by G N Wright
I have dreamt of that moment more than I care to admit. Having Elle snuggled into me with my arms tight around her. That is how it should be every night. Her here with me, laying in my arms, my clothes on her back. Fuck, my clothes. I thought seeing her in that tight black dress was bad enough but when she emerged from the bathroom covered with my hoodie and sweats, fuck I have never seen her look so fucking perfect.
I knew when the sun came up so would her walls, she didn’t even lower them last night, just allowed me a peak over the top. I want nothing more than to smash them down with my bare firsts until every brick is destroyed. Only then will I be genuinely happy.
She is hiding something, and it has to be something big, but I can’t see any secret changing the way I feel about her. I don’t care about her connection to Elliot Donovan or to my father. I don’t care that she left without looking back and I don’t care that she trusts one of my brothers with her secrets but not me.
None of that matters. The only thing that matters is that she is here now, and I will do whatever it takes to keep her. Whatever she is hiding won’t do anything to change the way I feel about my little King.
I stand and stretch out my muscles which are tight after spending the night on the lounger, but I would sleep on concrete if it meant spending a night with Elle. I head back into the loft and find it empty which isn’t unusual for a Saturday morning, we are always busy on the weekends.
I have some work to do so I grab a quick cup of coffee to wake myself up after only sleeping a couple of hours and then hit the gym for an hour. Once I’m finished, I shower and throw on a shirt and some smart pants, not my usual attire but I have some legitimate business to deal with today. I head to the garage and bypass my bike and jump into the rarely used black Porsche I have parked here. Not my style but suits driving round the North Side. I glide out of the garage and head on my way until I enter the other halves territory.
I hate being on this bullshit side of town. Everywhere I look I see overpriced crap and the people who think their shit don't stink with their noses up in the air so they can look down on everyone. The only reason I come to this side of town is to visit the bank to make deposits into one of our many accounts.
It’s lunchtime on a Saturday so the streets are bustling with people and its irritating as fuck. I am walking to my car when I see the flash of blonde I'd know anywhere in my peripheral. I turn to see Elle gliding across the sidewalk with a man who has his arm around her. He looks vaguely familiar, but I can’t place him, he’s early 20’s and he is clearly well off, I can see his Rolex from here. They are making their way towards a blacked-out SUV similar to Linc’s as a couple of obvious bodyguards follow closely behind in their signature black suits.
They wait until they are both in the car before they both jump into the front seat. I don’t know why but I follow them. Fuck I'm like a fucking creeper stalker right now but my gut is telling me something ain't right. She snuck out of my house at dawn because she clearly had plans with someone else and I am going to find out who.
I follow them to North Hill, of fucking course he lives here but is this where Elle lives, is this where she has been all this fucking time. The unease in my chest is suffocating, I have been so caught up with her leaving and her relationship with Asher Donovan that I never stopped to think there could be someone else.
My car is quick and allows me to slip in the gate behind them and cut into the trees without anyone noticing me. I follow them closely just inside of the tree line until a big house comes into view. It's one of the only houses on North Hill I am not familiar with as we never frequented it when I lived here.
I stop my car and get out moving to cover myself with a tree from their view until they pull up in front of the house. The guards open the doors letting Elle and the mystery man out before they all start pulling bags from the trunk. Elle’s laugh hits my ears and as the guy reaches out and pulls her into his arms, I see red.
I stalk from the trees with long strides, “I fucking knew it,” I roar and all four of them turn to me. The guards immediately draw their weapons and aim them at me before Elle screams.
“No stop!” she tells them as they look to her and the man and he nods.
I shake my head as I move towards them slowly, “You asked me to trust you and I did but here you are with some fucking rich cunt playing house,” I snort.
The guy looks both concerned and annoyed and it just pisses me off more as I appraise him closely and then I tut as I look back at her.
“I guess I should have listened when you said only rich cocks do it for you, huh King?”
“Watch yourself,” the man snaps at me showing no emotion and I laugh stepping closer until I’m almost level with them, yet he doesn’t even flinch.
“Don’t worry, man, I’m done here,” I look to Elle. “You're still the same lying slut I thought you were.”
“Zack no!” Elle shouts. The punch comes out of nowhere and it's hard enough to knock me on my ass which in itself is impressive.
