All she wanted, was to say something that would hurt him. Spurred on by the alcohol in her blood and the anger in her heart, she spewed venom at him. “Get over yourself,” she spat at him. “This was never about you!There’s nothing special about you.I randomly choose you that night.It could have been anyone else.Now I wish I had slept with someone else that night!”Audrey regretted the words as soon as the words fell from her mouth. Her hands flew to her mouth, and tears of shame stung her eyes.Lucien stared at her with cold indignation. She’d hurt him, exactly as she wanted to. Who had she become? She had finally had the courage to stand up for herself and expressed her true emotions. But she had to hurt someone to do it. Before she could apologize,he left without a word. “What have I done?” she cried, as she sank to her knees. Violent sobs quaked through her body. What would become of her now? She angered the man who held her life in his hands. He paid her father’s medical bi
“Wake up, sleepyhead,”Tracy sang.Audrey groaned as she opened her eyes and was assaulted by sunlight. Pain throbbed behind her eyes, and each movement brought on a new wave of nausea. “Ugh, I feel like I’ve been hit by a bus,”She remarked. “You look like it,”Tracy teased. “Here, I’ve got you a nice breakfast, a glass of water, and some Tylenol.” “You’re an angel,”Audrey cooed.She began by guzzling down the water and attacked her breakfast.Tracy laughed. “Hungry?” “Starving,”Audrey replied through mouthfuls of food. After she ate her food, and drank the headache pill,she began to feel more like herself. “Thank you.” “You’re welcome,”Tracy smiled. After a few moments, her demeanor changed and she stiffened up a bit. She looked Audrey with concerned eyes. “So last night was wild, huh?” “I…”Audrey didn’t know what to say. She had lied to both Tracy and Becca so much. And for what? She scolded herself. None of it was worth it. “Listen. Some stuff happened, but the bottom lin
Audrey spent the next day moving her things from her old room into her father’s room. She was going to sleep in there now in case her father needed her at night. The room was large enough for her old twin bed.Going through her old things was hard. Among her things were many mementos of her childhood. Photos of her mother, of the three of them together, and some of her mother’s jewelry and clothes, her old toys and baby clothes, and some of her father’s old things from before he let the alcohol take him. Her mother was beautiful.But Audrey felt she didn’t take after her in looks.She looked more like her father. Pieces of a life, long gone and forgotten, were scattered around her.Audrey sobbed for a long time, with the remnants of her happiness strewn about. She set a framed photo of the three of them on a nightstand next to her father’s bed. It was taken on her fourth birthday. Doting parents stood on other side of an happy child with a cake covered face. “Here’s something for y
The world had frozen around her. Everything around her faded away, and the only thing she could see was Megan’shands rubbing all over Lucien.And she had no idea why it affected her so much. She wanted nothing to do with him,and even less to do with Megan.Yet,a vile mixture of anger, hatred and jealously swirled around within her.Audrey’s heart slammed against her ribs, and it felt like there wasn’t enough air in the club. “I need to leave,”She said, turning around to get out. All she could think of was how she needed to escape for her own sanity. Nothing good would come out of any conversation with those two. “Audrey!” Megan called in feigned enthusiasm. “Why on Earth are you leaving? Come over,bring your friends and join us for a drink!” “Counterfeit bitch,” Tracy muttered. “Don’t run from her. It’s what she wants.”Tracy was right, and Audrey had promised her father that she wouldn’t let anyone bully her anymore. She plastered on a fake smile, and turned back around.Trac
Megan still wasn’t ready to back off.For some reason,she liked belittling Audrey. “Oh, poor Aud. Dealing with your emotions the way you were taught to. Taught how to drink the pain away by your good-for-nothing alcoholic—” Tracy slapped Megan with full force. She would not sit there and let this piece of shit demean her friend like this. “You fucking bitch!” Megan screamed. She jumped up and lunged at Tracy.Tracy was ready to fight her, but Mark jumped in between them. “Don’t you dare touch my girl,” Mark warned. “Sit the fuck down.” Megan pretended to be hurt, and pouted to Lucien. “Why are they all ganging up on me? I haven’t done anything!” “Oh, shut up, Meg,”Audrey snapped, feeling brave from her buzz. “Maybe you need a glass of ‘mind your damn business’. Stop worrying about me. Or at least stop pretending to. That one right there,” she pointed at Lucien. “You think he’ll be good to you? He’s only looking out for himself. When he’s tired of you, he’ll just move on t
Audrey was more baffled than ever. Lucien had spent most of the night insulting her and letting Megan paw all over him. He had even alluded to the fact that he had slept with her. It genuinely seemed like he was enjoying her company.Then he just abandoned Megan,followed Audrey out of the club, and gave her a new apartment.Lucien’s mind was a maze that no one would ever know how to escape from. What did he want from her? This day just wouldn’t end. Lucien glowered at her, wondering why she hadn’t moved a muscle. “What are you waiting for?”Lucien asked waving his hand in her face.Audrey snapped out of her trance. “Do you want me to go in there with you?” He suggested with a smirk.Audrey’s face went bright red, she mumbled something incoherent and dashed into the bathroom. She could hear Lucien laugh as she shut the door. The bathroom was as lovely as the rest of the apartment. It wasn’t as lavish at the one in the hotel, but it was still grander than any she’d ever had. There wa
