by C. Lymari
I got closer to him, and he started to whimper like a puppy trying to get away, pushing himself to the wall. I patted his head, and it seemed to ease him. That little spark of humanity that wanted affection thrived.
“This is where we part ways,” I told him. “I won’t be coming back, and you won’t be seeing me again.”
I took out my scalpel, and his eyes went wide with fear. He opened his mouth to scream, but you couldn’t do that when you had no tongue.
He was weak and no match when I went for his left hand.
“You should never have messed with what was mine. You hit her.” I gritted my teeth. “You controlled her.”
I pressed the scalpel to his wrist.
“You manipulated her.”
I started to cut the skin across, his blood spilling down and into my clothes.
“You defiled her,” I spat at him as I grabbed his other wrist. “While you stay here, exsanguinating, I am going to go to her.”
I pressed the blade to his other wrist.
“I’m going to erase everything you ever did to her.”
I moved my blade slowly this time, taking my time.
“She’s no pawn or princess. She’s a fucking queen.”
I finished slicing as I held onto this wrist, aware that I was a bloody mess too.
“So as you stay here dying, alone, I’m going to go own all of her. Then tomorrow, when dawn breaks, whatever is left of you will get put in an acid tub, and you will be nothing but a fucking memory, and if I have anything to do with it, not even that.”
I spat at his face and made my way out, grinning.
No blowback was all I asked the Estacados, and Silas was never to be reported missing. People disappeared all the time, and he was just another one.
I didn’t know how much of a future I had, but I hoped that with Pam dead, I would be left alone. And whatever I had left, I wanted to spend it with Ember.
She was the job I never saw coming.
“Fashion week hit the streets of New York, and yesterday was the first collaboration between powerhouse—”
“Miss Remington,” my secretary said.
I waved a hand, shushing her so I could listen to the television.
“The new collection was gorgeous, but the real gem in this was the collaboration they did with Remington Diamonds.”
I felt a sense of giddiness course through my body. I leaned back in my chair and put the volume up on the television in my office.
“Many were wary when Ember took over her father’s company after her uncle’s disappearance, but after yesterday’s show, I don’t think there’s a thing to be worried about. The new merchandise is stunning.”
My secretary was as engrossed as I was with the footage they showed from yesterday’s show. It was me walking a runway—short-as-hell-me on a catwalk. I wore a black dress with little jewels all over it and a blackish veil, and on my neck was the Ember. When I approached one of my favorite fashion houses here in New York for a collab, they jumped at the idea. Their only stipulation was to have the Ember featured and have me model it. It was scary, and I wanted to back out, but my father was right there, front and center, cheering me on. Tears streamed down my face at the way he looked at me like he was proud. Our relationship wasn’t easy, but it had improved.
“I say she’s doing just fine. She has a vision; the media loves her. She truly looks like she can take the world by storm. She’s the happiest we’ve ever seen her.”
I turned off the television when they started to discuss my happiness. Happiness was a state of mind, and I was in a good place. I was clean and finally had something that set my soul on fire, but there was still an emptiness that I couldn’t make go away.
“What were you saying?” I said, turning to my secretary.
“Oh yeah, I have the designs you sent over yesterday. I just need your approval before we send them to production.”
Grabbing the papers from her, I went over my new collection. People loved gothic things, and they were all over the feel of them yesterday when they were featured on the catwalk. Black steel with rubies, diamonds, and sapphire, and it was already a hit. My eyes landed on the stupid piece that I almost didn’t let go through to production, but my father saw it and sent it over. It was a pendant of a falcon. The bird was in flight, preparing to attack, wings upward and body starting to angle down. The whole design was onyx with the sharp wings covered in red jewels, and the eyes were blue diamonds.
Before I could back out, I handed over the designs. “It all looks good.”
When she left, I opened my desk, pulling out my dab pen. I’d gone to rehab, got my shit together, but since pot was a flower, I told Dr. Wozniak it didn’t count. I needed it with the stress of running a fucking company. Besides, people loved my bong so much that I’d partnered with one of the biggest head shops to make affordable glitzed-out products for girls. My favorite was the pen I currently held in my hand. I took a drag and turned my chair around and stared out the window at my prime view. The day after I got out of rehab, I put on my heels and my mother’s choker, and I made my way to work, calling a meeting.
The first one to kiss my ass was Mattias. He said Silas had threatened them, but I cared not for the excuses of weak men. He usually fought back, called me names, but before he could, it was as if he remembered something and thought better of it. I caught him looking down at his hand and noticed the imperfection on his pinky. If you didn’t pay attention, it wouldn’t be noticeable, but someone had wanted to leave a message.
Not letting myself get caught up in that, I fired him, and all the ones who had wronged my father. It was a loss on my part, buying them out, but it had to be done.
Looking out the window, it never failed to make me feel insignificant and small. The view from the top was somewhat lonely. I put my head on the window, just staring down at the city, knowing I loved it here but wishing I could be somewhere without the memories.
After the hospital, Ren never tried to see me again, and I think that’s what hurt the most. He had given up easily, not that I wanted him to fight for me. Shaking my head, I grabbed my purse and walked out, locking my office. I hated myself when I got like this, thinking of things I should let go of.
