Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Chapter Thirty-Four
Chapter Thirty-Five
Chapter Thirty-Six
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Chapter Forty
Chapter Forty-One
Chapter Forty-Two
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By
Scarlett Dawn
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
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All rights reserved.
Copyright 2017 © Scarlett Dawn
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ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. This book contains material protected under International and Federal Copyright Laws and Treaties. Any unauthorized reprint or use of this material is prohibited. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without express written permission from the author / publisher.
Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Chapter Thirty-Four
Chapter Thirty-Five
Chapter Thirty-Six
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Chapter Forty
Chapter Forty-One
Chapter Forty-Two
CHAPTER ONE
“Pearls are for people who think they’re rich.” My mother grabbed the necklace in my right hand and, without a care, dropped the iridescent string of beauty onto my vanity, the clatter jarring in my quiet bedroom. She leaned across my back to pick up another necklace on my table and then promptly clasped the sparkling jeweled necklace around my throat. “Diamonds are for people who are rich.”
“Mother…” Air slipped past my lips in a heavy sigh. I touched the twinkling jewels with careful fingers, staring at my reflection with disdain. “There is something to be said for restraint. We don’t need to brandish our status all the time.”
“We do at this party,” she stated, her full lips thinning. Her brown eyes narrowed, crinkling around the edges with aged attractiveness, and her delicate shoulders shuddered ever so slightly. “You know what we saw. A show of power and wealth may be all that keeps those…beasts…at bay.”
My nostrils flared as the memories bombarded my already shattered grasp on reality. Men stripping down to their nakedness. Whirlwinds of white. Then wild animals where men once stood amongst the green, green forest floor.
My lips trembled in horror. “I don’t understand why you can’t tell father what we witnessed on our trip. We could leave New City if you did. We could be safe.”
Her small left hand flittered in the air in a wiping motion, dismissing my objection with aggravation—once again. “Quit asking this of me, Mina. You need to keep what we saw to yourself. Your father is friends with the whole disturbing lot. He would have us evaluated if we said the most powerful businessmen of this world turned into unthinkable creatures. And I bet those psychologists, who would do the evaluating, are on the beasts’ payroll—or are monsters themselves.”
I swallowed on a dry throat, my gulp audible in the waiting silence. My fingers dug into the silk cushion I sat on as I gazed into the mirror and held my mother’s severe—and frightened—regard.
I eventually nodded and asked what I feared the most, my voice barely heard in the quiet, “Do you think Father is one of them?”
She instantly shook her head, her blonde hair not moving in her tightly elegant bun. “No. I’ve never once seen anything like…that. For all his faults, that isn’t one of them.” Her hands clasped my shoulders in affection, and she bent to kiss the top of my own blonde head.
I released the breath I had been holding, my chest heaving in relief. I gripped her right hand until my knuckles turned white. “I don’t want to go tonight. Tell Father I’m sick again, and you need to stay home with me.”
She placed another gentle kiss on the top of my head but shook her own with determination as she straightened and released my shoulders. “We can’t. We’ve missed the last four business parties. Your father will become suspicious if we miss another one. Tonight, we go and do what we do best. Smile and be the perfect family.”
Unbidden, my lips twitched in humor.
One perfect eyebrow rose on my mother’s face.
It was a challenge. Her will against mine.
A slow smile etched itself on my refined features. “You win.”
Her brown eyes moved heavenward in silent exasperation, but she quickly clapped her hands at me. “Stand up. Let me see you.”
“I look perfect, Mother,” I muttered.
I stood anyway, facing her, and allowed her to do her pre-party evaluation of my person. With my height at over six feet, my mother’s face was eye level with my cleavage. As her eyes scrutinized my long blonde hair, the carefully applied makeup around my blue eyes, the black gown hugging my curvy figure, my fingers still twitched as I worried if I had forgotten anything.
Finally, she nodded once with approval. “Flawless.”
My fingers relaxed down by my sides.
Knock. Knock-knock.
Our attention swiveled to my door.
<
br /> “Are my beautiful ladies ready yet?” Father called from the hallway, his voice tight with accusation. “No one is sick tonight?”
My mother glanced at me, that brow rising again.
She was right. Like always.
Father was already doubtful of our previous actions.
