Violence (Antihero Inferno Book 3)

by Lily White

  Table of Contents

  PAST

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  PRESENT

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  Chapter Forty

  Chapter Forty-One

  Epilogue

  Sneak Peek: Heresy

  This is a work of fiction and any resemblance to any person, living or dead, any place, events or occurrences, is purely coincidental. The characters and storylines are created from the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

  Violence: Copyright © 2020 by Lily White

  Proofreader: Kim BookJunkie

  Cover Design: Lori Jackson Design

  Photographer: Michelle Lancaster, www.michellelancaster.com

  All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced, scanned, distributed in any printed or electronic form or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the author except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

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  Antihero Inferno Book 3

  by Lily White

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  OTHER BOOKS BY LILY WHITE

  MASTERS SERIES:

  Her Master’s Courtesan

  (Book 1 of the Masters Series)

  (Available on Smashwords and lilywhitebooks.com)

  Her Master’s Teacher

  (Book 2 of the Masters Series)

  Her Master’s Christmas

  (Novella in the Masters Series)

  Her Master’s Redemption

  (Book 3 of the Masters Series)

  Her Master’s Reckoning

  (Book 4 of the Masters Series)

  STANDALONE NOVELS:

  Target This

  Hard Roads

  Asylum

  Wake to Dream

  Four Crows

  Crazy Madly Deeply

  Rules of Engagement

  Wishing Well

  The Five (Also available in Audio)

  Sin and Discipline

  Dirty Girls

  In the Garden of Discontent

  The Vanity of Roses

  The Danger You Know

  ILLUSIONS DUET

  Illusions of Evil

  (Book 1 of the Illusions Duet)

  Fear the Wicked

  (Book 2 of the Illusions Duet)

  ANTIHERO INFERNO SERIES

  Treachery

  Fraud

  Violence

  Heresy – coming August 2020

  Anger – coming soon

  Greed – coming soon

  Gluttony – coming soon

  Lust – coming soon

  Limbo – coming soon

  DARK EXCLUSIVE - Available only on LilyWhiteBooks.com:

  The Director

  NINE CIRCLES

  FIRST CIRCLE (LIMBO)

  MASON STROM

  SECOND CIRCLE (LUST)

  JASE KESSON

  THIRD CIRCLE (GLUTTONY)

  SAWYER BLACK

  FOURTH CIRCLE (GREED)

  TAYLOR MARKS

  FIFTH CIRCLE (ANGER)

  DAMON CROSS

  SIXTH CIRCLE (HERESY)

  SHANE CARTER

  SEVENTH CIRCLE (VIOLENCE)

  EZRA CROSS

  EIGHT CIRCLE (FRAUD)

  GABRIEL DANE

  NINTH CIRCLE (TREACHERY)

  TANNER CAINE

  violence

  noun

  An unpleasant or destructive natural force

  Our past should never define us. At least, that‘s what I’ve heard many people say, the self-help gurus and life coaches, the people teaching us to move on from past mistakes to find a better future.

  But what if it’s your future that defines you? What if the fate you’re moving towards is the problem that will defeat you?

  And what if there’s not a damn thing you can do to stop it?

  That’s my life.

  My fate.

  My burden to carry since before I was born.

  I was bred for it, raised for it, reminded of it every day of my life.

  I never knew anything except that I would one day be married to man I don’t love. That I would be a wife to a man that doesn’t love me. And that I had to accept that arrangement regardless of whether I wanted it or not.

  For eighteen years, I believed I would never know love, never experience true heartbreak, never have anything to look forward to except what I was born to become.

  Mrs. Mason Strom.

  A wife.

  An ornament.

  A trinket.

  That was before two twin boys walked into my life. Before the weeks of freedom they gave me. And before I had to walk away from them despite what it did to me.

  You think you know violence?

  I promise that you don’t.

  Not like I do, at least.

  Not until you experience true annihilation.

  Ezra and Damon Cross were beautiful when they were young.

  They were my world for the short time we had together.

  They were all that mattered until the day came that I had to leave them.

  Now, they’re men forged in fire and shaped by the hands that beat them.

  Beautiful.

  Scarred.

  Cold fury and blinding chaos.

  I thought I knew
violence.

