LILLYPain. Its intensity made me unable to tell where it was coming from. I could still feel his rage and hatred—Kenneth's hatred. He used his fists to imprint those feelings on my skin. I tasted that hatred as I swallowed blood—my blood. I heard it in the cracking bones of my shoulder and ribs. He said that he wanted to talk. He lied. He followed me around, waiting for the right moment to kill me. He almost did. He would have. I would have died if he hadn't been stopped.It hurt. It hurt so much, I wanted it to end. But then I heard a voice that didn't belong to Kenneth… I heard that I was safe. Darren saved me. He came for me. How did he know where to find me? How did he know that I needed to be saved? He turned out to be my guardian angel… again. I would have smiled if smiling hadn't hurt so much.I was slowly regaining consciousness… or so I thought. The pain now became dull, less overwhelming. I heard sounds and voices, but it was hard to distinguish them, so I focused on what I
I had stayed in the hospital for over two weeks. My father and uncle insisted on it. I accepted it only because I saw how freaked out my father was. I saw genuine guilt in his eyes. The fact that he hadn't been there to protect me nearly killed him. I would have done anything to soothe that guilt and fear. For that, I had reluctantly become an exemplary patient and stayed in bed… or at least tried.After two weeks, the bruises were almost gone, but the previously dislocated shoulder still limited my movements. My two broken ribs were nearly healed, and drawing a deep breath was no longer painful. Those who came to visit me said that I looked as if I had almost recovered. And I had… superficially.“Maybe I should get you a wheelchair?” Callan suggested half-teasingly.I glared at him. “If you say that one more time, I swear to God, you're going to need a wheelchair yourself.” He laughed and raised his hands in surrender. “I'm merely trying to make you feel comfortable. I don't want y
I wasn't exactly sure what made me say yes to Darren's offer. Perhaps deep inside, I was begging for a change—a physical change as much as a mental one. There was also a chance that a part of my wicked brain wanted to see Darren more often—a covered-in-sweat Darren, possibly shirtless. What I hadn't realized then was that Darren wasn't going to be the one training me. He sent me to his trainer, Kaito Harada, instead. Mr. Harada turned out to be a polite gentleman in his late fifties. At our first meeting, he showed up wearing an elegant gray suit, which efficiently covered the fact that he had been honed to become a killing machine. We talked over coffee, and he warned me that the training would be hard and sometimes painful. I decided to trust him. I foolishly thought then that, after surviving Kenneth's attack, I could endure his training with ease. Well, he proved me wrong. After our first session at his gym, I could hardly move a muscle. Our second, third, and fourth sessions bro
His lips were the sweetest reward I could receive after an exhausting training session. I took them greedily, forgetting about the danger as soon as I felt their heat. He felt my hunger and let me feel his as he entered my lips smoothly. Wave after wave, heat traveled down and coiled between my thighs. He deepened the kiss, and I did nothing to stop him from exploring me, on the contrary, I urged him to go beyond those semi-cautious caresses. I knew he wanted to. I could feel the solid proof of that want pressing against my lower belly.I moaned against his lips, struggling to free myself from his firm grip. I wanted to touch him, to feel him, to pull him closer. He broke our kiss smoothly and released a shaky breath. “If we move farther than this, I won't stop. I will have you naked on this mat, and I will devour you inch by inch. I will have you screaming my name as I pound into you.”My breath caught in my throat. My body screamed, eagerly submitting to his shameless proposal, but
DARREN“Have you gone completely insane?!” Lucien slammed the table with his fist. “Why the fuck did you go there?!” He leaped to his feet and refilled his whiskey glass, deciding that he hadn't drunk enough to handle what I had just told him. Looking at him, I thought that maybe I could use another drink as well.“I wanted to see her. I needed to know that she's getting better.” I told him the truth—a part of it. “Besides, you wanted me to get close to her. I DID get close to her.”“Close to fucking her,” Lucien corrected, his fists opening and closing as he returned to the sofa. “Do me a favor and fuck her after we get any reasonable information. You remember what the plan was about, don't you?”I pinched the bridge of my nose. “She was a mess, Lucien. I'm not sure if she mended herself completely even now. I won't tell her to dig out something that can break her even further.”His brows rose. “So what now? Do you want to give up on our only chance to get some real evidence?”I glar
Holloway met my gaze and smirked. Chuckling under his breath, he smoothed the lapels of his navy suit jacket and sauntered over to me. “Why am I not surprised to see you here?" He gave me a measured look.I gave him a cold smile. “Isn't it normal for a clever businessman to seize a good opportunity? That is, of course, if you know what to do with a clinic like Lambert's.”Callan huffed out a laugh. “Oh, I'm going to turn this place into a fine facility. I will send you an invitation for the reopening.”“How generous of you.” I held his stare. “Perhaps I'll ask Lilly to come as my partner.”Callan's lips peeled back, teeth flashing in a snarl. “Stay away from her, or I will make you.”My brows rose. “Was that supposed to sound like a threat?”He stepped closer. “You have no idea what I am capable of.”“I don't know and do not exactly care.” I watched the rage heating his skin and tensing his jaw while I kept my emotions behind a stone-cold wall.“You should,” he bit out.A cold smirk t
