by Rina Kent
I remove my hand from her shoulder slowly to not alert her. As soon as I let her go, the door swings open. Heels clack behind me before Mist’s fuming face comes into view. She stares between me and Zoe. Tears stream down her cheeks as she slouches on the floor, shaking. She’s not even attempting to stand.
When I crouch to help her up, Mist slaps my hand away and hauls Zoe to her feet. Apparently out of her daze, the latter wipes her cheeks.
“Are you all right?” Mist inspects her like a mother measures her kid after an accident.
Zoe nods, head bowed. Then, she runs out of the storage room without sparing me a glance.
The moment the door shuts behind her, Mist slams her fist in my face. Now, that’s a punch that fucking hurts.
“What is wrong with you?” She shoves me. My shoulders hit a shelf and the iron bar digs in my skin. “Since when do you bully the girls?”
I never did. Actually, I never touched any of the ones who work here. But with Zoe? Fucking hell. She stirred the real monster inside me and now it can’t be tamed or put back in its cage.
The reason I’m not ruining Mist’s face for punching me is because I’m deep in thought. Zoe’s panic mode when I forced her on her knees nags at me and leaves a sour taste in my mouth.
What the bloody hell happened to her?
Mist clutches me by the collar so I’m staring at her hardened hazel eyes. I always thought they were muddy greens like those in abandoned forests.
“Listen here, Shadow. No one forces any of the girls under my watch. I don’t care that you’re special to Ghost. If you do something to Zoe, I’ll fucking castrate you.”
I yank her hand away with distaste. “She doesn’t need your protection, old hag. She can fend for herself just fine.” I motion at the burning wound in my neck. “Do you know if she has been through some shit?”
She folds her arms under her chest and spares me a condescending glare. “Even if I do, why would I tell you?”
Of course, she’d say that. She lives to antagonise me. “Once an old hag, always an old fucking hag.”
She points a finger at my chest. “Leave my girls out of your selfish existence. If you want to crash and burn, do it alone.”
With another pointed glare, she leaves.
I’ll find out what happened to Zoe on my own.
Now that I have her in my sights, I won’t leave her alone. She should’ve never given me a taste, now I’m craving more.
She calls me a monster.
Well, monsters are never fucking satiated.
Chapter Eleven
I stirred a monster and he’ll stop at nothing to destroy me.
My hand trembles even though my arm is interlaced with Scar’s as I descend the stairs to Le Salon’s club area. I’m wearing a simple unflattering black dress while Scar is in a fuchsia pink gown that barely reaches the middle of her thighs.
Since that encounter with Shadow a week ago, Scar hasn’t left my side. She hasn’t allowed me to be alone with Natalie either because, in Scar’s words, she’s a weakling.
No idea if Mist put Scar to the task of being my bodyguard or if Scar can even protect me, but I keep hanging onto her arm anyway. She seems like my only shield, and I need a damn shield.
Who would’ve thought someone like me would need protection. I was arrogant to believe I used to be Elle’s protector. I could be Liam’s shield, too.
But now…
My gaze meets Shadow’s mischievous one. He’s sitting in the dim corner of the bar, but because I’m hyper aware of him, I can still make him out. His posture is neutral and both his biceps rest on the bar showcasing the snarling tigers. Once he has my attention, his lips pull in a slow grin. I’m frozen by the amount of darkness a smile can show. His is so fucked up and chilling to the bones.
Sometimes, I wonder if I’m the only one who sees the monster behind his eyes.
He taps his neck where I bit him. Unlike me, he doesn’t bother to bandage it as if he’s wearing it as a badge.
I scowl at him, but my hold tightens around Scar’s arm. I don’t know what the hell is wrong with me. I should be avoiding him. He proved to be sick and unhinged in the storeroom, but what’s the point if he’s already gotten under my skin?
For the past nights, all I could dream about was wrestling with him and kissing him until I taste blood. Every morning, I wake up wet.