  But I was wrong.

  Because if Ezra has taught me anything in life, it’s that the worst kind of pain isn’t what we do to ourselves, it’s what the person your heart belongs to can do when he’s learned to hate you.

  . . .

  Past

  Emily

  Prep school is a joke.

  The entire establishment, really.

  All grades from kindergarten through senior year.

  We’re nothing more than carbon copies of our parents being churned out. A young generation educated, trained and mass-produced to take over when our parents die.

  I’m still wearing the same uniform from when I was young, obviously with a size difference, but the style has never changed.

  Grey pleated skirt. White button-down blouse. A grey jacket with the school insignia stitched to the breast pocket. The only choice we’re allowed is our shoes, but even those are practically the same since they have to be all black with a smooth sole and no laces.

  The guys aren’t much better with their grey pants, white button-down shirts and the same jacket. Most of the students adhere to the strict dress code, all except the Inferno, of course, because they can do whatever the hell they want.

  Leaning against a locker, I wait for Ivy to pull out the books she needs. She’s dragging ass, as usual, her eyes flicking over to Gabriel Dane’s locker repeatedly.

  When she pulls her bottom lip between her teeth, I arrow my stare on the expression, suspicion churning in my gut because I know that look.

  “What did you do?”

  “Huh?” she asks, her voice distracted and her blue eyes turning my direction. “Nothing.”

  My brow lifts because she’s definitely lying about that.

  “He’ll kill you, whatever it is.”

  Her lips curl at the corners.

  “If he can catch me. Which he won’t.”

  Around us, the typical popular crowd waits for us to finish what we’re doing so they can follow us down the hall for bragging rights.

  Ivy, Ava and I are at the very top of the food chain, best friends since birth, but always willing to blend in with the other girls who come and go in school.

  Esmeralda Chase is chatting up Jane Dougherty, and Ellie Maxwell is watching Amanda Stewart closely. Around them are another tier of gossiping hens, none of which know us well, even though they pretend to.

  Eventually, Ava walks up, and the crowd of girls parts to let her through, her lips curved in a modest smile.

  “I heard something interesting today.”

  My eyes lock with Ava’s, worry creeping down my spine because there are far too many rumors in this school. Some true, many ridiculous.

  Ivy is still too preoccupied to have heard what Ava said, her foot tapping against the ground awaiting Gabriel. I have no idea what she’s done, but it must be bad. She doesn’t always stick around to watch.

  I’m not sure I want to know what Ava heard, but the question tumbles from my tongue regardless, slippery and wet.

  “What’s that?”

  Her brown eyes sparkle to look at me.

  “I think you know. And if it’s true, you’re an idiot to go there.”

  Damn it.

  It’s not surprising to hear a whispered rumor is already breezing through the school halls after the party last weekend. I knew the mistake would leak. Had been sure of it after Mark Kingsley stumbled into the wrong room with Polly Hanes on his arm.

  He’d mumbled a quick apology when he saw Ezra and me, but both his and Polly’s eyes took a good long look before running away at the sound of Ezra’s growled warning.

  It was the first time we’d kissed, and I’d intended it to be the last, but the past few days have tossed more mistakes onto the pile, burying me in them each time my arm is grabbed and I’m dragged into seclusion.

  Every time, I promise I’ll end it, but then his mouth brushes mine, his hand slides to forbidden places, and I can’t help but feel thrilled to break the promise my parents made for me before I was born. I also melt beneath the shiver of excitement I feel kissing him while knowing he’s dangerous.

  Ava lowers her voice to a whisper, her body leaning into mine.

  “Of all of them, he’s the last one you should be screwing with. You know how the twins are.”

  Nobody can tell the twins apart, and to be honest, neither can I. Not fully. Not with enough assurance to know it’s always Ezra. But that’s who he tells me he is. I have no way to know for sure. They’ve been known to play a game of replacing each other.

  “You need to stop,” Ava warns, but her words are lost when Ivy’s elbow nudges me, her chin lifting to tell me to look down the hall.

  There they are.

  The Inferno.

  Not all of them, of course, because the entire group is rarely in the same place at the same time in school. Only at parties. But there are enough of them to make heads turn and people whisper behind their hands.