“Unlock,” I stated clearly, plastering on a smile.
My door clicked and the latch released.
When my father entered, Mother and I appeared the perfect picture of serenity and class. His formidable, tall form filled the doorway, his right hand on the doorknob as he held the door open. Father’s tight expression slowly cleared to reassured pleasure as he scanned our attire. He grinned with delight, his cheeks pinching. “You two look stunning this evening.” A brief flare of concern entered his gaze, meeting my stare head on. “Are you sure you’re okay to go out?”
I mentally cheered. That was real fatherly concern.
He finally bought my prior ‘illnesses.’
“I’m fine, Father. I feel splendid tonight.” I walked to his side, with confidence I didn’t feel, and slid my left arm into his right arm, linking us. With my heels on, we were eye-to-eye in height. “Shall we go? We’ll be late if Mother makes me change my necklace again.”
My mother sighed profoundly behind us—all pretended exasperation.
Father glanced down at the diamonds surrounding my neck. He snickered quietly, glancing back at his wife. “It’s a little much for a business party, don’t you think, dear?”
Mother shooed us out of my bedroom, strolling behind us, her tone clipped as she shut my door—too hard. “It’s beautiful. And I don’t want to hear another word about it, Samuel Kramer. Our daughter only has four years left until she’s twenty-five. We need to start thinking of a possible marriage match for her if she doesn’t find love soon.”
My head snapped back to her as Father continued leading me to the stairs. She had gone too far in the charade we were playing; she wasn’t as good at it as I was. Her nerves were making her babble.
Yes, I was already twenty-one years old.
By law, I had to marry by twenty-five.
But the businessmen at this party were monsters. They were not ideal in any way, and it wasn’t wise to put an idea like that into father’s head.
Mother knew it too, realizing her blunder too late as she cringed and quickly averted her eyes to her husband, waiting to see if he had been paying attention to her words. Half the time, he did not. They were no love match, married from a contract formed between their equally influential and wealthy parents. Nevertheless, they did have a fondness for one another—when it suited them.
Tonight, providence was not on our side.
Father’s gaze was thoughtful as he helped escort both my mother and me down our grand marble stairs. “Odette, I think I see the brilliance in the necklace now.” He turned, smirking in a flirtatious way at her. Attraction was never an issue between them. They had enough to fill our city townhome to the brink. It was stifling at times with my bedroom merely down the hall from theirs. “You and I do have one beautiful child together. The diamonds only enhance her charm.”
Oh, God.
If only I could fake an illness now and get away with it… Tonight would be a test of my best acting abilities if he started showing me off to all of his friends—more than he normally did. My parents were very proud of how I had turned out, both physically and mentally.
Father patted my hand over his forearm as our butler opened the front door for us to the twilight sky. “I think tonight will be great fun. I’m so glad you’re feeling better, sweetie.”
Nope. I couldn’t pull a fast faint on him.
I withheld my sigh of resignation and smiled, drawling, “Just don’t list all of my university achievements to the highest and wealthiest bidder. I hope for affection and respect in my future husband.” Most females were looking for the same so they wouldn’t be forced to marry a horrid male…and procreate.
We strolled down our walkway to our private train, our transport waiting in the pristine street. No dust or ash blew in our eyes, no considerable rubble or decaying corpses tripped our feet. New City was clean and immaculate while the world outside of our fair borders was still war-torn, no restored city quite as nice as ours. Corporations ruled our world now with the most powerful of them built in New City. Brilliant kings amongst a world full of peasants; our city was a shining beacon of hope for a structured future where lawlessness still ran rampant outside any city limits. Peasants now thirsted for law and peace when once before humans had argued vehemently about mundane political issues. The final war had opened their eyes to what greed, hate, and disorder could destroy. After the war, true anarchy and morbid devastation were still the current status quo to a majority of the world’s remaining population.
But those brilliant corporate kings…
They were monsters.
Freaks of nature of the terrifying sort.
Father released my arm as I started up the black iron stairs of our hovering transport, the clean blue energy glowing underneath on the road. My mother followed behind me with my father holding her hips to steady her way up the stairs.
Or to stare at her ass.
I knew what his earlier playful banter meant.
I’d need to wear earplugs tonight.
After I partied with monsters.
