FredrickThere were strangers in the foyer of my father’s grand mansion that I did not want there.The elite of the elite standing around the gold and silver studded foyer of our expansive driveway so that it looked like I was some sporangia admiring the carnage in a shark tank.“If it isn't Frederick McKenzie, the mogul’s little brother, Always a pleasure to see the little ones fostering,” Don Baron laughed coarsely, the stubbled folds of his quadruple chin vibrating so hard I reared back, afraid some animal might leap through the folds onto my crepe gold suit.”Baron, I’m afraid I can't say the same, appears you might have been stuffing more than your face,” I gritted impassively. Letting my eyes rest on the folds of his belly that had sagged so far down from his badly designed monkey- jacket that pressed up against his tree-trunk knees.“Now hold on a minute,” Don Baron stammered, raising one plump index that had reddened worryingly at the tips and I watched as the stout man’s face
ALEXANDER“Who was that?” I asked again, watching the man in the gold suit take his sweet time before turning to stare at me dumbly, a light smirk playing on the full line of his lips.I hadn't seen my wife since the night of our rendezvous, rushing into the party like I was freaking Lara croft raiding a gold-encrusted catacomb.I had gotten sidetracked, in my search for who had invited Kayla Storm to the party, wading in the avalanche of files and employee records I had scattered across the marble-finished floor of my office study.It was unbelievable, there were no records of the buxom dark-haired woman anywhere, not at the head office and not in the study! There were no records of her anywhere, even after I’d cross-referenced her ID pictures on the web.“Fucking hell,” I’d gasped, the mouse stiff under my palm as I sat, blanched as a washed-out olive skin, the plastic of the mouse cold under my palm as I looked at the white screen of the search engine.The pressure that had built
DARLENEI watched the woman’s hands reach out to settle on the lapel of his suit for the second time that night, unable to tear my eyes away from the look of what I was certain was faux innocence on her face.“Dar love? Are you okay? You seem a bit cold,” Laura whispered, breaking away from the circle of giggling women. I snapped my eyes from the handsome man’s profile to meet my best friend’s worried face, her large silver earrings catching my eye as they slapped against her cheeks when she leaned in.Ugh! I hated this, the feel of my heart racing so fast it threatened to break from my chest.Everyone was having fun at the party, drinking, and gossiping, even the occasional fist-throwing I'd been surprised to see at one of the elite’s tables, but here I was freaking lovesick and unable to get as much as two flutes of Bailey’s past the lump in my gullet.”Yeah, Yeah I’m fine, just thinking,” I whispered, managing to arrange my face into a somewhat grateful smile, but it must not have
Alexander McKenzie“W-what do you mean? Your father invited me here,” The dark-haired buxom woman whispered, her lip quivering in just the slightest fashion and my ears started to ring.Why would my father do that? Just what was wrong with the mafia lord?I gave the wide-eyed woman a look of disbelief, feeling the corners of my lips turn down with irritation.“He did! I swear on it! Here, I- I have proof,” She muttered, her voice cracking at the confrontation as she dug hastily in her purse, fishing out the gold-embossed invitation letter my mother had made sure to deliver personally to the invitees.”We’ll goddammit Xander, you are one mighty prick,” Fredrick droned beside me as I tried to reach for the card, my hand stilling at the wonder in his voice before I retracted it.“I can leave if you want me to, I-I really would hate to impose,” Kayla whispered and I squeezed my eyes shut, shaking my head, my hand snaking out to grip her wrist faster than I could think to stop it.She paus
DARLENE BERNARDOThe noise of the siren faded around us as I stood in silence with my husband, what felt like minutes since I’d told him his mother had been poisoned.I watched emotions play across his face, the thick black of his eyebrows scrunching together before his lips twitched violently and he let out a loud, reverberating laugh, keeping over and gripping his stomach like he had been kicked in the shin.What the hell was so funny? I hadn't wanted to admit it, but something about the way he was behaving seemed different.It was almost as though he was disconnected, in a different reality, one where I wasn't his wife.Instead, a stranger who had just told him I had a pet fish who I fancied was Whitney Houston reincarnated.“My god Darlene! Have you gone mad?” He boomed, and I felt the whip of shame land heavily in the middle of my back as I turned to see a few heads angled our way, their searching eyes snapping away quickly when they saw I had caught them looking, but the tilt of
AlexanderI was fucked. Fucked in three different languages.So knee-deep in shit that I might as well have been a shit mausoleum humanoid for all I cared.How could I have hurt my wife so? What had come over me?I remembered the first time it had happened, the lapse. Our first night in the heat of the ring’s operations.My father had introduced us to the roguish-looking men, their dark eyes and thin lips lifting slightly with appraisal before settling back into a blank canvas.It had frightened Fredrick, more than it had frightened me when the killings started. Round-eyed men tortured so badly their skin was hanging on to the sinew of minced muscle by a thread.“Where’s the shipment Quavo?” My father grinned at the muscle man shaking his head wildly, but we had all known it was just a formality. The man couldn't very well speak when his tongue had been seared off.I hadn't even been certain he could hear us until the exposed balls of his red-rimmed eyes rested on me.”Dear God!” Fred
FREDRICK“Stay with me Ma! Stay with me!” I needled, feeling the sting of tears pooling under my eyelids as I jogged along the gurney where my mother tossed and turned mutely.The ride in the ambulance had been hell, sitting stiff-legged like a fucking vegetable unable to do anything!I fisted my hands beside me, my suit hanging limply off my frame as I willed my hands to stop shaking.“That's it, Mr. McKenzie, We’ll take it from here,” The sonorous voice of the doctor came behind eager-looking bright eyes, piercing eyes, and the blue cotton of a face mask.I nodded exasperatedly, feeling beads of sweat gather in my armpits as I watched the statuesque line of my father’s frame still beside me as he inhaled sharply, the ball of cotton in my throat turning to steel.“You were supposed to be watching her Fredrick! What were you thinking?” My father’s hard baritone gritted beside me and I felt my heart bottom out from the seams of my goddamn trousers.“She isn't MY wife, is she? Where the
DARLENEMy hands were still shaking when I got out of the silver Royce Phantom I’d parked hastily on the sidewalk overlooking the private hospital where my husband’s mother was no doubt being looked at.I couldn't stay in the McKenzie mansion a minute longer. I didn't know what I’d do if I saw my husband again, after what he had done, I just couldn't think clearly.I needed space to think!He’d said he was sorry, looked it. But I'd seen the passion in his eyes, If he couldn't control that part of him, his rage, I didn't think there was a future for us.I couldn't think about that though, I had to find out if it was true, if the madam really was poisoned.“Dammit Darlene, don't think like that!” My mother’s voice echoed in my head, making me wince as a stab of guilt twisted in my gut. I had no idea what I would have done if it were her that was poisoned.I’d have lost my marbles too wouldn't I?I sighed, brushing the bush of hair that had fallen from my updo back behind my ears as I