Cards of Love: The Emperor: A Dark Romance

by Fawn Bailey

  "No!"

  "Yes," I hissed.

  She was moaning so loudly it was echoing in the fucking room.

  "Okay," she whispered suddenly, and I pushed deeper into her, making her call my name.

  "Okay what?" I asked, one hand on her tits, the other knuckle deep in her hot cunt.

  "Okay, you can do that to me, Daddy."

  I laughed out loud. "You're such a good fucking girl, tesoro. Ready to be fucked?"

  "Yes," she breathed.

  I pulled my hand out and she cried out at the loss of my fingers. In moments, I'd pulled my cock free and positioned it at her dripping pussy.

  "There we go," I said, pushing the tip inside. "Is that enough, Ginger? Is that enough cock for Daddy's hungry little slut?"

  "No," she rasped. "I need more cock, Daddy, please!"

  I went deeper, her walls tightening on my cock until she let out a guttural moan. Wrapping my fingers around her neck tightly, I squeezed her just a little bit. I could tell she was close, skirting right next to the edge with a chance that she would just tumble over any second.

  "Fucking beautiful," I said in her ear. "Just look at you, you little whore. You'd do anything right now. Anything I told you."

  "Always," she whispered, and I started fucking her, in and out, motions that made her let out soft little screams. "Always. Anything."

  "Always?"

  "Whenever you want, I'll always do what you tell me. I want you to have control. I want you to decide. I want to belong to you. I want you to own me. My life belongs to you."

  Her words made me stop, but her desperate mewls made me start fucking her again. My cock was throbbing, my heart swelling with the love I had to her. It was incomparable to any other feeling I'd ever had. I was head over heels, irrevocably, unforgivably in love with her. And she was never leaving my side. She'd given me her free will, her fucking life, to do with as I pleased. It was the truest form of belonging I'd ever seen.

  "My whore," I said against the shell of her ear. "My beautiful little treasure. My Ginger. My wife-to-be. I love you. Love you. Fucking love you, Ginger."

  "Daddy," she cried out. "I love you too."

  "Even when I don't let you come?" I tortured her further. "Even when I fuck you without giving you a single orgasm? Do you love me then, Ginger?"

  She bit her lips, her nails digging into the sheets. I knew the signs, knew she was trying to stop the oncoming orgasm from wrecking her body. I was so fucking proud of her.

  "Always."

  "You're going to hate me in a second," I warned her before starting to fuck her harder than ever.

  I couldn't have stopped if I'd wanted to. She was a warm, wet little hole, my delicious little treat, my forbidden fruit, my fucking property. I knew I was going to come, but she didn't get to. She was just going to take it. Take me.

  I moaned when I felt my cock leaking, staying still while she cried out.

  "Keep fucking me, Daddy," she begged.

  I grabbed her hair, pulling her head back until her desperate eyes connected with mine.

  "Mine," I growled proprietorially, kissing her lips like a man possessed while I emptied my cock in her cunt.

  She started sobbing, no tears coming out, just the moment catching her unaware. I'd done this before, and watching her come apart while I filled her made me hard all over again. My innocent, sweet little whore. She was such a fucking beauty.

  I pulled out gently and she mewled, so I pushed back in with just the tip, barely stroking her soaked walls.

  "Don't stop," she begged. "Please, Daddy, keep going."

  "You can't take any more or I would, tesoro. I swear to God I would."

  I pulled out again and she gasped, her body giving out when I let go.

  But I was back in seconds, laying her down on the bed gently, her pussy leaking with my seed.

  "You're okay," I told her gently. "It's okay. I'm right here, and I'll help you."

  "Okay," she whispered, her eyes faraway.

  God, she was a fucking sight for sore eyes when she fell apart like that.

  I kissed her lips more gently than I ever had, and after a few moments she started responding, hungry for more.

  "Did you like that?" I asked her, and she nodded. "You like it when I torture you, tesoro?"

  "Yes," she admitted. "I love it. Very much."

  "Good girl."

