What are you doing here? What's going on?” Darlene’s honeyed voice had gotten octaves high as I felt the rest of the ring members file in around me.I locked eyes with my copper-haired best friend who had an unreadable expression on his face as he stared at the toned form of Prince Charles who had been standing beside me.“What a nice, peachy fucking family reunion, I ought to shoot you where you stand Lucas,” Erwin drawled, leveling the gun with Dennis’ head before I stepped in the shot, making him sneer at me as he hesitated before he lowered the stiff arm.“This isn't fucking divorce court Alexander, your wife can't keep showing up here with outcasts,” Prince Charles growled in a voice that sent shivers down my spine so that I turned to match hi
DARLENE“Is this a bloody joke?” I screamed, feeling my hands shoot into the yellow candescence of the wide, tubular-looking room as the blood pounded hotly in my ears. “Dar please, I can explain all this,” My husband’s baritone was even as usual, but I could sense the undercurrents of panic in the way his voice wavered at the end as I whipped my hair this way and that, trying to register everything I was seeing.There were long winding chains dragging from the low stone ceiling of the cellar, the workbench and gurney at the end of the room with the flickering white of a fluorescent dangling above it made my blood run cold.What had they been doing here? The room was empty, save for the ominous-looking barrels that were piled high in the corner, their deep brown backs throwing off the yellow light.“My God,” I whispered before realizing that I had gasped out loud when the ugly-faced man in the ring chuckled dryly.“Ain't no God here Lassie, count yourself lucky, not everyone who gets