Kingsley was the one, other than Isaac, that I’d felt the worst about lying to. He’d worked with me to bring back my memories of the night my father had died, and I felt horrible that I’d lied to him, making him believe we hadn’t achieved the one thing we’d set out to do.
“Why didn’t you tell us before?” Alex’s eyebrows pulled in together, and his teeth captured his lower lip in concern.
“I was worried about what you’d do with me,” I admitted.
He shook his head slightly. “Do with you? What did you think we’d do with you?”
I shrugged. I didn’t know. At my darkest moments, I’d believed they might have had me killed, but it felt crazy to think that now, though at the time I’d had every reason to. These men had kidnapped me, and even if they’d done it for the right reasons, it wasn’t as though they’d acted like knights in shining armor. No, they’d done what they’d had to. And I’d done what I believed I’d had to during that time, too.
But the question still remained. Now they had the code, what was going to happen to me? Nerves fluttered inside my stomach, like moths batting mindlessly at an outside light in the dark. I didn’t want to ask the question, but I had to know.
“What happens to me now?”
Isaac frowned, his head tilting to one side. “What do you mean?”
I dug my teeth into my lower lip, nipping at dry skin, before speaking. “You have what you wanted, so what are you going to do with me?”
His green eyes narrowed. “What do you want us to do with you?”
“I don’t know.” That was what I said out loud, but inside I was thinking that I wanted him to repeat what he’d just done to me, with all the guys watching. I wanted him to make me feel that way again, and then I wanted Clay to take his turn, and then Alex, and Lorcan, and Kingsley. I wanted to belong to each of them, and I wanted the others there while it happened. It was crazy and hedonistic, but they’d made me feel a part of them, and I didn’t want that to end.
“If you go home,” Alex said, straightening, “you’ll still be in danger.”
I nodded. “I know, but Aunt Sarah might also be in danger.”
“You’re more important to us than your aunt.” Kingsley folded his arms across his massive chest, and I flashed a smile across at him, thanking him silently for telling me I was still important, even though they had what was in my head.
Isaac’s features tightened. “We won’t let anyone hurt you, Darcy, not Hollan, or anyone else for that matter.” His words sent a frisson of an emotion I couldn’t quite analyze through me.
“Thank you, but it’s not that easy for me. My aunt took care of me after my father died. She’s the only one who’s ever been there for me, and she could have walked away so many times when I was a teenager and I was being the most horrible person in the world to her, but she didn’t. She stuck by me and I owe her.”
The men exchanged glances then Isaac’s shoulders softened. “Getting to her won’t be easy,” he said. “You understand that, don’t you? Hollan is going to realize she’s the first person you’re going to reach out to, if you can. He’s going to have her surrounded by watchdogs, even if she doesn’t know it.”
I pressed my lips together and nodded. Of course Isaac was right. They’d already warned me of this once before and I hadn’t listened. I’d gone ahead and done what I’d wanted, and Hollan had found the house and tried to kill everyone inside. It suddenly occurred to me that Hollan wouldn’t have wanted me killed. No, what would have happened to me would have been much worse. He’d have taken me and tortured the code out of me. Would I last under torture? I’d liked to think I’d be strong and refused to give the number to him, no matter what he did to me, but truthfully, I couldn’t say what I would do. It was easy to be brave and stand by your morals when you felt relatively safe, it was a whole other thing when your father’s murderer was tearing off your fingernails with a pair of tweezers.
My thoughts must have caused the blood to drain from my face, as Isaac frowned then reached out and lightly touched my fingers with his. “Darcy, what’s wrong?”
I shook my head. “Nothing. Just my overactive imagination.”
The concern didn’t leave his face. “As long as you’re sure.”
I nodded. “I’m sure.”
“Okay, so say we manage to extract your aunt, we can find somewhere safe for the both of you to go until all of this is done with.”
Even though I’d only just been imagining how it would be if Hollan tortured me, I shook my head. “No, I want to see Hollan dead. He killed my father. I have the right to exact my revenge.”