  In that moment, holding her in my arms, I knew I'd found my happily ever after. She was it for me, the end of the line. She was what I'd been searching for my entire life, and I was never going to stop loving her.

  "I love you, Ginger," I whispered in her ear.

  "I love you more, Daddy," she replied before her heavy eyes shut.

  20

  Ginger

  I jumped up from the bed, grabbing a sheet and wrapping it around my body.

  Ryker didn't seem concerned at all, rising at a leisurely pace, putting on his boxers in full view of my sister.

  My heart was pounding.

  She was really here.

  I turned my eyes to her, blushing fiercely when she smirked at me.

  She was beautiful. Tall and sexy, with long black hair and those striking blue eyes, she reminded me of Snow White. Her skin was paler than ever, unmarred. She looked like a vixen. She wasn't the little girl I remembered. My sister was all grown up.

  She also wasn't Astor.

  "What the fuck?" I asked her, coming closer to make sure I was seeing right. "You're not Astor."

  "No," she purred. "Took you a long time to figure that out, didn't it?"

  "I should’ve known. I should’ve known from the way you dotted your i's."

  "Little hearts. Just like I used to do it."

  "Allegra," I said, a warning tone to my voice. "Is… is Astor dead?"

  "No," she replied, and a huge weight lifted off my shoulders.

  "How? They said nobody was saved from the fire."

  "I don't know everything. But when I got out of the asylum—that fucking hellhole—I went to see Jonathan Smith, just like you."

  "And?" I asked, my eyes imploring her to tell me everything.

  Deep down, I was thoroughly confused. Why was she pretending to be Astor? Was she as dangerous as I thought all those years ago, or was this all some kind of crazy coincidence? Surely not.

  "He told me he helped Astor that night," she said. "He's the only one who knows I'm not her. And you two, I suppose."

  "But why? Why would you pretend to be her?"

  "Because I'm going to kill anyone who wanted to hurt her," she said simply.

  I stared at her with my eyes wide open. "What do you mean?" I asked. "You're talking in riddles, Allegra."

  "Lower your voice," she hissed. "Nobody can know who I am."

  "Why?" Ryker cut in. "You even lied to me. You never told me your real name. I don't understand why you did it. I thought we trusted each other."

  I glared at him over my shoulder. I hated them being in the same room, especially with how confusing the entire situation was.

  "You really don't know anything, do you?" Allegra asked softly. "You've done no digging. You don't even know why the fire happened."

  "Because you made it happen," I accused, my voice shaky. "You killed our parents!"

  "I did what I had to do," she threw back with a sneer, and my blood froze in my veins.

  Until then, I really was convinced she wasn't guilty, but she'd practically admitted it.

  "How could you do that?" I whispered. "Kill somebody… in cold fucking blood. Your parents. Our parents. You ruined so many lives, Allegra. How could you do that? How could I be so selfish?"

  She took a step toward me, and I noticed she was shaking just as badly as I was. For a second, I was convinced she was going to slap me, but she seemed to pull herself back together, taking a deep, calming breath.

  "You should’ve done your research, Ginger," she said. "But you did always keep your eyes firmly shut when it came to seeing the truth. What do you remembe
r of our parents?"

  "They were good people. They took care of us."

  She laughed out loud and I stared at her in confusion.

  "You have no idea what they were going to do," she told me, her voice breaking over the words.

  First the shaking, now this. They were the first signs of vulnerability, of cracks in her facade.

  "What were they going to do?" Ryker asked, stepping behind me and placing a hand on my hip. "You need to stop talking in riddles, Ast—Allegra. Tell us the truth."

  "If you can handle it." She smirked. "Our parents were monsters, Ginger. They wanted to kill Astor. Do you even realize that?"

  "Kill her?" I let out a shocked laugh. "That's just not true. They loved her more than the both of us together."

  "Exactly," she said slowly. "It would be a big sacrifice. But they were supposed to make one. Didn't you ever wonder why there were no other kids in Hollyhock, Ginger? Didn't you ever wonder why we weren't allowed to leave?"