LILLY I hadn't talked to Callan for more than a week. He called me twice, but I pretended to be busy. Certainly, I had a lot of work to do, but I could have found an hour or two for lunch if I wanted to. This wasn't stalling for time. The more I thought about it, the more I felt that, for now, I didn't want him anywhere near me. This wasn't what I needed. Nonetheless, this was yet another issue I could add to the pile of complicated things around me. It took me a few more days before I decided that I needed someone to talk to about my messed-up life. Raven took me to a pub run by her friend, Joffrey. The pub was full when we got there, but as a friend of the owner, she got us a table on the balcony, far from the crowd and nosy people. I started talking as soon as our drinks arrived, and I seriously needed alcohol. That night, I told her everything. I finished describing my screwed-up situation with my father's involvement in Darren's father's death, including what I had found in my
DARRENTwenty Minutes EarlierThe phone's buzzing sound dragged my attention away from the laptop screen. I wondered who had the guts to call me at two in the morning. Every second of that buzzing signal triggered more and more annoyance. When I finally reached for the phone, I was already planning the caller's slow and painful death, but then I saw the caller ID…“Lilly?” I rasped, answering.There was a pause. “Are you Darren?” It was a female voice, one I did not recognize.My brows knitted. “You are not Lilly. Who are you, and why do you have her phone?”She giggled. “I'm Lilly's friend, Raven.”“And where is she?”“She's here… but she can't talk right now.”I drew a slow breath. “And you are calling me because?”“Lilly's… um… She's asleep, and I cannot carry her to the cab,” she said.I muttered a curse. “Then maybe you should wake her up?”“You should come here and help. We're in Little Joffrey's Pub. You live nearby, right?”Maybe I was too surprised by her straightforwardness
LILLY Four Months Later “One more signature at the bottom, Ms. Hayes.” The smiling lawyer pointed at the empty dotted line on the last page. “Of course.” I drew a deep breath and signed my name where he wanted me to. Then I rose to my feet, and so did the man sitting in front of me—Doctor John Pearson. “Congratulations,” he said, not without a hint of sadness in his voice, before extending his hand toward me. “The clinic is officially yours.” “Thank you, Doctor Pearson. I promise I will take good care of this facility,” I told him. A soft smile appeared on his lips. “I do not doubt that you will.” I still couldn't believe it happened. John Pearson Clinic—soon Lillian Hayes Clinic—finally belonged to me. Of course, it was going to take a while before I would implement my plan and make the necessary changes, but I was already madly excited… and so was Raven. “I've never been friends with my boss before.” She chuckled, catching me as soon as I walked out of the meeting room where
DARRENI didn't want to believe what that son of a bitch had told me. I had to trust that Lilly was alive. Nonetheless, after Almarri's confession, I told Chris to leave the room. I gave Almarri a moment to recollect himself until I beat the shit out of him, breaking at least five of six of his bones in the process. He was still breathing until I left the room. Chris had friends in the CIA, and we promised to try delivering Almarri to them in exchange for covering whatever was going to happen at his casino. It took most of my willpower to stop myself before I delivered the final blow. It had nothing to do with being merciful; Chris assured me that the CIA had no intention of granting him anything but torment.Once I wiped Almarri's blood off my knuckles, I stormed through the long corridors. I swore that I would find Lilly, and only seeing her lifeless body would have stopped me from burning everything in my way to get to her.Chris caught me at the end of one of the corridors. “We ch
LILLYI couldn't move. My body's exhaustion turned opening my eyes into an almost unbearable struggle. It took me a while before I lifted my eyelids and instantly winced at the light filling the room. I blinked several times before I established what I was looking at… Ceiling. A bright, well-lit ceiling.I needed an additional minute or two to acknowledge that this wasn't a dream. I was lying on a bed with an IV drip connected to my arm. The bed had multiple pillows and fluffy sheets, as if someone cruelly decided to give me a moment of questionable luxury before turning me into a slave.Another white cotton dress replaced the old, stained one. My body had been cleaned from all the sweat and dirt. I didn't have the strength to wonder who bathed me and dressed me. I felt violated enough without acknowledging how many hands touched my body.I could have died. Perhaps it would have been a blessing if that had happened. Now I was lying numbly on a bed, waiting for more torment to come. Sl
