Shadowed Heart: A Dark Reverse Harem Romance (A Death So Sweet Book 1)

by Candace Wondrak

  Sylvester only released me when I muttered that I was fine, that I wasn’t going to attack her and strangle her. Heaven fucking forbid that. He spoke, causing her blue eyes to snap to him immediately, “What’s your name, Night Slayer?”

  The grin she wore widened. A true crazy smile if I ever saw one. How badly I wanted to wipe it off her face with my fist. I doubted that urge would ever go away, should she make herself useful to us and prolong her inevitable death at our hands. “Ah, so you’ve heard of me?” she asked, giggling. “It’s kind of funny, you know. I didn’t start out with the intent to gain some fame, but I guess when you kill a few people, it tends to happen.”

  “Last I heard, it was more than a few,” Sylvester spoke, folding his arms over his chest. So calm compared to me, so stable as he stood before the girl who’d killed our little brother.

  That quieted her down a bit. She leaned her head back, breathing in deeply before saying, “My name is Lola. And, yes, before you ask, that is my real name. My parents were fucking idiots.” Were. I noted her use of the past tense, and I couldn’t help but wonder if they were dead by her hands, too.

  “I’m Sylvester,” he said.

  “Sylvester,” she purred out his name, doing her best to sound enticing and sensual, given that she was still attached to the chair. “What an odd name, but I kind of like it. It suits you.” A heartbeat before she added, “Has anyone ever said you have the prettiest eyes, Sylvester?”

  I prickled as I stood there, wishing he would step aside and let me have at her. This was ridiculous. This was all just fucking stupid. Why couldn’t anyone see how much of a bad idea this was?

  Sylvester didn’t let her compliment get to him, continuing: “I assume Maddox told you why you were here.”

  Lola glanced at me, giving me that sultry look. “No, all Maddox did was attack me, though he did mention something about his brother.”

  “Last weekend, at the club,” Sylvester spoke. We knew enough of the story to piece it together, and it wasn’t a pretty story. All Mario had wanted was a girl to fuck, but Lola went into it with other plans. Dark, devious, killer plans. “You went home with our brother, Mario. You killed him. You took a shower and then you left. And you… took some of his meat out of the fridge.”

  She shrugged. The movement caused her tits to jiggle a bit, and my eyes dipped low to them. How in the world were they even held back by that dress? Women’s fashion didn’t fucking make sense. “The meat was going to go bad, so I figured why not? Look, if you want me to apologize for stealing the meat, I’m sorry. I really am. It was good shit, some kind of special Cajun turkey or whatever—I’ve never had anything like it before, but I will die a happy woman now that I have.”

  Sylvester and I exchanged glances, and we were both probably wondering what the hell she was going on about. I knew I was.

  “If, on the other hand, you’re expecting an apology for the other thing I did—the stabby-stab portion of the night last weekend, well, let me invite you to walk around this chair and see the two middle fingers I’m currently holding up for you,” she finished, still grinning like a madwoman.

  Fuck. She really was crazy, wasn’t she?

  “I’m going to fucking kill her,” I muttered, my skin itching with the need to hurt her. To wipe that smirk off her face and make her regret saying that, to make her feel some kind of guilt over killing Mario. How could we let her live and breathe beneath this roof when she’d killed one of us?

  Sylvester held up a hand, though I did notice how he swallowed hard. He was fighting his inner monster with every passing second, too. I bet he wanted to hurt her as well; he was just better at hiding the beast than I was. “I have a proposition for you,” he said, “unless you’d rather we kill you now, in which case, my brother here will gladly.”

  Lola tilted her head, her lips puckering as she thought on it. A proposition was the last thing she expected, clearly, for it took her a while to say, “Lay it on me, Blondie. Let’s see what you got. Don’t know what could beat being choked at the hands of your brother, but we’ll see.”

  Oh, I’d do more than choke her, at this point. How could I hear her scream if she was choking? No, I would do so much more than wrap my hands around her neck and choke the life out of her.

  “Do you know who we are?” Sylvester asked.