  "What? We were homeschooled, but we were allowed to leave. We would've gone off to college eventually anyway."

  "That's what we thought." Allegra shook her head. "They would've never let us go. Do you remember that night when you tried to go out?"

  I did, and I could tell she knew by the way my shoulders slumped and I shivered. I still had the scars from when our mother hit me with a belt over and over again.

  "They freaked out," Allegra said. "We weren't allowed out of Hollyhock. They were going to keep us there forever."

  "But why? Why would they be like that?"

  "Did Jonathan tell you anything?" She sighed at my blank expression. "I figured. In some way, he was the worst of the bunch. He knew what they were doing, but he never tried to stop them."

  "Stop what?" Ryker demanded, his grip on me tightening.

  "Our parents were fucking insane," Allegra spat. "Just like the rest of that godforsaken town. They believed in curses, in being damned, destined to suffer. There was a curse placed on the town, do you remember, Ginger?"

  "Yes," I said, vaguely recalling some talk of it, always in hushed tones. "Centuries ago. A gypsy from the traveling circus cursed Hollyhock when a local man raped her in the woods."

  "They all believed that. All of them. They had yearly sacrifices—little kids, like us—to keep the curse at bay."

  "W-what? That can't be true! Allegra, that's fucking insane."

  "It's the truth," she snapped, tears in her eyes. "I overheard them. They were going to kill Astor. They were going to fucking kill her."

  "Our parents would never…."

  Then I remembered the night when I'd sneaked out, really thought about it.

  How my mother had punished me cruelly. That my father never spoke up about the way she was hurting me. The threats.

  It was the only time I'd seen them like that. They hid it well, but was it possible those were their true personalities? That they would've killed their own child in favor of some old superstition?

  "They would," Allegra said brokenly. "They were going to. Only days before the fire I set. The bonfire. They were going to take me with them, watch Astor burn."

  "That's just horrendous," Ryker said. "Who would do that to their own child?"

  "They were superstitious. The whole town is riddled with it, stupid people who believe in curses. That's why I like you, Ryker. You never believed in such nonsense."

  "But you did. You believed in it. Like the stone."

  "What stone?" I asked, looking between the two of them.

  "La Bellezza Maledetta," they said in unison, and Allegra smiled with a hint of sadness.

  "I am my parents' daughter," she admitted. "I believed the diamond was cursed. And I wanted to steal it from you, Ryker. That way I wouldn't be cursed. But I could sell it to the townsfolk of Hollyhock, fucking curse them again. I wanted them to burn for what they did, and I could never deliver on it. But maybe, if the stone really was cursed, it could do it for me."

  She laughed, but it was a sad sound, and I just stared at her, seeing her in a completely new light.

  "You were so distracted that night," she said slowly, looking at me. "I was wearing Astor's shirt, and you thought I was her. I just let you think that, and it worked in my favor. Whoever would want to hurt her would come after me."

  "You tried to save her," I whispered. "So they'd come after you, not her."

  She nodded.

  "Where is she?" I demanded. "Where is Astor now?"

  "Safe. I promised to keep everything secret until Hollyhock is rid of the people who wanted her dead."

  "But… she's alive? She's okay?"

  "She is." She nodded, offering me a small smile. "I haven't seen her since the fire. Sometimes she sends letters. She sent some to you too. I kept them all."

  She pulled another cardboard box out of her coat and handed it to me. My fingers shook as I opened it. My sister's handwriting stared at me from the inside, the i's dotted normally. Tears stung my eyes.

  "But why would you send me those cryptic messages?" I asked her shakily. "How could you make me feel so afraid?"

  "Because, you ruined my fucking life, Ginger. And I wanted you to be afraid."

  Fear washed over me, but was soon replaced by regret that reached down to my bones.

  "The asylum," I whispered. "You were sent to the asylum because of me."

  "Yes. I suffered in there. Fucking suffered. I had to set it on fire. It was the only way to get out there."

  "But a woman died. An innocent woman died."

  "Innocent?" She laughed. "She wasn't fucking innocent. She was the head of the whole thing. You ever wonder why a small town like Hollyhock had an asylum?"