Alex stepped forward. “That’s not a good idea, Darc. If anything goes wrong, Hollan will be able to get the code from you.”
I gritted my teeth. “Nothing will go wrong.”
He fixed me with his cool blue gaze. “You don’t know that.”
“I’ll have the five of you with me. You’ll make sure nothing goes wrong.” Was I being selfish saying that? Was I putting them in a more vulnerable position by asking them to do this? Maybe it would be better if I hid away with Aunt Sarah and let them deal with things, but that wasn’t the type of person I was. I needed control, and besides, my father had given me the code, not anyone else. It was me he’d entrusted with it, and I couldn’t just hand everything over to someone else to see through.
I wanted Hollan dead, and I wanted to know what was on that memory stick. It had been important enough for my father to die for, and now we had all these men willing to sacrifice their lives to either protect what was on it, or get access to that information.
“Before we can do anything else,” Isaac said, “I need to make contact with base and let them know what happened and that we’re still alive. News will have got back to them that the house has been raised to the ground, and they’ll want to know if we made it.”
Who were they? The people Isaac and the others worked for?
Isaac continued. “If they think we’re compromised, they might pull us off the job.”
Alex looked to him with a frown. “Compromised?”
“Yes, because of Darcy calling her aunt. You know he’s not going to be happy about it.”
Clay shoved his hands into his pants pockets and joined in the conversation. “We can explain it was a mistake and she didn’t understand what the repercussions might be.”
Isaac shrugged to show it didn’t matter what I’d understood. “Even so, if he thinks another team will do a better job, you know he can pull us off this one and put another team in place.”
I looked between the guys. “No, they can’t do that!”
Kingsley nodded. “I’m afraid they can.”
I didn’t want anyone else taking their places. What would happen to me then?
Lorcan spoke from the couch, his voice gruff from the pain he must still be in. “We could always lie. We don’t tell the boss about how Hollan found the house. He’s got no way of knowing. If Darcy hadn’t admitted to the phone call herself, we’d never know now, we’d just be making guesses.”
The men exchanged glances.
Alex shrugged. “Lorcan has a point.”
Isaac’s hand went to his mouth and he rubbed his fingers across his lips as though wiping something away. It was the same finger that had been inside me and with a thrill I wondered if he could still smell me on his skin. “And if he finds out the truth?”
“He won’t. None of us will tell him, and I’m sure Darcy won’t.”
I shook my head. “I won’t say a word.”
I wondered who this ‘he’ was they were all talking about. He was obviously their boss, but was he also the same person who’d taken them from their foster care homes when they’d been children? Did they resent this man for that, taking away their only chance at the possibility of finding a family to adopt them so they could go on to live normal lives, or were they thankful they’d escaped the system and gone on to live far more exciting lives than a regular adoption would have ever gi
ven them? Did they see this man as a boss, or did they see him as a father figure? I made a mental note to ask each of the guys how they felt about their upbringing when I managed to get each of them alone.
“Even if each of us keeps our mouths shut,” Kingsley said, “he might still find out. If we take Hollan into custody, Hollan himself might tell him.”
“I don’t want Hollan to live long enough to say anything to anyone,” I bit out, sudden anger flaming hot inside me.
Kingsley shook his head and I saw pity in his deep brown eyes. “That might not be your choice. We think Hollan is at the top of the food chain when it comes to the memory stick, but there may be others. We don’t want to chop the head off this one, only to find another grows back in its place. Just getting the memory stick and killing Hollan might not be the end of it. Others could still come after us, determined to get the drive back.”
Isaac raised a hand to bring him to a halt. “Speculation isn’t going to get us anywhere. But I agree that we don’t admit we know how Hollan found us in order to protect Darcy and this mission. Do we all concur?” He looked around the group. One by one, they each put up a hand.
“Agreed.” Alex raised his hand into the air.
Kingsley copied his motion. “Agreed.”