I’m not drunk,” Tracy declared her words slurring together. “But Meg is blacked out. She tried to fool everyone, but she’s back there so drunk. Ha! Tried to lie, talking about how she doesn’t drink. I don’t think she’ll bully you anymore. I won’t allow it!” She stepped forward and pulled Audrey in for a giant hug. “I have avenged you!” She shouted with a triumphant smile. “Friends don’t get much better than you,” Audrey said. Her friends were the only good thing she had in her life. “They sure don’t!” Tracy yelled, throwing her hands in the air. “Best friends forever!” “Babe,” Mark said, turning Tracy around to face him. “Drink some water. Don’t want you feeling sick tomorrow.” He brought a glass of ice water to Tracy’s lips. He dabbed the corners of her mouth when she was done, and kissed her. Audrey had noticed it earlier that night when Tracy had punched him. They were together for such a short a time, but it was clear that Mark was love-struck. He looked at Tracy like she wa
Audrey looked away. She was getting tired of these games he was trying to play with her, but she wouldn’t give in to him. The bus would come soon, and she could get away from them. She turned her face away from them refusing to give them the satisfaction of her attention.Can’t he just be with Megan without shoving it in her face?It felt as if he was purposely trying to torture her.Lucien looked up to try and intimidate Audrey some more, but saw that she was looking away. He looked at her profile, and saw a face he wished he could forget. “This is annoying,” he said, backing off of Megan. “Lucien, baby,” Megan whined trying to get him to resume. “I thought we were going to give them a show. “Get off of me,” he shrugged her off. “I am not your ‘baby’,” he hissed at her. “Besides, you’re drunk.” “But Lucien,” Megan reached over to touch him. “I said, get off.”Audrey was so thrown off by his behavior. Not ten seconds ago he was trying to put on some kind of show for her. A
NEARLY TEN YEARS LATER….Lucien came to a halt in front of a school,he sometimes come to get the kids from school,sometimes Audrey does that or their driver.He got down from his car and saw them approaching,all three of them.Louis ran up to him excitedly.Lucien caught him and carried him on his arms.“How was school today?”Lucien asked.“It was fine.”His eldest child,Bella replied with a broad smile.He gave Braylon,his second child who was seven years old a fist bump as they got into the car.***********Lucien hurried around the kitchen,Audrey was busy with work today so he had wanted to take care of the children,feed them and put them to sleep before she comes back home so that when she gets back,she can have a good rest…well a good rest after they finish making love.He was preparing pasta for the kids and he knew he had to make it perfect,otherwise,Braylon would complain and tease him for days.Audrey has been busy these past couple of days but she promised to make it up to him
“What does that even mean?”“He had a strange obsession with Lucien. Everything Lucien did, he wanted to do. Everything Lucien had, he wanted to have. There was one year that he intentionally matched everything Lucien wore. He used to tell everyone that they had the same middle name. He even started talking to another girl in our class named Mia just because that was Lucien’s girlfriend’s name. I never liked him.”“Lucien never noticed this?”Mark let out a long, heavy sigh.“What you need to understand about Lucien, especially at that age, is that he was hungry for validation. Starving for it. If anything, all that strange attention made him feel important. To be perfectly honest, there may even be a good chance he didn’t even notice it. He was so wrapped up in Mia… his world didn’t have capacity for anything else.”Audrey felt small for a moment.“He really loved her, didn’t he?”Mark glanced at her for a moment and noted the sadness in her eyes.“He thinks he did. That wasn’t love,
“We saw that sexy ass car out here, and Nathan got the keys to go move it,” another young officer explained with tears in eyes and panic in his voice. “We all wanted… we all wanted to see. But when he turned the key… when he turned the key…” the young man sobbed. “Some people were too close and got caught in the explosion.”Captain Whitlock looked over at Lucien.“I think you were already bait and didn’t even know.”It was as though he was moving through sand. Nothing registered. Nothing clicked. Not the unnatural metal of the handcuffs as they tightened around his wrists. Not the officers’ angry voices as the read him his rights, or the rough hands that pushed and shoved him into a cell. Not when those cell doors slid home with a loud, echoing clang. Captain Whitlock tried to stop the way they were mishandling him. But they had lost one of their own. A young man who was vibrant and full of life, at the beginning of his career.Another one. Because of me?“I get one phone call. I need