  “Not the missing pieces to the threesome of my dreams, clearly,” she deadpanned.

  Sylvester ignored that comment, saying, “We’re the Lucianos, the biggest crime family around. Everyone who’s anyone around here knows who we are. That said, we do have a lot of enemies, and beyond them, those who always think they can slither around us and take a bite at our ankles to try to weaken us.”

  Lola kept quiet, but I could see the gears turning in her head, could see the seriousness spread across her features as she took in what Sylvester was saying.

  “You’re the Night Slayer. You killed our brother. You owe us a life, and you’re going to give us yours or die here, tonight,” he finished.

  “You’re saying you want me to be your Night Slayer?” Lola questioned, her blonde brows furrowing just a bit as she stared up at my brother, completely disregarding me for the moment.

  Since I did not appreciate those crazy blue eyes ignoring me, I spoke up, growling out the words, “You’ll be whatever the fuck we want you to be, do what we tell you to with no hesitation.” My heart hammered in my chest. I wanted blood, her blood, but I had the feeling tonight would be free of it, sadly.

  She did not jump at the offer. “And why would I want to be at your beck and call?”

  Sylvester answered her, “To live longer.”

  Lola laughed. “Surely you don’t think I go around killing the guys I go home with because you think I want to live a long and healthy life?” Her laughter was light and airy, as feminine as a laugh could get. She had a way about her, that was for sure. A black widow through and through, ready to devour whatever male fell under her spell and got caught in her web. “Why would I want to be basically a slave to you guys? Why wouldn’t I choose death?”

  It was obvious Sylvester hadn’t been expecting her to say that, and he looked at me, wordlessly asking for my help, which he would not receive. At this point, I didn’t know whether I wanted to kill her now or make her life miserable, then kill her. Either way, the destination was the same. But, I guess it was true, what they said: the journey was what mattered most.

  “Um,” Sylvester stuttered, “it’ll be more fun?” The way he spoke it, he almost sounded awkward, having been completely caught off-guard with what Lola had said. I couldn’t help but smirk at his reply, although my smirk died the moment Lola said what she said next.

  “Fun? Okay, count me in.”

  My jaw nearly dropped, but I stopped myself, my blood running hot as I glared at her. She was fucking kidding, right? Fun was going to get her to agree to be our pet until we bored of her or she became obstinate and we killed her? What the ever-loving fuck was this chick’s problem?

  “I love fun,” Lola went on, sighing the words out. “Just can’t get enough, you know? Maybe it was because my childhood was shit…” She caught herself, making a whoops face. “Sorry, that’s getting too deep. We’re still strangers.”

  Sylvester was at a loss for words, and I was, too. This… this was either going to be really entertaining, or absolute hell for all of us.

  Chapter Four – Lola

  They wouldn’t let me go home to pick up my stuff. Not even my clothes, which meant I was stuck in this red dress until they got me some new things. I didn’t shed a tear for my belongings, but it was weird to know I would be living in this big, fancy house with them.

  Oh, they wanted to kill me. I knew it. I wasn’t stupid. I could see it in their eyes, the way they all watched me. Maddox especially. That one… I’d have to keep an eye on him. Sylvester didn’t seem too bad; he also didn’t look like the rest of them, and I wondered if he was even related to them. Maybe he had a different mother. Who
knew?

  I had a room down a long hall, and honestly the furniture, the size of the room… it all reminded me of the home I’d left so long ago. So much so that I nearly took it all back and begged for them to end it now.

  Living here… it wasn’t going to be pretty. At this point in time, I was seriously doubting how much fun it would actually be. A gal couldn’t constantly live in her past pain, you know? You gotta give a girl a break every now and then.

  Did I mention I had guards? Two of them. One’s name was Vinny, although everyone called him Viper—probably because of the snake tattoos on his skin. The other was Mike, or Big Mike, as his nickname was. Needless to say, he was kind of huge. Not in the fat way, but more like the super tall, super muscular way. I wasn’t so much a fan of the long hair he had, but still. A part of me was tempted to try climbing that tree, if you know what I mean.