As I was making my way down the hall, I saw Marcus.
“Hey, boss,” he said, giving me a small smile.
“You sure you still want to quit? I can triple your salary.”
I needed people I could trust, especially since I had no idea what had happened to Silas. I was determined to live my life out of his shadow, but I knew the threat of him returning was real. The only thing that we were able to do was trace back the money he’d used to triple the price on my head. Hopefully, that gave people enough incentive not to do anything stupid.
“Change is good, Ember, and it’s way past time I got some.”
I smiled sadly at him. It was for the best. He needed to move on, and I needed to take a page from his book and do the same. Ren Falcon was not coming for me. Why would he when I’d told him I never wanted to see him again?
“I know, but now I have to go over all the applications and find a head of security.” I groaned. I reached out to him and hugged him. “Thank you for everything, Marcus. Thanks for seeing me even when I couldn’t.”
I stepped back and turned around without looking back at him. Nice boys like him weren’t for me. Hell, at this point, I didn’t think anyone was. As I passed by the lobby door, I was greeted in all directions. Smiling at the employees, I made my way outside. Instead of going to my car, I opted for walking.
Stop and enjoy the little things.
Except walking got old fast in heels and when my eyes seemed to zero in on every couple walking by. The walk home was going to suck.
“Daddy, I’m home!” I shouted as soon as I walked into my penthouse. My father had asked me if I wanted to move out, but I didn’t…I couldn’t. Doing so proved that Silas and Ren broke me. The house was full of good memories and bad, and
it was time I made new ones.
I put all of my work files on the kitchen island and took off my heels. Today was the day I gave my staff off, only keeping my father’s nurse.
Going to my couch, I grabbed a few fashion magazines and looked through them. Next to them was my blinged-out bong. I smiled when I looked at it. Some things didn’t change, and that was okay as long as the rest of you did grow.
The house was quiet, but it was expected on days like today. My plans consisted of a hot shower and sleep.
When I opened the door to my room, I faltered at the figure that was sitting in my bed, yet I wasn’t afraid.
“Close the door, Ember, and get undressed.”
I felt chills go down my body at Ren’s tone. My body came alive at the command in his voice. He was a rush of adrenaline that went straight to my core. I wanted to scream at him and run toward him at the same time.
“Ember,” he warned.
Standing straight, I closed the door only because I didn’t want my father to get scared.
“I don’t listen to dogs.”
“Oh, princess,” Ren mocked.
He stood up, his height towering over mine, but that’s not why he made me feel small. He was pure lethal power.
“I’m going to enjoy reminding you just exactly who you belong to.”
I scoffed, but it came out weak. “I can’t be owned.”
Ren removed the hood from his face, and it was like I forgot how handsome he was, how much he took my breath away. I could turn on the lights and see him better, but this way, with the lights off, I could still pretend he wasn’t the one thing I couldn’t stop missing.
“I told you, Ember, I would take away all your vices and leave you with one…”
He moved so fast, and all I did was walk back until my back hit the wall. His hands came to mine. He entwined our fingers and brought my hands up over my head, making my breasts press against his chest.
“Don’t lie to me, Ember. Don’t act like every fucking second you were away from me you didn’t think of me, ‘cause I know I did. Like you didn’t wake up in the middle of the night, reaching out for me.”
He wedged his knee between my legs, the skirt I wore today hiking up.
“And every night when you reached to touch your pussy, you wished it was me touching it, stroking it, licking it, and fucking it.”
I was heaving. I was pissed as hell at him, but I was also turned on.
That was when I felt he was wet.
“You’re wet,” I said, trying to pull away.
“No, princess, you are,” he said.
He let go of my hands, and his came to my waist, his lips crashing against mine. He was everything I missed in the world. All the dark things I craved, because there was beauty in darkness, and I had always been attracted to his. His hands moved over my body, gripping and feeling, but he was over my clothes, not touching me where I needed him the most. His lips moved to my cheek, and he buried his face in my neck. He licked the pulse from my tendon before he kissed it and sucked it.
“I’m so fucking mad at you, Ember.”
He bit the side of my cheek, and I whimpered.
“I’m going to fuck your little cunt and remind it just who it belongs to.”
He grabbed me by my ass and kissed my lips as he walked us to the bathroom. He sat me on the counter, his cold, wet hands coming to my shirt, slowly lifting, leaving a damp path as he went. My head fell back as his hands moved over my midriff and over my breast. His mouth kissed all over my neck. His tongue licked me from my collarbone to my chin.
“Fucking missed you,” he groaned as he took my lips again.
His hands were tangled in my hair, keeping me in place. My hands went to his face, cupping his cheeks softly. That was enough to make him pull away.
Ren put his forehead to mine, our breath mixing…entwining. He was the night sky to my diamond stars, making it balanced and better.
“Do you still love me?” he rasped.
I stayed quiet, and that was enough for Ren to pull back. He turned on the bathroom light, and I gasped.
He was covered in blood. Crimson stained his white T-shirt. Then I looked down at myself, and I was covered in blood as well. My heart seemed to want to beat out of my chest at that moment.
