by Vi Carter
“What happened?” Hannah can barely contain herself as she sits down beside Jessie on my bed. I join them, kicking off my shoes.
“I found out nothing.” I start with the bad news.
“Explain the drinking.” Hannah has that same excitement in her blue eyes that I saw earlier.
“He was just back from the wake and he needed a drink, so we talked at the bar.”
“So you did talk?” Jessie raises a perfectly arched brown eyebrow.
I can feel my face heat up. “It was more that he was rude, I was trying to get something out of him, but it wasn’t a good time.”
Hannah nods and tilts her head. Jessie doesn’t look convinced.
“So we have nothing. Again.” Jessie slides off my bed.
“He is taking me to dinner tonight, so I have another opportunity to quiz him.”
Hannah’s eyes grow so big and she claps her hands. I sometimes think she forgets this is a competition, her joy is real.
“A date?”
No. Dinner,” I respond quickly while grabbing her hands to stop her from clapping. She is making me nervous. “It means nothing,” I add quickly.
“It’s an opportunity that you have to use this time.” Jessie’s cool voice is a douse of water on Hannah’s excitement.
“I will. But I don’t have anything to wear.”
Jessie without my permission walks over to my double-door walk-in closet that I know is filled with gowns and dresses. She spreads out both her hands.
“You have loads.”
Wear something tight.
“I was thinking of something a little more distracting,” I say and can feel the heat in my cheeks.
Jessie smiles. “Oh, I like how you think.”
I feel guilty because I’m not sure if I’m wearing it to distract him or to seek his approval.
“Like seduce him.” Hannah wiggles her eyebrows.
“No, just have his mind wandering.” I feel cheap now as I say it out loud.
“Let me see what I have.” Jessie leaves the room and Hannah doesn’t hold back on her excitement.
“You have great boobs, maybe have something low cut.” She’s nodding and smiling like it’s a great idea.
The idea of having my boobs hanging out in front of Lucas has me laughing. “No way. I just meant something a little more fitted.”
“What’s he like?” Hannah’s voice is soft and I can see myself in her now. Waiting to hear the fairy tale. Picturing him all charming behind closed doors.
“He’s… Intense. Very handsome up close… that’s when he’s not been completely rude and arrogant. But sometimes he’s soft and …”
Hannah sighs, all dreamy.
“Intense.” I finish on.
She’s smiling. Guilt swirls in my chest. She deserves her prince, and that isn’t Lucas. I’m not sure what he is. The only thing I know is that he is emptying me of all my previous notions and refilling it with him.
“Okay, I found three that I think will blow his mind.”
Jessie arrives in and Hannah claps her hands in excitement.
After what feels like hours in my room discussing makeup and the ‘date’ my head is ready to explode. I’ve settled on a black fitted dress. It hugs my body and touches the floor. No skin is showing, yet everything is. I’ve decided to pin my hair up and paint my lips in red.
“He will be tripping over his words.” Hannah’s jaws have to be sore from all the smiling. Jessie is even smiling now as she nods.
“He will tell you his password to his safe if you ask him,” Jessie says.
We giggle and laugh for a while until we are called to the drawing room for some TV time. Some crime show is on, but I can’t focus for even one second. My head is pounding with all that is swirling around it. Everyone is transfixed on the TV and I use the opportunity to leave the room. I need air.
The gardens offer me the time I need. I keep my wits about me, making sure I avoid speaking to anyone. I do see a man pruning the roses and make sure I give him a wide berth. My mind won’t leave Lucas. I thought I could clear it out here, but I’m still thinking of the kiss. I shake out my hands, I need to pull it together. The question is did I really think he hurt Vicky? never mind kill her and the answer is honestly no. He has a temper, but would he hurt one of us – no. His bark is definitely worse than his bite, under it all I can see a flicker of something good. But it’s a flicker that can disappear as quick as it arrives.
I find myself close to the maze. Alex had brought me here that first day. It felt like such a long time ago, yet it had only been days. I step into the maze and I love that I have to focus on where I am going. It makes my head stop spinning and just focus on this one task at hand.
The maze is bigger than I expected and I soon realize after trying to exit it several times that I’m lost.
“Hello.” I shout, hoping I’m near to the front and that maybe the gardener I had seen earlier hears me. I listen, but only the rustle of the wind reaches my ears. Great.
I try again and hit three more dead ends. I’m not sure which direction I’m going in. “Hello,” I shout louder.
A panic has my heart racing and I smile to try to calm it. I’m not going to be stuck here forever. I just need to relax and start again. The worst-case scenario is if I don’t return, I’m sure the girls will look for me. Someone had to have seen me come out here. My stomach twists. I had tried to avoid being seen. Panic rushes into my veins again and I take a breath. I need to keep it together.
“Hello.” I keep calling every three steps I take. That’s what I focus on. Three steps and call hello. I repeat this for I don’t know how long, until I’m so close to giving up.
“Hello.” A male voice calls back.
“Ah, can you help me?” Someone has finally heard me. Relief banishes all my earlier fears. “I’m stuck in the maze, I don’t know how to get out.” I shout into the bushes not sure what direction the voice had come from.