  Their family was big, I guess. That, or everyone who had loyalty to them was considered family. I was kind of jealous, because really, I never had a family like that. Never had someone else’s devotion.

  One thing I was not allowed to do was see the big man himself. Richard Luciano wanted nothing to do with me since I killed his youngest child. Which, yeah, I totally understood. Still, I couldn’t help but wonder what the big man was like. After seeing Maddox and Sylvester, after meeting and killing Dickless, they seemed to have a wide variety of personalities.

  Was it wrong to be excited to be able to peel them back, layer by layer, like an onion? Or a cake. Or one of those big jawbreakers with the separate colors for layers…

  Mmm. I could go for some candy right now.

  Vinny or Mike always had to be with me, no matter what I was doing in the house. I kind of had free rein, which was a little weird to me, but I wasn’t going to complain. Maybe they thought I wouldn’t try anything with scary-looking bodyguards keeping watch. Both Mike and Vinny looked like they could handle themselves, a lot better than Dickless did.

  Er, Mario, I meant. I really should stop calling him Dickless. I’d only incite them further—which might be fun, but right now I wanted to see what they had in store for me.

  It wasn’t like I had a life to get back to. No job that would miss me come Monday morning, no nine-to-five cubicle calling my name. I didn’t have a family anymore, and I didn’t have friends, either. I was literally as alone as I could be, which was why I would’ve accepted either outcome: death, or becoming their bitch.

  I chose their bitch, because Sylvester had said it would be fun. Gosh, I hoped I got my hands dirty for them. That would be fun.

  You know what else would be fun? Getting the fuck out of this dress.

  Once I was introduced to my room—and where the bathroom was, because that was also some necessary information if I was going to be living here—I sat on the edge of my bed, wondering when the last time someone had slept in it was. I didn’t have the main light on, but I did turn on the small lamp near the bedside; it was too late to have anything super bright on, past three in the morning. I think Maddox and Sylvester had gone to bed. Tomorrow would be a new day, although, I supposed you could argue it was already tomorrow.

  Whatever.

  Vinny stood at the door with his arms folded in front of him, the door closed behind him. He stared straight ahead, not looking at me. He wore all black, and with the quiet maturity in his face, I’d put him quite a few years older than me. Maybe late twenties or early thirties. His brown hair was cut short, very much unlike Mike’s, and I noticed he had the same hazel eyes as the other bodyguard, who was currently not here. Also probably catching up on his Zs.

  You know what? Their eyes weren’t the only thing that was the same. Their jaws were similar, their hair color, too. Were they brothers, like Maddox, Sylvester, and Dickless had been?

  I decided to ask.

  “You and Mike related?” I asked.

  The nicknames they had for each other… they didn’t feel like mine. I liked to call people pet names, but Viper and Big Mike were two nicknames that felt like they didn’t belong to me. I wasn’t one of them, so why would I call them that?

  My feet were bare as they hung off the side of the bed. They’d taken my heels, and I doubted I’d be getting them back.

  A pity. I liked them a lot, a lot more than I liked people.

  Vinny said nothing, but his hazel stare was on me. His jaw remained firmly shut, which instantly annoyed me. When I asked a question, I expected to be answered and not ignored like some child who spoke out of turn.

  I slid off the bed, moving toward him slowly, making sure to put a little extra sway in my hips—he noticed that, I saw, as his eyes fell to my lower half. “I asked you a question,” I said, stopping when I stood less than a foot away from him.

  He reminded me of those palace guards you see, you know, the ones with the tall hats and the muskets or whatever they held—the ones who were paid to stand there and protect and pretend the civilians walking the streets didn’t exist. Only, you know, this fella was tattooed and kind of sexy, no uniform in sight.

  “Really?” I said, when he kept to his silence, “You’re going to ignore me, hmm? Pretend I don’t exist? Well, let’s see how much you can pretend while I have your crown jewels in my hand—” I went to reach between his legs, my plan to cup him firmly and possibly feel him up to see what I was dealing with—a man with an anaconda for a dick you always had to handle a bit differently, their egos and such—but his reflexes were lightning fast, stunning me into silence.