Lucien’s eyes flashed up at the captain, filled with anger and anguish.“She contacted me while I was in Italy,” he almost snarled.“After you and Audrey had just been married?” Captain Whitlock raised an eyebrow.“Don’t judge me. There were… circumstances about that marriage. Either way, I didn’t want to see her. But she said that she needed someone to keep her from… Hurting herself.”The irony. She had run to him once to prevent that. But in the end, she had forced him to witness it. His eyes were dark and stony as he fought to keep his emotions in check. Part of him wanted to give in. To breakdown and just give in to himself. Anything to make these feelings go away forever.Captain Whitlock softened as he realized what was going on in Lucien’s mind.“Sorry. Why was she seeking such an intense escape?”“She was running from him. She said their marriage was in shambles and that things had gone horribly wrong, that he was cheating on her.”“That was it? He wasn’t hurting her?”“She sa
“Philip Carson”The name hung in the air between them, like a two-ton brick. After all this time, Ghost had a name. Now the hunter, could become the hunted.“Holy shit,” the captain fell back into his chair. All the air left his lungs. “That punk? That punk is Ghost?”“You know him?” Lucien’s eyes almost fell from his head.“I had him. Right here in this office years ago,” Captain Whitlock seethed. “Right there!” he shouted and kicked his chair across the room. “Ghost was right there!”“What the hell for?”“That piece of shit kid was always getting into trouble. Vandalism, petty theft, property theft, arson… all kinds of stuff. Typical spoiled rich boy shit. No offense. I always knew that kid was disturbed. He had no remorse for anything. The only thing he ever regretted was getting caught”“This was before he became Ghost obviously.”“Well, yes. But do you know that this means?”“What?”“It’s insanity. It’s the most oversimplification of anything that has ever happened.”“What?” Luci
He began spending most of his time at the building. “Command” they’d been calling it. Eugene and Mia couldn’t be trusted. The first prisoner,Racheal…Rebecca … whatever her name was, was being beaten even though he had given explicit instructions that she was not to be touched. And Mia could not at all be trusted with the other one. God, what was that one’s name? Ava? Avery? It was something with an “A”he was certain. Either way, it didn’t matter. They had to keep them both alive and the two overly emotional idiots he was working with were going to mess it up.Lucien was supposed to do a press conference and announce that he was relinquishing the company over to his cousin. The press conference was Eugene’s idea. He wanted a public take down and humiliation of his cousin. He was all for anything that made Lucien suffer. This plan wasn’t going to work. But he was interested to see how it would unfold.They planned to watch the press conference together. After it, his plan was to slink
His life had become a tunnel and the only light at the end of it was the demise of Lucien. It was the driving force in his soul. It was the pulsing his blood. His first meeting with Eugene set his plan back into motion. There was no improvising. Without even realizing, Lucien had been slipping through his fingers like fine sand. Always just beyond his reach. But this time he would get inside of Lucien’s world and destroy him from within.He kept a close watch on Lucien’s personal life. It seemed Mia had run back to marry him as he had anticipated. What he didn’t anticipate was the wrath it fueled in him. It was interesting. It had been so long since he felt any real emotion that it caught him off guard. Ever since he’d killed his father, it was as though he’d murdered his own feelings as well. Other than hate, nothing else lived within him. He often wondered why he even continued to do anything. He did have to admit that he was chasing the thrill of that first kill. Nothing ever seeme
“I told you not to get involved with her. Her father is my rival, and he has been encroaching on our territory. This,” he indicated the dead woman. “is a message.”“I loved her!” he screamed back, cradling her corpse in his arms.“You loved the other one too.”“This was different,” he cried. “She was pregnant! You killed my woman and my baby! We were going to tell you tomorrow night at dinner!”“Then I did you a favor. Children are a weakness, and you aren’t strong enough yet.”“Not strong enough?” he saw red. The vestiges of whatever humanity he had left dissipated. All that was left behind was anger and a thirst for vengeance. All the warmth left his soul. There was nothing left now. Nothing except an abyss with no end. He leveled his own gun at his father. “No one is stronger than me.”“Son, be careful.” His father’s eyes went wide. He dropped his gun and threw up his hands. He walked backwards slowly, like an animal being cornered by a predator. “You’re overly emotional right now.
Once she made the mistake of asking him what he and his father did. He brandished a gun and held it to her chest. To her immense relief, it wasn’t loaded. But she found that out only after he fired it. Bone aching terror was all she knew. Whatever life she had was almost gone. The only thing that was left was the memory of Lucien.Being with him was the last time she felt happy and safe. She clung onto the memories, and they were the only things keeping her afloat. Life was a nightmare and she just wanted to sleep.He knew he should have been treating her better. He knew that, but he just couldn’t seem to care. They were in love once. Or perhaps they just thought they were. The truth was that he was an escape to her. An escape from a life she thought she didn’t want. It was obvious that she wanted out. But his one issue was who she wanted to run to. He’d let her go if he knew that she wasn’t going back to him, back to Lucien.He refused to lose to him. So, as long as he knew she would r