“Keep talking.”
I jump at the closeness of the voice. “I’m here. Here. Here.” I keep repeating until the man who looked just like Lucas appears in front of me. My heart leaps. He has a black eye behind a pair of glasses.
“Thank you. I was so foolish to come in here,” I say as he continues to stare at me. My skin starts to crawl with how he assesses me.
“You were foolish and very lucky I was here.”
He hunches like a wounded animal as he speaks. He looks up at me from the corner of his eye and I shiver. The air has grown cool. Night is close. I had been out here for a while.
“Can you lead me out?” I ask as he stares at me.
He straightens to his full height and he smiles. “Of course.” I wonder if he is even aware of how he hunches when he speaks. It’s creepy.
“Thank you.” Now I just want to get away from him and the maze.
“I’m Henry.” He reaches out a hand. He looks normal now, even attractive. Lines crinkle at the corner of his eyes. He’s older looking than Lucas.
“Ella,” I say taking his hand. He stares at me until I shift under his gaze.
“I really need to get back before they send out a search party.” I half laugh, but it falls flat.
“Ella,” he repeats my name.
I nod. “Yes.”
There is an awkwardness as we stand close to each other. “Are you Lucas’s brother?” I ask to break the tension.
It does. “Yes, has he spoken of me?” His question is delivered with a sneer that borders on deranged.
No. Never. “You just look so alike,” I say instead. They do, but the longer I’m around Henry the quicker that similarity I have seen is vanishing.
“So he hasn’t spoken of me?” He stands tall again, I wonder if he is aware of how he alters his posture.
“I really haven’t spoken to Lucas.”
He smiles. “Lucas. You are very familiar with my brother.”
My cheeks heat. “No. I apologize. Master Lucas. I forget my manner
s sometimes.” My skin starts to crawl again and I scratch my neck. “I really should be getting back.”
He starts to walk and I follow. Every few seconds he glances over his shoulder at me. Each time my heart thuds. He is making me feel unsettled.
“Have you met Alex?” He tries to sound casual but his words are heavy.
“Yes,” I answer honestly since he already knows.
“He is charming,” he says and this time it sounds like he’s smiling, like he’s fond of him.
“Very much so, but our meeting was brief.”
He glances at me again. “You will keep it that way.” He stops walking as he turns to me.
I don’t respond as my heart rate skyrockets.
“What would happen if I said that you had seduced me?”
My stomach plummets. “But I haven’t.”
He nods and smirks. “Stay away from Alex, or this day will come back to haunt you.”
I tighten my fists. What was wrong with him? “I have done nothing wrong,” I repeat. It isn’t fair.
“I can leave you here to find your own way out. I did after all create this maze, so I know you won’t get out without me.”
He is all kinds of crazy, it isn’t even his words, his eyes dance with madness.
“You think if I don’t return that Lucas won’t come looking?” I try to show that I’m not afraid.
He laughs and it sends waves skittering down my back. “Lucas won’t come in here. He becomes a child when he sees the maze.” He sounds so happy about what he’s saying.
And I want to know more about Lucas as a boy. “Why what happened?”
Henry’s smile dissolves. “I’ve warned you now.” He stands taller. “You better listen.”
My heart starts to race again. I’m faced with his back as he starts walking again and we step out onto the lawn. I was so close to the entrance.
“Nice meeting you, Ella.” Henry walks off leaving me shaken to the core.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
LUCAS
BEFORE
I’m not sure when it happened, but Ella has managed to get under my skin. Her minty taste still lingers on my lips. My shaft grows hard just thinking about her. She has no idea how she transforms when she gets angry; it turns me on, but it shouldn’t.
George nods at me from down the hall. Once again I hate how he’s aging. It is a reminder of time and the things we lose along the way.
“They are all waiting.” George informs me, and the softness in his eyes I know is only reserved for me.
“Thank you George.” His brows rise slightly in surprise at my manners, but he schools his features quickly. I leave a surprised George behind me, the amusement fleeing as I descend into the basement. I hear them before I can even see them.
Aine’s voice is the loudest.
“She is lovely.” Excitement fills her voice and when I step into the space, they are all focused on a large screen that’s projected from the back of the room.
“The face on the screen I recognize, but don’t know her name.”
“Lucas.” Aine is the first to notice me and greets me. I’m aware of the lack of Master. My father sits back in his chair that I had occupied so briefly. Brendan looks smug as I take my seat beside him. Sean and Cathal greet me, also with just the title Lucas.
“Isn’t this exciting?” Aine says. Before I can ask her what is exciting, she’s facing the screen again.
Father clicks a small device in his hand and the image changes. I remember this girl's name, Hannah, I only remembered because she’s Ella’s friend.
“Oh, she’s very pretty.” Aine leans back, legs crossed as she taps her fingers to her chin. The men aren’t commenting as father goes through the slides of the girls. When Ella appears my heart thuds, but I keep my features schooled as my father takes a quick glance at me at each slide.