Apparently, I’m sick, too.
I knew it from my days with Nick. His gentleness just wasn’t doing it. I had orgasms, but they weren’t enough. Never enough. When I begged him to go harder on me, Nick looked at me with so much disgust that still fills me with shame.
All I keep thinking about since Shadow trapped me in the storeroom is how far we would have gone if he didn’t force me on my knees. A twisted part of me craves the depravity he offers. Maybe it’s also because of that part that I stare at the marks he engraved on my neck in the mirror. The depraved longing I see in the mirror shames me.
The reason why I need a shield isn’t to keep Shadow away, it’s to protect myself from these endless temptations crowding my head.
“Ignore him,” Scar whispers as she throws a passing customer her sweetest smile. “The more you stare at him, the more he won’t leave you alone.”
I don’t think he’ll ever leave me alone.
Mist assured me that she won’t let him do anything to me. Julian takes Shadow away every day. Scar never spends whole nights outside our room anymore.
All that isn’t enough.
He’ll find a chance and he’ll corner me.
My nerves are snapping all over the place. I can’t tell if I’m dreading or anticipating that moment. The line is blurring and I have no idea what to do.
I wish Elle were here so I could hug her to death. She’s not good at any type of comforting, but her presence is enough to wean the chaos running rampant in my head.
Shadow pushes to his feet with predatory ease. My heartbeat throbs and a shudder shoots across my spine. To my doom, it’s not fear or even dread. It’s a vile, cruel feeling.
Anticipation.
It recoils beneath my skin and rushes through my veins. My body tightens as if screaming at me to meet him halfway and finish what we started.
My body is a suicidal idiot.
Scar stops and cuts him a glare. The other girls barely look at Shadow or Julian in the eye, but Scar? The girl is so tiny but never backs down. I admire that about her, probably because I thought I was like her before.
Julian appears from behind Shadow. Their height are about the same but Mist’s favourite bodyguard is bulkier. While his dark brown eyes and hair give him a ruggedly handsome look, the set of his jaw and solemn features hints at a sinister, mysterious man.
He’s silent and barely appears in public, but he’s part of Mist’s inner circle. I can’t get much of a clue about him except that: A— he gives off a dark energy and therefore should be avoided and B— he’s close to Shadow and once again, should be avoided.
Julian taps Shadow’s shoulder. The second the latter turns, I attempt to run in the opposite direction. Maybe I can hide with Natalie.
Scar halts me by clutching my arm in a steel hold that doesn’t fit her tiny frame. “He loves hunting. Running away is the worst thing you can do with someone like Shadow. You’ll provoke him into chasing you.”
“You sure know a lot about him.” I don’t mean to snap, but it comes out that way.
Her expression is unreadable. “I ought to.”
A strange, unfamiliar tightening grips my chest. Does that mean she and Shadow had something? Maybe they still do. Did he wrestle her to the ground and bite her like he did me? A sour taste of betrayal fills my mouth. I loathe myself for it.
Shadow and I are nothing. Why would I feel betrayal for nothing?
“I’ll start my shift.” I remove my arm from hers more violently than I intended.
Once I’m behind the bar, I release a long breath. Julian took Shadow away. I get another night
of peace.
But I can’t keep playing freaking Russian roulette every day.
The only thing that has worked since that night is that Johnny stuck to the plan.
I haven’t seen his crew around, but I heard from the guards and the girls’ gossip that ‘we’ are allies with President Joe now. Ghost – whoever that is – struck a deal to sell a share of the factory to President Joe.
Since I can’t keep waiting for Shadow to come ruin me like he promised, and I need to get on with my revenge, there has to be a change of plans.
I had hoped to let President Joe bathe in his success for a longer time so when I take it away, it’ll hurt like hell. However, I can’t continue playing this game of nerves with Shadow. The next time he does something crazy, I might do something crazier in return.
Eye for an eye.