  I shook my head.

  "They put everyone in there who didn't agree with their crazy fucking logic," she spat. "Kids. Old people. Every-fucking-one who had some sense, so they wouldn't tell anyone about the crazy shit that went down in Hollyhock."

  "I still can't believe it." I shook my head. "Jonathan would’ve told me all this."

  "He's riddled with guilt," she said. "He was going to go through with it, you know. Killing Astor. I had to threaten him, tell him I'd kill him too unless he saved her."

  "And he did," I whispered.

  "He did." She nodded. "He got her to safety and kept my secret. Didn't tell a soul which sister I really was."

  "Allegra, I never wanted you to be sent away."

  "You did. You didn't give a shit about me. You never came to see me. Do you even realize the last time I saw you was right after the fire?"

  She was right. I couldn't stomach to look at her after. But I didn't know any of the stuff she'd just dumped on me.

  "I couldn't," I managed, shame weighing heavily on me. "I'm sorry, Allegra. I didn't know. I didn't know why you did it."

  "You told them I was insane," she said, the pain in her voice unmissable. "You told them I deserved to be locked up."

  "I didn't have a choice!" I cried. "They said you'd go to jail if I didn't! I tried to fucking save you, Allegra. Even when I believed you were guilty."

  "So they made you say it?"

  "They said I had no other choice. Jonathan too."

  "That bastard," she hissed. "I fucking knew he wanted me locked up. He was so afraid of me. You know how scared he was when I got out of the asylum? He gave me so much money. Filthy, bloodstained money to keep my mouth shut."

  She raised her head proudly and said, "I'm going to kill him first."

  "You can't kill anyone. You need to move on."

  "Never. Not until that town is razed to the ground."

  She was clearly obsessed. There was no talking sense into her.

  Ryker squeezed my hip, and I looked at him for help.

  "Look, why don't we sit down," he said. "Explain everything to us from the start."

  "Okay," Allegra agreed. "But you'd better believe me. It sounds like a nightmare, I know, but trust me, it's the fucking truth."

  21

  Allegra

  S
even years ago

  It was going to happen that night.

  I knew I couldn't put it off for much longer. My head and my heart hurt just thinking about it, but I had to do it to save my sisters. Even if it meant sacrificing my own life in the process.

  Knowing I would pay for what I was about to do was the hardest part of it all. I didn't care about our parents anymore, couldn't even pretend like I gave a shit about them. They'd used us, all three of us, for their own gain. And it was going to end that night. It was all going to go up in flames—literally.

  My sister's life depended on me doing the right thing. I'd perfected the plan over the past seven months. I hadn't told anyone, knowing it was better that Astor and Ginger blamed me for what was inevitably going to happen. I knew it would hurt them too much to know what our parents were going to do, Ginger especially. She was the oldest, and she believed them almost blindly. I didn't want her to have the same sense of betrayal I'd experienced when I found out what they had done.

  My life had been pretty normal until that fateful day.

  I'd had nightmares most of my childhood. They weren't recurring dreams, but they were scary nonetheless, and I stopped counting the times I woke up crying, lying in my bed with a layer of sweat covering my feverish skin. That night it had been especially bad, and I needed someone to comfort me. I had just turned twelve, and although I was a little embarrassed about needing to be reassured, I wanted my Mom. I wanted her to tell me everything was going to be all right, to sing me to sleep like she had so many times before.

  I padded down the stairs, clutching my stuffed bunny to my chest. There was nobody in the kitchen or the living room, so I followed the sounds down the basement stairs. I peeked through the latch in the door, watching with curiosity as my parents spoke to some other people from Hollyhock.

  I loved our little town, so quaint, picturesque and quiet. It felt like a family, all living together in that small town, and I liked that very much.

  It seemed as if half of Hollyhock was in our basement that night.

  Tall pillar candles around the room illuminated the dark space, casting long shadows on the floor and walls. It was a little bit eerie, and a shiver raced down my spine as I watched what was happening.