“I knew love meant everything to you, princess, when the word means shit to me.”
Despite how scared I was, my stomach sank at his words. I thought I had come to terms with them, but they still disappointed me.
“Love doesn’t mean shit, but actions do. And yours, Ember, didn’t mean shit… The first sign of a struggle, you fucking left me.”
I squirmed in my seat as he got closer. He put his hands on either side of my hips, and what he was saying made me forget that we were covered in blood.
“Love doesn’t mean shit to me, but you, Ember…you do. I’d lie, cheat, and steal for you.”
His hand came to my cheek, caressing me sweetly. Then his eyes went dark with a mixture of anger and lust as his hand came to my neck, choking me.
“I’ve killed for you, and if it fucking came down to it, princess, I’d die for you too. Love doesn’t mean shit to me, but I’d worship any altar in your name.”
His mouth hovered over mine, our lips almost touching.
“You say it was all about the fucking diamond?”
He let go of my neck only to move his hands back and unsnap my choker. Once he removed it, he grabbed my hips, moving me off the sink and forcing me back to look in the mirror.
“Did you ever wonder why there was a pattern inside your necklace?”
My eyes met his through the mirror, and at that moment, I realized three things. One, there was no way that he knew. Two, I never hated him. I was just scared because I loved him when I had never felt this way before. Three, he was rock hard behind me. When I didn’t answer, he kept going.
“It’s a code, and I bet it opens the safe where the Ember is kept.”
My father had admitted the same to me; that’s why he hated that I wore it, for fear that one day someone would discover his secret. My father showed his love for my mother by trusting her to his most prized possession. Without the Ember, our company was nothing.
“So no, Ember, it was never about the fucking jewel. You want to know what changed?”
I could only nod. Slowly, he turned me around, sitting me on the countertop again so I could be at eye level with him.
“The day after I took you, you were so fucking delirious with withdrawals you said something to me…something that put everything into perspective. You never have to worry about him hurting you again.”
My eyes widened, and my lips parted as I tried to speak or maybe get away.
“I know what he did to you, Ember. I know that he hurt you, and for that, he didn’t get any fucking mercy. He took something from you…”
Ren stepped closer to me, and I gulped air, not able to meet his eyes because he knew the darkest part of me. His fingers came to my chin, tilting it.
“Tonight, you’re going to give it all to me. Because I’m going to fucking ruin you in the best way, so when you think of pain, you’ll think about the pain I give you that makes your pussy wet… Now tell me, do you love me?”
“Silas is dead?” My lips wobbled as I looked at my body and his.
“You think I’d let him live after what he did to you? No one, as long as I fucking breathe, will hurt you.” His words were vicious, violent, brutal, but they were honest.
Ren was like air. He was everywhere at once and not at all. He was the most basic necessity I needed to survive, except I also wanted him. He never hindered me as Silas did. He made me stronger. He took a broken girl and made her withstand fire.
I didn’t answer him. I grabbed his cheeks and pulled him to me as I kissed his lips. It was a vow covered in the blood of my enemy. A warning that if he lied to me again, I might not come back, and a promise because he might never tell me the words I longed to hear, but he promised th
em with every single thing he did.
“I love you.” I bit his lip into my mouth and sucked it.
Ren took off his clothes, and I marveled at the body I missed so much. I got off the counter, removing my bra, skirt, and panties. I walked to the shower and turned it on. I had barely turned the water warm when Ren came behind me, his bloodied hand coming across my waist. He pushed us into the water and kissed my neck as the water washed the blood off our skin.
A few minutes later, when Silas’s blood no longer stained the tile red, Ren’s hand came to my pussy, cupping it.
“Who owns this, Ember?”
“You,” I moaned as his finger worked my clit.
“Fuck, I missed that sound.”
Ren pushed my body against the cold tile as he trailed kisses down my neck, my back, on the top of my waist. He opened my legs, and his mouth was right there. I didn’t have time to freeze like last time as he kissed the puckered skin before his tongue dove into my wet folds.
“Ren!”
He gripped my ass as he ate me from behind. Just as I felt like I was coming, he got up. He turned me around and inserted three fingers inside me, stretching me. I needed him now.
“Fuck, I missed you,” he murmured as his fingers worked my clit. “Relax.”
His thumb and index finger worked my clit, and I started to shake, and just as I began to come, I felt an intrusion on my backside. I didn’t have time to register because Ren was making me scream by the way he played my pussy.
I felt myself coming down, my walls still convulsing, and one of Ren’s fingers was in my ass.
“You’re so fucking tight. Fucking perfect. Mine.”
I let out a little whimper when he removed his hand.
Then he gave me the slowest of kisses against my lips. “He’ll never hurt you again.”
He knew my ultimate sin, and he was still here.
I threw my arms around him, kissing him back as he lifted me in his arms and took me to bed. We were wet, and there was still blood in the room, but I didn’t care. Because in Ren’s arms, nothing could touch me. He was my ultimate high, and I never wanted to come down.
Ren laid me on the bed, his body coming on top of mine. He tilted my hips, then slammed into me, and I screamed. I held on to him, letting him give me everything he had to offer, and I gave it to him right back to him.