  Gabriel and Tanner lead the pack, their jackets missing and shirt sleeves rolled up to the elbows. Behind them, the twins saunter down the hall, Shane standing between them, his shirt untucked and a new tattoo peeking up above his collar.

  I have no idea where the rest of them are, but I really don’t care. My focus is solely on Ezra...or Damon...or both. I’ve been studying them for years, and I still can’t pick up on the small clues that a person can use to tell them apart.

  The way they move, the way they talk, the aggression in their amber eyes and even the way they wear their clothes, it’s all identical.

  But there has to be some secret I’m missing.

  Their closest friends - the other members of their group - always know which is which.

  “Here we go,” Ivy whispers, excitement and a touch of evil pleasure in her voice.

  I know for sure she’s done something now. Her eyes only glimmer like that when she’s pranked Gabriel.

  It’s a little surprising this war between them has gone on for so long. As far back as I can remember, they’ve been at each other’s throats.

  What’s also surprising is that neither of them have figured out yet that they’re secretly into each other. The entire school sees it clearly. But if you were to ask Ivy or Gabe, they would swear it’s only hatred they feel.

  Ivy isn’t one to hide, though.

  Just as Gabe approaches his locker, she pushes past the crowd around us to ensure she’s front and center for whatever is about to happen. And when it does, she’ll be the person Gabe seeks out because he always knows it’s her.

  “Oh, fuck,” Ava laughs, both of us moving past the small crowd to stand next to Ivy. “What has she done now?”

  Laughing at something Tanner said, Gabriel’s green eyes slide Ivy’s direction for only a second before he dismisses the sight of her.

  He should know better by now, should suspect that if she’s waiting patiently nearby, his day is about to get a hell of a lot worse.

  Still, it’s not Gabe that steals my attention.

  Already I’m flicking secretive glances at the two boys behind him, my gaze skating down one of the twins before riding up the other. I can’t make heads or tails of them, but then one set of amber eyes seeks me out, the intensity of that stare teasing my pulse to go faster, my heart a fluttering bird in my chest.

  Ezra.

  It has to be him.

  So absorbed by him, I miss what happens that causes the entire hallway to burst out in laughter.

  Gabriel is cursing up a storm, already threatening Ivy by the time I can drag my attention to his locker to see something shiny and wet spilled out, the puddle so slick that Gabriel is sliding around in it.

  He attempts to get up but only falls back down, everybody laughing so hard they’re holding their stomachs and leaking tears from their eyes.

  Even Tanner can’t control his laughter, yet Ivy stands solemn among the crowd, her blue eyes locked on Gabe with only the faintest smirk curling her lips at the corners.

 
“She is so dead for this,” Ava says beside me. “What the hell did Ivy put in his locker?”

  “Sex lube,” Kiley Carter says at our back. “That’s why it’s so slippery.”

  Most of the time, I don’t even want to know how Ivy manages to pull off the pranks she sets up. What I do know is she spends a fortune on them. But that’s not a problem when she has her own unlimited credit card that her father pays off with no questions asked.

  Despite how entertaining it is to watch Gabriel struggle, so much so that the only option is for Tanner to grab his hand and slide him away from the mess, my eyes still dance back to one particular person who smirks in my direction.

  There’s an offer and a warning in the way he looks at me now, his head angling toward the bathrooms, just enough that nobody but me will notice it.

  Cocking his brow, Ezra grins again before walking off with the silent invitation for me to follow.

  I shouldn’t.

  He’s trouble with a capital T.

  All of the Inferno boys are, but especially the twins. There isn’t a day when one of them shows up clear of the scrapes and bruises they wear, proud markers of the fights they always start and always win.

  My fingers tighten over the strap of my bag, indecision cementing my body in place.

  I watch with unblinking eyes as Ezra walks down the hall to slam a hand against the bathroom door, his gaze flicking my direction once more before he disappears inside.

  Around me, everybody is still focused on Gabriel and Ivy. Not even Shane or Damon noticed that Ezra walked away, and I could simply slip through the crowd and follow without a single person paying attention.

  My pulse pounds harder as my teeth chew the inside of my lip.

  I shouldn’t.

  But I find myself sneaking around all the people gathered around me anyway.