Wicked Hearts - A Dark Stepbrother Bully Romance (Wicked Hearts At War Book 1)

by Mallory Fox

  I’m not sure if the gadget Levi gave me will work but I plug it into the USB port anyway and turn it on. I’ve no idea what I’m looking for, evidence I suppose. Anything that will help me. Of course, without special hacker skills I find sod all. I do download the laptop camera hacking software Levi gave me onto the machine and then put it back in it’s case, exactly how I found. I’ll have to find a way to slip it into his bag at college tomorrow.

  How am going to do that fuck knows.

  But I’m going to try.

  The next morning, it takes the police less than an hour to turn up to lectures and arrest Gladstone. Lucky for me I was wearing my miniature reporter camera as a test when Davis assaulted me. It was no trouble to pop into the local police station and make a statement.

  My new lawyer, Genevieve Berger, handles everything perfectly, just as Levi said she would. It’s as much as I expect for the amount of money I’m expected to pay her.

  The look Davis gives me as he is hauled away though,… priceless.

  I almost forget about Claudine. When she appears at the end of the last lecture, waiting for me in the hall, I can’t ignore her. It’s good to see that Denise and Jennifer aren’t hanging out with her anymore.

  “You think you’re untouchable, don’t you now you’re dating a gangster? Getting Davis arrested was a low blow.”

  “Actually, it’s you who thinks you’re untouchable. Did you think you’d get away with spiking my drink? Helping Davis to rape me?” I say sweetly, offering her a plastic smile.

  “I did nothing of the sort.”

  “She did what?” Seth is at my side within seconds, jaw tight, blue eyes blazing. The looks he’s giving Claudine are so heated I’m afraid she might combust

  I did speak up, loud enough so everyone in the hallway could hear. I have no proof but maybe having her outed will be enough to get her off my back.

  “If you come near her ever again…,” Seth says. His is jaw clenched so tight I’m afraid he’s going to crack some teeth.

  “It wasn’t me. I swear I didn’t do anything…”

  “Seth, enough.”

  He follows me as I walk away from the crowd. I should have known Seth’s trigger is protection. He’s a born alpha, a man who needs to save a damsel in order to feel fulfilled. It’s actually been fun these last two or three times having him rescue me.

  Although, only one of those times I probably did need rescuing.

  “Pearl, wait.”

  I turn to him. “What?”

  “Are you alright?”

  My brows shoot up, they can’t quite stay down. Seth, you’re the one who’s been hurting me the most. I pat the front of his chest, breathing in the scent of him.

  “Don’t worry about me. It’s nothing I can’t handle.”

  You’re nothing I can’t handle.

  Chapter 19

  Pearl

  After a day of working at the lake house catching up on assignments, I’m turning off the lights from the door way of the garage when Flick arrives at the front door turning them back on. I haven’t seen Flick for weeks. I’m just about to call out to her when she replies to someone on the other end of her phone.

  “She’s not here.” She pauses in the kitchen, surveying the living space. “No, like I said, she’s not here.” She huffs down the phone. “Hold on, I’ll check.” She then heads to the bedrooms shouting my name. I duck down, out of sight when she comes back. “No, she’s gone I told you. She must have just left already.”

  I can’t see her now but I can hear her moving around in the kitchen. Peeking up from my hiding spot I can just make out the back of her, leaning into one of the cupboards.

  “No, I’d rather stay here. I need to get the rest of my things. No. She’s not here I told you. Just come here.”

  Flick must be inviting someone back to the house and not want me to know about it, that’s the only conclusion I can come up with from her conversation. If that’s the case, I shouldn’t be sneaking around my own house like this. It’s not like her and Seth live here anymore.

  I get up off the floor about to make myself known, with no idea how I’m going to explain why I’m hiding, when Hugo walks in through the door. Flick shrieks, her whole face brightening up, and runs at him jumping into his arms.

  They’re frantically, ripping off each other’s clothes, knocking into table and walls as Hugo carries Flick to her room. The door bangs shut and all I can hear is Flick moaning so loud, I stick to my original plan and exit via the garage.

  I’m so caught up in what I’ve just witnessed that I’m not paying attention when I bump into Gabby on the way out towards my car. I didn’t see her pull in the driveway so it takes me a few minutes to see her car is still on the road.

  “I wouldn’t go in there if I were you.”

  She frowns and glances at the lake house.

  “Why?”

  “Flick and some guy having some intimate time very loudly.”

  “I thought she moved out?”

  “Looks like she’s back.” I shrug. “Gabby, do you have a minute?”