  “I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Vinny spoke, his stare taking on a darkness that was not there mere moments before, a warning to me for pushing against a territory that was not mine. The hand curling around my wrist gripped it hard, so hard he probably expected me to wince or something, but I didn’t. I only held his stare.

  “I don’t like being ignored,” I told him. “Now, I realize you might hate me, along with everyone else in this house, but there’s no reason we can’t be civil.”

  He let out a loud breath, practically tossing my hand away with a push as he released me, back to his quietness.

  Pursing my lips, I tried to think up something worse than me asking him to tell me about himself. It only took me a minute, but I came up with something I thought might just get him to be a little chatty: “I won’t go to bed until you talk to me. I will stand right here and literally talk all night. You might not know me, but let me just say, I’m very capable of chatting constantly.”

  That did the trick, and I heard him groan, watching him roll his eyes before muttering, “Yes. We’re twins.”

  “You are?” I was shocked, but then I remembered that twins didn’t always have to look alike. “I can see it. How are you related to this family of criminals?” I didn’t know what they did, but the way Sylvester had talked, the Lucianos were something of a big deal around here. Honestly, I wouldn’t know, because until recently, I’d had blinders on when it came to what I did.

  And by that, I meant the murders. Becoming the Night Slayer. You know, the usual shit pretty girls got up to when left alone.

  “We’re not, but we owe them a debt.”

  “Like me?”

  Vinny glared at me. “Not like you.”

  Ah, well, I supposed that made sense, since he was my bodyguard. Whatever debt he and his brother owed this family was nothing like the blood debt I owed.

  I let my gaze drop, studying the tattoos peeking out on his forearms and the top of his hands. The dark sleeves of his shirt were rolled up to the elbows, the kind of thing that made every gal go nuts. Something about a man wearing fancy clothes, neatly pressed and clean of all dirt, just knowing those sleeves were rolled up made you think he was about to get down and nasty. Maybe do a little spanking.

  Or was that just me?

  “What’s with all the snake tattoos? Is that why they call you Viper?” Now that I had him talking, I kind of didn’t want to stop. It was nice to talk to someone else. Lately, as much as I didn’t want to admit it, my lif
e had been pretty lonely.

  There was a time when living in a house with a bunch of strange men who could kill me with their pinkies would’ve given me pause, but I was not that girl anymore. I’d grown up these past few years, being on my own.

  “I like snakes,” he muttered, frowning slightly at me. The expression made me giggle, because, even though he was seeking to be dour and stern, trying to scare me, I bet, that was the last thing I got from him.

  I wasn’t scared. I didn’t get scared. I looked danger and death in the face every day and laughed my ass off, and I wouldn’t stop just because a group of hardcore and deadly—albeit super hot—men had kidnapped me and basically given me no choice but to become theirs. I was Lola fucking Harding, the Night Slayer, and I’d never stop being her.

  “Snakes are cool,” I agreed, turning and taking my time in walking back to the bed. “Misunderstood by a lot of people.” With a glance over my shoulder, I found he was staring at me, that he’d watched me walk away. Maybe it was my comment about snakes that got to him, but suddenly, in that moment, he didn’t look like he wanted to kill me.

  But then the moment was gone.

  I didn’t sit on the bed, but I did lean on it. “How long do you think I have before they tire of me and decide to kill me anyway?” I was more curious than anything else; it wasn’t like I was going to try to run. This was my fate. I’d dug myself in this hole and leaped in willingly. Whatever happened here… well, it would be better than ending up on the electric chair, I supposed.

  Though I would miss the infamy and the notoriety that would’ve come with it, if I was being honest.

  When Vinny didn’t answer, I smiled to myself. “I’m not stupid. I know they want me dead. It’s only a matter of time until they get revenge for their brother. Really, I ain’t hatin’, I’m just asking. Professional courtesy and all that.”