Ella’s green eyes fill the screen, that’s all I see and I’m so tempted to smile. She looks so naïve and innocent, so easy to break, but that’s not true. She’s the strongest of them all. Push her and she will push back twice as hard. Ella disappears and father clicks the next slide, a blond-haired girl fills the screen. I don’t like how my father turns back to us with a smile in his eyes. My stomach twists.
“This will be the future Mrs O’Faolain.”
I had known I would have no say. I had been raised knowing I would never choose. That the choice would be with the members, and my father would have the final say. We had to marry for status, power and money. I was okay with that, I always had been, but right now my stomach tightened.
“She’s a Crowley,” my father adds.
“I second this choice.” Brendan speaks up, and I want to smash his face in.
“Her parents have been married for thirty years. I’m not sure if I can say happily.” My father adds like it’s a joke and Aine laughs into her hand.
“Her father is worth one point one billion and assures a large stake will be given to us. They have read all the rules and have signed off on it.”
My heart beats wildly. He had already made the deal.
“I agree with this choice.” Cathal gives his approval.
“They have asked for a small favor, the first heir to be named from their side.”
“I don’t think that is wise, Master Andrew, tradition would be spoiled.” Brendan speaks up and I feel myself sinking further into the chair like this isn’t about me.
“I have agreed if it’s a girl, they can call her what they want. But the boy will carry on the name Lucas and Andrew.”
I glance at Brendan and he nods his bald head. For the first time my father’s eyes land on me.
“What do you think, son?” I had no choice, so why ask me? My heart beats wildly.
“You know best, father,” I answer and something flashes across his face.
Aine and Sean still haven’t voted and my father will get their votes one way or another.
“I agree with this choice.” Sean speaks up and I try not to shift. It didn’t matter, I know that, but each time they voted it felt like a nail in my coffin.
Aine smiles at me like we are voting on where to go for fucking holidays and not my entire future.
“Your children will be stunning.” She casts her vote and the projector switches off, the lighting in the room dimming. I look up to meet my father’s eyes.
“We have your wife.” He smiles.
I nod, unable to find the words. No one notices the turmoil inside me and I know I should switch off my emotions, but they are swirling too fast for me to grab them. The conversation switches to Declan but we are no further on to understanding what happened to him, and Debbie isn’t pushing for answers so it takes the pressure off us.
The meeting ends and I feel like I’ve coasted through it. I get up to leave with the rest.
“Lucas.” My father calls me back and I grit my teeth.
“I have a car in the shed that needs attention. You will meet me there.” I’m glaring at him, thinking of what that means. He had someone else tied up, someone is going to die at my hands. I swing away from him before he can see the turmoil in my eyes.
Outside, the air is cool on my clammy skin as I walk to the shed. I don’t enter. I don’t even check the door to see if it’s open. To me, it is still a forbidden place. I wait for my father to arrive.
The man hanging from the ceiling by his arms is older than the last. He’s fresh, there isn’t a mark on his body. He isn’t crying as we step into the room. He watches us. I also notice he isn’t wearing a gag, yet he doesn’t shout out.
“This is a problem that you refused to take care of.” My father moves to the small table that has his leather gloves sitting on it. He doesn’t put them on, only picks them up.
“This is Dave, he likes to hurt women.”
I glance at Dave, he’s tall, his feet touch the floor, the pull on his arms aren’t as severe as the last man. Dave clenches his jaw, but he doesn’t correct my father.
“Th
is was brought to your attention.” My father adds.
“Yes, I was dealing with it.”
My father flashes me a warning at my disrespectful tone. “You didn’t, because now I’m dealing with it. The only thing I can agree with is that the electric chair is not fitting for him.” My father walks around now, so he’s facing Dave.
“What do you think your punishment should be?”
For the first time Dave’s eyes glow with fear as his eyes jump from me to my father. Without looking at me, my father reaches me, handing me the leather gloves that I take. So it didn’t matter what Dave thought his punishment would be. My father has already decided what I am going to do.
“I don’t know, Master Andrew. I won’t put my hands on her again.” Dave begs and I don’t look up as I push my hands into the gloves as I question how much blood they have spilt.
“You won’t, because this time we are going to hurt you.”
For the first time Dave whimpers but doesn’t protest.
“The next time I will cut off your hands.”
As my father threatens Dave, I picture all my emotions, the redness inside me has grown, it’s always growing. I grab it and the blackness, taking everything else just like my father taught me, I push it into the box. I don’t know what my father sees in me when I look up, but he smiles and gives me an approving nod.
“Don’t hold back.” He instructs and I don’t.
I hit Dave’s body with so much force that I hear a rib crack on the first punch. His roar fuels me. His screams become my music, his body my punch bag. I don’t stop until my arms tremble and my body is coated in sweat. I’m breathing heavily, my eyes trained on the blood on the concrete floor. I don’t look fully up at Dave, his head rests on his chest.
“Discipline will keep them all in line. It’s not easy my son, but necessary.” My father pats my shoulder and I don’t linger in the room with my destruction. I take off the leather gloves to find my hands a bloody mess, all my previous wounds have reopened.
When I leave the room my father’s gaze flickers to my hands. Annoyance fills his face. “You will have to wear gloves tonight.”