  She looks behind her to her car and then nods. “Sure, I have some time before I have to be at dinner. Where do you want to go?”

  “Let’s walk.”

  When we get to the lake’s edge, I come right out with it.

  “You’re the hacker aren’t you?”

  She breathes a sign of relief, like it was weighing on her shoulders. Then she looks at me, eyes glassy, lips in a grim line. “I was so mad at you for doing what you did with Davis. You took him from me over the summer, at least that’s what I thought you were doing.”

  The pain in my chest eases off tiny bit. “I was trying to–”

  “–protect me, I know.” She pauses, hands in her pocket, wind in her face. “I didn’t release any videos to the public though, you have to believe me on that.”

  “I believe you,” I say, giving her a genuine smile. When I found the file and drive under my mattress missing the next day it was obvious who took it. Now I just need to prove it and get my life back.

  She sighs, nodding. “Can you forgive me? Are we friends?”

  I squint at her. “If you still want to be.”

  She nods.

  “Good. Because I need you do something for me,”

  Seth is astride his bike when I get to the top of the lake. It freezing here, even in the valley as winter break approaches.

  “Thanks for meeting with me,” I say.

  Seth, puts his hands in his pockets and stares out on to the lake for a minute. Then turns his gorgeous blue eyes to me, gives me a panty-dropping smile. “Do you fancy grabbing a drink at the local pub?”

  “With you?”

  He smirks. “Who else?”

  “Okay.” I wait while he parks his bike. Then we start walking along the lake and down the hill. I manage to keep up pace and strolling along side him until we get to his car.

  “Why is your car still parked only meters from your bike?”

  “I’m staying at the hotel. This is where I have to park.”

  He opens his car door and rummages around, coming out empty handed. “I also came to get my wallet which doesn’t appear to be in here.”

  “Oh, so the only reason you’re asking me out is because you have no cash?”

  He laughs, one of those warming ones that reaches his eyes. “I’m pretty sure you asked me out, Pearl.”

  I smile and we don’t say anything for the entire walk, which is about ten minutes given how small La Roche is. The pub in question is located further down the lakeside, amid promenade of restaurants and shops.

  The bar tender greets Seth warmly, like a friend rather than a patron, and I have to wonder if he comes here a lot. It makes sense if he does, the place reminds me of a rural pub in England rather than a Swiss tavern. That’s where Seth has been for the last ten years, hiding away in the rural hills of England, biding his time.

  “So this is cosy,” I say, sipping my warm a
le after giving Seth all the cash in purse to buy us two pints. “You come here a lot don’t you?”

  “I do, it’s peaceful. Reminds me of where I grew up.”

  “Home?”

  “The north of England yes, near the border of Scotland.”

  “Is that where the military academy base is?”

  “It’s where one of them is, they have a few.”

  “I didn’t know they would send you there,” I say, looking down at my pint. “When it all went down, I wasn’t expecting it to be taken so seriously. I just wanted you gone.”

  “I get it, you blamed me for what happened. It’s normal.”

  “Is it?”

  In the lowlight, I can just about make out Seth’s blue eyes fixing on mine. “I shouldn’t have let my feelings get in the way of duty.”

  The blush comes unexpectedly and I’m thankful for the dark interior. “Feelings?”

  “You know how I felt for you Pearl. You blew my mind when I met you. Gorgeous, sophisticated, smart… too intelligent and too promiscuous for your own good.”

  “I was a brat wasn’t I?”

  “You were, but I loved you for it.”

  I take the word ‘loved’ and use it to get a handle on my emotions. Seth ‘loved’ me, he no longer feels that way.

  “Which is why I understand. You were a scared kid, so was I.”

  I say nothing, sipping my beer to delay the moment a while longer.

  “Flick is fucking Hugo. Did she dump you?”

  “We weren’t dating.”

  I scowl at him. “I saw you both.”

  “She was worried about you. We both were after you knew about the claim. It was a mistake.”

  Is that what we were Seth? A mistake?

  “You know it’s bullshit right?”

  “What is?”

  “The claim you’re making, that I falsified dad’s will. There was never a will.”

  He exhales, looking at me for the first time as though I might break. “No, because you destroyed it.”

  “I didn’t” I would know if I had. That sort of thing doesn’t just fade from memory.

  “Pearl, it was there in the room the day we…”

  “The day we fucked?” My voice almost chokes as I say it.

  His eyes soften. “You saw it and freaked out.”

  “I didn’t destroy it,” I say in a whisper.

  “Then what happened to it?”

  I cock my head at him. “You really don’t know?”

  He doesn’t say anything so I stand up and get my coat. I’ve had enough, heard enough. I came what I meant to do. “I never saw it again after you showed it to me as the reason why we couldn’t be together.”