There’s no way I’m losing any battles for him.
I take a discreet look at my surroundings. The barmaid is busy chatting with a customer, but no one else is in my immediate surroundings. I retrieve my phone and send a message to Liam. ‘At one.’
He should understand that code.
We used to send it back and forth when either of us wanted to escape the house or the school’s confinement.
I go back to waitressing like a bee. Work drives some of the tension away and prevents me from thinking. I can’t keep having daydreams of those dark, overcast eyes peering into my soul while Shadow does things to me.
Dirty, unhinged things.
Then he’ll end up ruining me. After all, he’s like my father. Destruction is in their genes. Peace confuses them.
Beside my revenge, I promised myself that I’ll never be with a man like my father or be a victim like my mother.
Why in the living hell am I attracted to Shadow then?
Am I mentally deranged?
I push the hazy thoughts away and tend to customers. Natalie crosses my path twice, and like the entire week, she bows her head and scurries away. She must blame herself for what happened that night with Johnny even after I told her she shouldn’t.
I hope she’ll come around because this place is becoming more suffocating without her calm energy.
Actually, it doesn’t really matter. Once I make a plan with Liam, I’ll leave this place and never look back.
My fingers trace the bandage on my neck. Shadow marked me twice. I don’t want to find out what he’ll do if he gets a third chance.
“Bollocks!”
I sigh at Liam’s anger. He can be such a mule sometimes. Scratch that, he’s a mule most of the time. I guess the three of us are.
With my sweetest smile, I inch closer until I’m thigh to thigh with him. We’re meeting in the lake house Mrs Adler left for us. Actually, she didn’t leave it for us. She gave us the keys since we were children. Liam, Elle and I are saving up to buy the entire property from her estranged son.
In the meantime, we come here whenever we like. It used to be our sanctuary when we were children. Amongst these cushions, Liam taught us our first punches and Elle defeated me for the first time — and every time since, basically.
“I’ll be out soon,” I say in a honey tone. “Promise.”
His green eyes stare down at me. They’ve always been the dark of my bright one like some sort of a yin and yang. “Again, bollocks. You shouldn’t have gone into this mission in the first place. If they find out you’re snitching on their drug business, you’ll be killed just to set an example.”
“Don’t you think I know that?” My lips tremble and I clamp them shut. “But I have to do this.”
“Elle is getting restless.” His voice is calm, toneless. “She’s distracted by her championship, but once that’s over, she won’t leave you be.”
He’s using guilt to make me backpedal. Liam is my brother, but he can be scary when his mind is set on something. I don’t want to imagine what it feels like to be interrogated by him.
“I’m trying to leave and I will. So instead of arguing, how about you help me come up with a plan so I can leave sooner?”
His fingers tap on his thigh. “What did you have in mind?”
I grin. “I only need to find the factory’s location, right? So maybe I should follow one of the members.”
“No. Risky.” He leans over and plants his elbows on his thighs. “We’ve been trying to do that for a long time and it doesn’t work. You’ll be compromised.”
I mimic Liam’s position and place my elbows on my thighs. “Do you think Mist’s office has anything useful? I did my research and there are no cameras in there.”
“If there are no cameras then there isn’t anything of value.”
“Or it could be a deflation method.”
“Whatever you do, avoid direct confrontation.”
I laugh and do a salute. “That’s my M.O, Lieutenant!”
Except with Shadow, damn me.
Liam ruffles my hair, and I swat his hand away.
“Hey, don’t treat me like a kid.”
“Nah.” He grins. “You’ll always be that kid who collected frogs and threw them in Maria’s room.”
I smile back. “She bloody deserved it.”
“Damn straight.” He pauses for a second. “You know how proud I was when you chose to become like me, right? Both you and Elle are the only family I have, but you’re my mate for choosing the law route.”