I wipe the blood from my lip and smirk as I stand and Elle steps closer to me but before she can say anything and try to worm her way out of this I speak first.
“Does the lover boy here know where you were last night?” I ask smugly.
“Marcus don’t do this please,” she begs.
“What is he talking about Elle?” mystery man questions.
“Nothing, Z,” she snaps quickly at him and I smile big. I grip her and slam her back against the car in quick movements as I whisper in her ear loud enough for him to hear.
“Does he make you as wet as I do,” I ask, and she visibly cringes.
“Fucking Christ,” he says as he grabs me off her and throws me to the floor with minimal effort which again is impressive.
“I’m her brother you dumb fuck and if you put hands on my sister again you will fucking regret it,” he seethes at me and I can see no trace of a lie on his face.
I am momentarily stunned as the word brother flashes in my brain like a neon sign. Brother? What the fuck? Elle doesn’t have a brother but as I look back to her she seems in total agreement with him. What the fuck am I missing here? I stand and dust myself off as the man she called Zack stands back slightly but close enough to step in again if he feels necessary.
Elle moves to the side of the car, so she has her back to the house and looks up at me with those baby blue eyes.
“You really are keeping all the secrets, ey?”
“Marcus I really can’t do this right now,” she stresses to me, and I can see she means it, she seems on edge and it just pisses me off more.
“What’s the matter, don't want the dirty South Side Rebel in your big fancy house? Scared I might steal something?”
“Marcus, it’s not like that I swear. I just can’t do this here, please!” She is pleading with me now.
“Oh yeah then enlighten me, princess, what’s it like?” I throw Jaces nickname for her in her face but before she can answer the front door to the house opens and a little girl comes bursting towards us excitedly.
“Mommyyyy,” she shouts happily and Elle recoils, her face shattering right before my eyes as I look around to see who the little girl is talking to before I look back at her.
A perfect carbon copy of the beautiful girl in front of me comes towards us and it’s then I realize she is speaking to Elle.
Elle looks at me in utter defeat before she relaxes her face and turns to the girl and scoops her into her arms as she leaps at her. She brushes the hair off her face and drops a kiss to her forehead.
"Hey, my sweet girl. I was just coming to find you."
"Grandpa took me for ice cream!"
"Wow, he did? That's awesome," Elle looks to me and I can see the love and adoration she has for this girl, yet I can also see the sadness lingering there. This is why she has been trying to keep her distance from me, she didn’t want this to happen. The girl finally realizes I'm standing there as her intrigued eyes find mine and I'm ready to feel like an awkwa
rd out of place jerk when her face changes to recognition.
"River," she screeches my nickname and struggles to get down from Elle’s arms as she barrels towards me and captures her arms around my legs. I have no idea how she knows me, and I can think of no words to say to her.
I look around at the guards, her brother and I see an older man and woman approaching behind the little girl, all wearing the same apprehensive expression. I look back to Elle and our eyes lock and I am stunned into silence.
Elle takes a deep breath before she confirms the obvious, “Marcus, this is my daughter, Cassie.”
Who knew six words could break my heart and change everything?
TO BE CONTINUED…
Thank you for reading the first part of Elle and Marcus' story.
They will return in the second book of the Black Hallows Series
Revenge of a Queen
Preorder now: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08MKNJ28F
I hope you enjoyed it and are looking forward to more.
If you enjoyed it then I would love you forever if you could take a couple of minutes to review it for me.
Acknowledgement
Firstly, I would like to say thank you to my husband just for putting up with my annoying, crazy arse. I love you and our little nug.
Sammie you know there aren't enough words to tell you how thankful I am for you. My LA beta, vibe buddy and unofficial editor. Thank you for pushing me to do this and being there for every 'trash tree' meltdown I had over the past few months. I could not have done this without you girl! Oh, and I hereby agree that Asher is officially your book boyfriend!
Shaunna thank you for giving me tips and telling me ‘you can do better than this’ and ‘give me more’ because it really helped. Oh, and thank you for giving me your formatting wisdom!
To my betas Brianna, Laura and Dean. You guys are the bomb and your comments and love on the book are beyond appreciated.
Finally, to the readers however many of you there may be. I hope this book gets a place in your heart and you find your next boyfriend amongst my guys.
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