“Agreed,” Lorcan said, “but I’ll keep my hand down, if that’s okay.”
Isaac nodded. “Of course.” He looked to Clay.
Clay lifted his hand. “Sure, man. Agreed. Anything for Darcy.”
I gave him a grateful smile. I could hardly believe they were all doing this for me. The last thing I wanted was for any of them to get into trouble, but they must have seen something in me as well, or surely they’d just tell their boss the truth and have me shipped off to wherever they needed people to go to keep them safe.
“Thanks, guys.” A blush crept up my throat. Crazy how having them all watch me orgasm didn’t make me feel anywhere near as self conscious as having them being nice to me.
How many kinds of fucked up was I?
LIKED WHAT YOU READ? ‘Unraveling Darkness’ will be out on the 27th of November 2017! Check Amazon for the pre-order which will be up soon! And if you’d like to read more of Marissa Farrar’s dark romance, make sure you check out ‘Defaced: Book One in the Monster Trilogy’ which is available in ebook, paperback, and audio!
Acknowledgments
Hacking Darkness was a dip into a new genre for me—that of Reverse Harem. I’ve often written books where I’ve had to choose between the guys for the main character, and it’s been so refreshing knowing Darcy hasn’t had to do that in this story. I’m almost finished writing the first draft of book two, and I’ve loved moving her relationship forward with the guys—some more than others.
As always with a book, I couldn’t have done this on my own! Huge thanks to my first reader and fellow author, Lily Harlem, who gave me tons of great suggestions for the story. Thanks as always to my long time editor, Lori Whitwam, whose hard work always makes a huge difference to mine. I wouldn’t be able to do it without you! Thank you to my proofreaders on this book, Tammy Payne and Karey McComish, for catching those pesky typos!
Many thanks to Daqri from Covers by Combs for creating the fabulous cover for Hacking Darkness. You created exactly what I had in my head, and I love it! Can’t wait to see what the next books in the series turn out like.
And finally, thanks to everyone over at RH readers—both the readers and authors alike. I peppered you all with questions during the writing of this book, and everyone was so helpful, no matter what I asked, and I’m hugely grateful!
Finally, thank you to you, the reader, for sticking with me on this journey.
Thanks for reading!
Marissa. XXX
About the Author
Marissa Farrar has always been in love with being in love. But since she's been married for numerous years and has three young daughters, she's conducted her love affairs with multiple gorgeous men of the fictional persuasion.
The author of thirty novels, she has been a full time author for the last six years. She predominantly writes paranormal romance and urban fantasy, but has branched into contemporary fiction as well.
If you want to know more about Marissa, then please visit her website at www.marissa-farrar.blogspot.com. You can also find her at her facebook page, www.facebook.com/marissa.farrar.author or follow her on twitter @marissafarrar.
She loves to hear from readers and can be emailed at [email protected] and to stay updated on all her new Reverse Harem books, just sign up to her newsletter! https://landing.mailerlite.com/webforms/landing/e2x3e1
Also by the Author
The Monster Trilogy
DEFACED
DENIED
DELIVERED
The Mercenary Series:
SKEWED (free first novel of the series!)
WARPED
FLAWED
JUDGED
The Blood Courtesans Vampire Romance:
Stolen
The Serenity Series:
Alone (free first novel of the series!)
Buried
Captured
Dominion
Endless
THE COMPLETE SERIES BOXED SET
The Dhampyre Chronicles:
Twisted Dreams
Twisted Magic
The Spirit Shifters Series:
Autumn’s Blood (free first novel)
Saving Autumn
Autumn Rising
Autumn’s War
Avenging Autumn
Autumn’s End
THE COMPLETE SERIES BOXED SET
Contemporary Fiction Novels
NO SECOND CHANCES
DIRTY SHOTS
CUT TOO DEEP
SURVIVOR
THE SOUND OF CRICKETS
Dark Fantasy/horror novels:
UNDERLIFE
THE DARK ROAD
Hacking Darkness Page 19