I bite my lower lip in self-loathing. I hate to disappoint Liam or admit that my intentions aren’t as noble as his. I don’t deserve to wear that uniform when I’m plotting through illegal methods.
“Liam…”
“That’s why I don’t like that you’re risking your uniform for this.” He narrows his eyes. “Whatever this is.”
I rub his arm and give a cheeky smile. “All will be well.”
I’m not sure whether I’m lying to him or to myself. I don’t even want to think about what will happen to my future in the forces. If I still have one.
“Isn’t that thing choking you?” Liam motions at the scarf around my neck.
An awkward laugh bubbles from my lips. “I’m cold.”
If he catches a sniff of what that monster did, he’ll raise hell.
Liam goes back to tapping his finger against his thigh. He doesn’t believe me, and he seems to be contemplating how to get the information out of me.
My phone vibrates, and I swear I can kiss whoever interrupted Liam’s chain of thoughts.
A text from Scar.
Why are you out of Le Salon?
I type back.
I needed to buy a few things. Why?
There’s a long uncomfortable pause before she replies.
Your phone has a GPS and Shadow disappeared. Come back. Now.
I jerk up, my phone almost cluttering to the ground. Son of a gun. Do they track people’s locations without their permission? They’re not the bloody police.
Liam pounces into a stiff posture. His shoulders are squared and his hand reaches back — for a gun. “What’s wrong?”
“I’m being monitored. I have to go back.” I open the door of the small lake house.
The eerie night stakes claim outside. The lake rests in a black, endless silence. No moonlight shines on the surface so it appears like dark bottomless ink. Only the small hisses of air through the tall, bent trees can be heard. They’re like ghosts of the past, suffocating my breathing.
I need to be out of here before Shadow finds Liam and –
A rustle sounds from across the dark lake. Call it instinct, paranoia or a sixth sense, but I know it’s Shadow.
There’s only one boat and it’s wrapped around a pole on our side of the lake. That should delay Shadow’s arrival.
I turn towards Liam and push him to the boat. “Leave.”
He resists. “What about you?”
“I’ll be fine. You need to go! Both of us could be compromised.”
That seems to convince him since he gives a curt nod and heads to the deck. I follow him while keeping a
close eye on the lake and our surroundings. Shadow would need a boat to get here, so I’m safe. At least I try to feel that way.
The sound of troubled water fills the air.
Shadow is legit crazy and that makes him impossible to predict. I have no idea what he’s planning.
I usher Liam into the old boat and even push it, creating a disturbance and a splash in the previously calm water. As soon as Liam sails away, my heartbeat calms a little.
There’s still the sound of the boat in the water, but no sign of Shadow.
I approach the deck to make sure Liam arrived to the shore.
The water is pitch black like the night surrounding it. Silence pierces the air. I release a breath when Liam heads to the main door. The metal clinks and creaks in protest when he opens it.
Realisation hits me like a hurricane. What if Shadow is waiting for Liam outside? What if –
The water splashes and a hand clutches my ankle. I scream as Shadow’s head spurts to the surface.
Overcast eyes swallow me in as he grins. “Gotcha, beautiful.”
Chapter Twelve
That thing about stirring a monster? He’s standing right in front of me in all his wet glory.
Shadow shakes his head like some animal and water splash on my face. Curls of dark blond hair fall on his forehead in a perfectly imperfect mess.
His white T-shirt has become see through, and is sticking to taught tattooed muscles. The jeans hang low on his hips, teasing to a defined V line that points like an arrow to his groin. I can’t help following the water trails that snake down from his neck and his biceps to underneath his trousers.
I mentally shake myself from his spell. How could I be so transfixed with him? He’s arrogant, remorseless, and without any ounce of humanity — beside the vain hope Nonna still hangs to about her precious Angelo.
Angel, my arse. He’s a demon bred by Satan himself.
Despite drenching with water, Shadow’s undivided attention falls on me. Under the dim light coming from the lake house, his eyes are darker and more ominous.