  He glares at me, “So you made up a story that I attacked you?”

  “Yes, I made it up. You didn’t want me anymore so I had to.” My voice is breaking, betraying my emotions as usual.

  I need to get out of here.

  I can’t do this.

  Why hasn’t Sully told him? What is wrong with that man?

  I leave the warmth and enter the biting cold alone, and he doesn’t follow me.

  I call a cab and tell him to take me to the airport. Term isn’t over but I have to get answers and I can’t do this without knowing what happened. Now I know why Seth is suing me and what his claim to my father’s inheritance is…

  I also need to visit home. It’s been too long and I’ve avoided everyone for too long.

  Annoying as it is, it’s time to visit granny.

  Chapter 20

  Pearl

  Flick asked me why I avoid London like the plague. Mostly because it contains memories I want to forget. When you get your heart broken, the last place you want to be is where it happened. London broke my heart four times.

  Once each when my parents died, the day Seth told me he no longer loved me… and the last time.

  It’s nearly one am when my car pulls into the long driveway that connects to our house. The driver isn’t Henry but he’s one I recognize. I thank him as he opens the door. He doesn’t have to bring in any cases because I haven’t got any. And he doesn’t ask what happened to them.

  As I expect, grandma is awake when I enter through the back door. We always enter through the backdoor because the front door is grander and older than anything else in this part of England, and hasn’t been opened since World War II. When the house was used a military hospital and it was the only way to get the stretchers through to the operating room slash grand parlor.

  “Pearl, is that you?”

  She turns to me, her eyes seeking me out in the darkness. I don’t know why Grams likes to sit in the dark and crochet. It’s probably the reason she’s as blind as a bat.

  I take a seat in front of granny, by the fire.

  “Someone is blackmailing me,” I say by way of hello. “Have you had any trouble here?”

  “Not a peep, but then why would there be?”

  “Sullivan knows.”

  “Sullivan’s a fool. Always has been,” she says, clacking her needles. “Are you going to make tea?”

  “Tea? Granny it’s one am.”

  I hear the car just as a thump from upstairs makes my heart skip a beat.

  “Oh now look, you’ve woken the terror up.”

  A mop of dark hair, bright blue eyes and a slash of a smile are all I see as the tiny girl runs down the stairs to greet me.

  “Pearlie!! You’re back!”

  “Hey monster…,” I croak, grabbing her and swinging her up until I can hold her in my arms tight, breathing her in. She’s so small for her age. It’s hard to believe she’ll be five next year.

  “Pearlie, why are you crying?”

  “Because I’m happy to see you,” I say, holding my little girl as tight as I can for what feels like forever, trying to prevent my heart from breaking one last time.

  I’m happy to see you and sad that he still has no clue you exist.

  Epilogue

  Seth

  I look off to the side where the lake beckons, seeing her leave me once again, like she always does.

  On the table, in my hands, are the keys to the lake house, lying where she left them for me.

  Sometimes, I don’t know if I’m going to kiss her or kill her. But what I do to her next is going to hurt her more than anything.

  It can’t be helped.

  My phone rings so I answer.

  “Seth, are we ready for phase two?”

  “Ready as we’ll ever be.”

  “Good. It’s about time. I was beginning to think you’d gone soft.”

  “No, why would I? You saw to that when you sent me to Blackheath.”

  A pause.

  “Remember what she did. She destroyed our family. She needs to go.”

  “She’s not going to go down easy.”

  “Oh, she will, she’ll fold soon enough.”

  I hang up, the hole in my heart getting wider, deeper, and darker.

  Pearl knew the consequences when she signed up for this war. So did I.

  I just hope she’s ready for what’s next. And proves us all wrong…

  every last one of us.

  Thank You

  Thanks for reading Wicked Hearts.

  If you’d like to find out what happens to Pearl & Seth, or for updates on future books in the Wicked Hears At War series…

  Hearts Break, Book Two of Wicked Hearts At War is available for pre-order now on Amazon.

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  About the Author

  Mallory Fox can attest to the fact that she's addicted to tatted up bad boys, chocolate covered pretzels, and looking deep into heart-melting, big brown eyes... the canine kind.

  She absolutely loves to write deliciously dark romance with wicked, twisty plots about tainted-love, sweet revenge, and all kinds of emotional-rollercoaster redemption.

  Currently, Mallory lives in London with her bean-shaped dog and the rest of her non-furry fami
ly.

  Find more Mallory at facebook or sign away your soul at www.malloryfoxauthor.com/newsletter.

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