DARREN I paced around the hotel room in Doha, waiting for Naila to arrive and deliver what she promised. The adrenaline kept pumping in my veins, increasing the restlessness that kept me awake the entire night. Unlike me, Lucien was napping on the sofa whenever he found a moment of silence. I couldn't even close my eyes without seeing Lilly locked up somewhere, tormented, scared… “God…” I dragged my hands down my face before glancing at the time. It was seven in the morning, which meant that we had fourteen hours before the auction started. I kept telling myself that they needed her alive and unharmed to sell her, but what if I was wrong? Those what-ifs were driving me insane, and I couldn't shake off the feeling that, even at that moment, she was greatly suffering. The soft knocking on the door snapped my head toward it. Lucien's opened his eyes and instantly leaped to his feet. He nodded my way and cautiously opened the door. Naila silently sneaked inside, and he closed it behind
I lost count of how many times I had been stabbed with a needle, and I wasn't sure my veins could withstand another injection. I quickly realized how pathetic my relief was after Callan told me I wouldn't be beaten, cut, or burned. The torture he had designed for me went far beyond the physical pain…Every inch of my body burned from within. My blood turned into a living flame, scorching my veins. My skin covered with an itching rash I couldn't scratch. It lasted for hours. I didn't want to give Callan satisfaction, so I remained silent, biting my lips until they bled. But the third or fourth dose of the drug broke the final restraint… A scream tore through my throat, and I kept screaming until my vocal cords gave up. I quietly begged Callan to stop. I thought he would if I told him I was ready to give him what he wanted. I thought that if I pretended I wanted to cooperate, he would give my tormented body a break… He didn't. He just walked closer and served me another drug dose.I los
LILLY“Wake up, sleepyhead.” The voice I heard filled me with nausea, and the soft laughter that followed sent chills down my spine.Slowly, I opened my eyes, blinking until the sight adjusted to the dim light. Every inch of my body felt sore, and I quickly realized why. I was sitting on a chair with my legs tied with a rope to its wooden ones and my hands restrained at the back. Another rope was tied around my waist, keeping me in a still position most likely through the long hours I had been unconscious.I was cold. The freezing concrete hurt my bare feet with the slightest touch and the simple cotton dress resembling a cheap nightgown formed no barrier against the low temperature and humidity of the room I was in. I didn't even want to think who dressed me and if I was naked underneath…Drawing a shaky breath, I looked to the sides. This place must have been some kind of a basement. The room seemed to be nearly empty, or at least I couldn't see any furniture from my limited perspec
DARRENMy lungs filled with a greedy push of air. My eyes opened wide and roamed around, hectically trying to process my situation. The car, I was inside the car… My car was upside down, and I…Everything hurt, including my weak attempts to breathe, but I knew I had to ignore the pain. I had to live. I had to get out of there.My consciousness gathered the pieces of memory together. Someone had rammed me, pushing me off the road while I had been driving to the residence. The fuckers had chosen a part of a perfectly secluded road to do it. Perhaps it was fortunate that they hadn't been as thorough as to check whether I had been dead or not.My limbs weren't broken, although at least one of my ribs was. I clenched my teeth and crawled out through the broken side window. My car lay in a ditch on the side of the road, with not a single building around.How long had I been out cold? The returning memories painted an ominous picture that slowly filled me with dread. Lilly had been waiting f
LILLYIt had been three days since Uncle Norton's funeral and the fight with my father. My heart still ached whenever I thought about it, but I finally felt that my chest had loosened, allowing me to breathe.Darren's presence had become my remedy. His touch and warmth soothed me, healed me, and filled the hollowness that appeared after Uncle Norton's death. I didn't even want to think about what I would have become without having him close.Since the danger had become more palpable than ever, each member of my team was assigned their own security team. Of course, Darren organized two new bodyguards for me as well. I hadn't protested, even if I hated buying groceries accompanied by two men in black suits.My mood significantly improved after Kenneth's and Doctor Rogers's trials finally ended. Kenneth had been sentenced to fifteen years in prison for assault and attempting murder, and another five years for terminating the pregnancy against my will. For all his deeds, Rogers received t
DARRENI found Lilly sitting in the precinct's corridor, staring down at her hands that limply rested on her lap. Dried blood covered the sides of her palms and fingertips. My chest tightened as I saw her in her numb state. I rushed forward, pushing through the policemen standing in the way, until I pulled her up from her seat and wrapped her in my arms. Only then did she start crying, and her tears kept falling long after I brought her back to the penthouse.Rage filled every inch of me. I wanted to kill everyone responsible for Lilly's state. If only I could get to New York sooner. If only I could somehow prevent this, protect her better, spare her from the pain and anguish...I left Lucien in Qatar to deal with our end of the bargain with Naila. He wasn't happy about it, but I gathered enough people and resources for him to plan a flawless rescue mission. Getting Naila's brother out of Almarri's residence wasn't going to be easy, but I knew that Lucien would figure out how to do it