CHAPTER TWO
Baker Corporation was a vortex of perfectly placed flame candles, the dancing shadows creating intimacy, and vibrant men and women embellished in their finery, the ruffles of dresses swooshing with each step taken. Scarlet and gold were the new season’s trendy colors for women’s apparel, paired with dark navy tuxedos resting on powerful shoulders for the men. All reminded me of flamboyant peacocks in the wild, as their heads darted back and forth, searching and posturing for the corporate kings. I could have told the wealthy and distinguished that the monsters weren’t here yet, my eyes searching as much as theirs were.
Avoidance was my new plan for the evening, my parents already having done their polite rounds of bravado with their business associates—with me in tow. But to evade evil, one must know where the gloom was the deepest inside the lair of the wicked and unnatural. Beasts lurked in the dark. Those horrifying creatures were afraid of the light, their one weakness being caught in a spotlight not of their own making.
I stopped to stare at the ice sculpture in the middle of the room, absently refilling my glass with the champagne that ran down the ten foot tall sculpture. The chilling artwork was a tiger on the prowl, his icy fangs bared in a snarl at the guests, and his long claws extended as a warning. Brilliant light blazed from within the frozen carving, shining through the ice, and making it clear it was a brawny and lethal white tiger.
I lifted my glass to my lips, my right hand trembling around the flute during my small sip, unable to peer away from the painted blue eyes of the tiger.
Finn Baker. Of Baker Corporation.
The man who owned the business I stood in.
He was the white tiger.
I had witnessed his transformation myself.
Along with four other dominant men beside him.
I shuddered and fought the memory away, my feet leading me past the frightening centerpiece. Anything to keep from reliving that day when the world turned even more deadly. The afternoon my mother and I hovered high over a section of the forest outside New City, enjoying the scenic view with festive, old binoculars a kindly antique store owner sold us. Instead of innocent fun between mother and daughter, we had grown old and weary in a blink as we beheld an entirely new truth brought forth.
Truth wasn’t all. Sanity was.
Ours had cracked a little that day, only slowly piecing itself back together as time passed. Acceptance wouldn’t come soon, but it was our truth now.
Monsters were real.
My steps faltered when one of the monsters entered the room. The most powerful man in the entire world. The high king amongst the pe
asants. All greedy eyes instantly turned in his direction, the peacocks feasting on his arrival.
Mr. Godric King. Of King Corporation.
If only the greedy peacocks knew he was the lion.
They would flee from the hunger hidden beneath his beautiful golden eyes. His gorgeous exterior would shed, and the beast would feast on them.
I turned my gaze away from the fraud and walked on tiptoes so my heels didn’t clatter on the tiling, the nearest exit close by. The muscles in my thighs tensed as I swerved in and out of the elite of New City, some with swords attached to their backs fitted over tuxes and others with knives strapped to their biceps if their dresses hindered easy access. All blades worn tonight bore the tiger emblem etched into the steel, the weapons purchased from the Baker Corporation, a silent show of respect for the man whose party they currently attended, and the largest and most reputable weapons distributor in the world.
A monster with unlimited weapons…
All at Mr. Finn Baker’s fingertips. Or claws.
The possibilities for devastation were terrifying.
No one noticed my quiet slink from the elegant room, all the peacocks hurrying to catch Mr. King’s attention first. My father was one of them, dragging my reluctant mother with him. Her eyes were wide with terror, but I wasn’t worried for her immediate safety. She would do anything for her own survival, her will formidable against any person—or creature—who dared test her.
Her former thieving maid would attest to this—handless as she now was.
My shoulders sagged in liberation as the bright lighting cascaded down on the grand balcony. Even the carpet the color of fresh blood and the many sharp blades showcased on Baker Corporation’s walls couldn’t dampen my enjoyment of escaping the party. I milled through the few guests who were standing on the large landing. These were citizens of New City who were just like me. Each allowing themselves a small reprieve from the twisted dogmatic bolstering of the leading business executives.
I sipped from my glass and examined an oddity in profile, a man who stood at the marble railing. I had never seen him before, and certainly not at one of these parties. His gaze trained down on the atrium of Baker Corporation. But his interested regard below us didn’t hold my attention. His attire had my eyes dragging down his frame, captivated at the lack of decorum he exhibited dressed as he was.
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