VERNERO POV
"SHE IS DYING!" Valerie's scream jolted me out of my daze pulling me to the moment. My body trembled at the sight of Leigh-Ari who laid limp in our arms, her head cradled in my blood-covered hands."You have to let the paramedics take her." Someone called out pushing me to the side. I robotically stood up and absent-mindedly watched as they strapped Leigh-Ari on the stretcher, rolled it out of the warehouse, and placed her in the back of the ambulance.The heavy sense of nothingness settled heavy on me, numbing everything from the inside. At that time, my heart stopped beating, my mind stopped running, everything stopped and I seized breathing. In that anathematized minute, I was dead. I wasn't living. The fire burning inside me had been extinguished, breaking to the ground the very remaining stem of my being when Leigh's body went limp in our arms.A very weak, tired hand clasped my shoulder,
"Are you coming?" Enzo inquired in a very broken voice. MyHey everyone I am so sorry for the short chapter but that's all I can come up with today. I had an exam today and it took a huge chunk of my energy. I trust you'll enjoy this one, love RARE
LORENZO POV"Sir, you can't go into the ER while the doctors are treating the patient. Kindly wait here and we will get back to you." A very stern nurse called out trying to push me from the doors which were engraved with huge block red letters.I robotically just stared ahead, staring into nothing in particular."Hey..." Someone gently tugged on my shirt, I looked back to find Val looking at me with a very concern-filled stare, she wasn't judging. She was being the stronghold I needed at the very moment."She's is going to be alright. She is a fighter." She informed in a small voice, adding a little bit of smile. I turned my head and looked at the door yet again. Everything just felt so hallucinatory. Nothing about this whole vendetta made sense. It was as if someone had just pulled a cruel prank on us, and I was still recovering from the aftershocks. Or I had been too happy and caught up in the moment forgetting how cruel and unforgiving life actually is.I just cou
BACK IN DARK WOODS RAQUEL POV~~~FLASHBACK~~~I had just left the gym and was on my way to the east wing where my bedroom was. I rounded the corner and my mind drifted back to my lady. Although sometimes she made me want to scream because of how brainless she got, I liked her a lot. I mean just a few days back the mines nearly split her open, and I had just told her not to go into Dark WoodsShe was a very good person, sweet, very kind and so warm. Being around her never made me feel left out and I felt more comfortable with her than any of the girls here in Dark Woods. As a hard clodhopper who only knew how to hold a riffle and burst someone’s brain from at least 3km away, I never really clicked with the models and bikinis and martinis. I was gung ho punk and preferred my things a little way too tight.My lady never made me feel left out or ridiculed me for things I loved. She never, even for a second, made me feel like I needed to be someone around her. She was jus
VERNERO POVThe night is dark and full of terrors!I understood that saying more than anyone could ever fathom. I knew it intimately and felt its meaning in and out. For I have lived it before. One time through my sad hateful life, I breathed in darkness and breathed out terror. I ate darkness and dumped out terror. Darkness broke every ounce of humanity in me, turned it into terror, and made sure it reined all over my body. It took everything from me until I was but the darkness that had swallowed me whole.Lorik Cattanio, the man whom I once looked up to as a father, the one whom I had dreamed of him being my superhero, happened to be my worst nightmare. He was the darkness that took residence in me, snipping every little fiber of my being and replacing it all with maliciousness, remorselessness, the emotionless devil that feasted on the pain and screams of those I had trampled upon.For the very first time since he turned me into this, the sparkle of hope and light ha
LEIGH-ARI POV~~~5 WEEKS LATER~Sitting at the rooftop on the side of the west wing, I looked up at the naked trees that laid ahead, with leaves shed to the ground and the branches stark naked. The forest which was once so dense was now a small boscage, thanks to the mines that nearly ruptured me open. Just the thought of that had me laughing softly. I tugged on my fleece shawl that was draped over my lap, shielding me from the biting cold of the end of November. Winter was finally here, carrying with it the frost that spared none. The little sun in the sky provided the little heat that warmed me up, despite the whir of the cold wind.The past year had been a rollercoaster ride. Once I was just a normal citizen of Cyprus, a good doctor that took pride in saving lives, a friend, and a neighbor. Then suddenly everything went downhill that night I saved a guy, brought him into my apartment, and stitched him back to life. Had I called the police, surely things wouldn't have tur
BONUS CHAPTER 1LORIK POV“I forgive you.” The words charged at me like a sharp dagger that gatecrashed through my heart leaving me breathless. Heat rose from my neck and settled just right above my head, creating a cloud of intense self-loathing that made my ears deaf. With blurred vision, I watched as she slowly sashayed out of the damp dense cellar where I was chained.My eyes followed her movements until she was out of view. My mind reeled with all sorts of thoughts recalling all the evil things I have committed. She had forgiven me, despite everything I had done to her. She forgave me and bathed me clean, after being tortured by my son for how long... Heck, I didn’t even know how long I have in here without food, water, let alone taking a bath. I reeked of death and all the things I have done in my past. Vernero always brought him a small bite of protein bar just to keep me alive, nothing more than that. I was famished, my throat so patched it felt like it was burn
VERNERO POVA wall-shattering scream tore out of my lungs, as my body sunk into a deep bottomless sea of cold water. I watched as the air leave his body, his soul departing with his black eyes still glued to my face. For the very first time since I have known my father, this was the time he looked at me with fatherly love, the one kind I have longed for, for as long as I can remember; and my heart hurt so much. I didn’t understand it! Why did it hurt so bad? Why did I feel weak in the knees for killing him while it has been the one thing that I have dreamed of?Tears streamed down my face as I turned the dagger, eliciting a squelching sound as it tore deeper and deeper through his heart. He was dead already because he wasn’t moving. But his eyes were as open and as clear as day! I screamed! God, I screamed so hard that my cry made the walls of the dungeons tremble.With a very defeated body, I slowly pulled the dagger from him, and then robotically watched as it dropped
LEIGH-ARIThe nauseating stench of burning flesh had reigned through the night in Dark Woods, making my bones clutter and tremble from underneath my skin. I had known this day was to come, I had known very well that he was going to pay for all he has done, and I wasn’t against it! Lorik had it coming!The only thing that unsettled me the most was what his death might do to my boys. I feared for them that they will lose themselves, for as much as it was so weird and very hard to believe, Lorik was their father!Yes they didn’t have the best relationship but the blood ties, that blood running through their veins was Lorik’s, and as much as I wanted to sweep the issue under the rug and be glad he was out of their lives, I was scared. Scared for them; but mostly, scared and terrified for Verzi.I didn't even want to being to think what he was going through when he ended Lorik's life. I didn't want the details, should he want to share with us how he did it then we'd sit besid
LEIGH-ARIA full week has passed since that incident. After receiving the old Verzi in my heart and soul, we had pulled ourselves from the heap of limbs off the floor and took a very steamy shower, things really got heated right away and they were too good to even think about. Fast forward, we made love the whole night and I can tell that the puzzle was complete.And from then on, the change in the boys was very evident. It was as if this whole weight was lifted from them, and they were so light on their feet and bodies. Verzi smiled and laughed often, he was the happiest version of himself, and Enzo, my big guy was also on cloud nine. Lorik had been the force that weighed them down for so long; for so long that they just stopped living, and just existed.And now; things were so different!And because of that, I felt like it was time, I felt like the time was right to tell them what I needed to tell them. With that thought in mind, I called them out to the Tower Loun