by T. L Smith
How long was he watching me? I don’t like it, even if it is his eyes.
Pulling my clothes on and still feeling exhausted, I walk back into the room and straight back to the bed.
Is it now, because I feel safe, that I can sleep without the nightmares? I forced myself to sleep a lot when Derrick had me prisoner in that room, just to make the time go faster, but now I’m actually physically and mentally drained.
Connick is sitting at the end of the bed, his hands are running over his head as he sits there. Not saying a word, I climb in, pulling the blanket up and wondering what I will do. I’m angry at him. I don’t fully trust him. But I just know he won’t hurt me the same way Derrick has done.
Yelling wakes me this time, and I’m startled. Sitting up, I look around for the source but can’t see it. Connick is nowhere to be found, so I make my way out and down the stairs. As I walk into the kitchen I hear a voice, one that locks me up tight and makes me unable to move until I hear that voice getting closer and closer. His eyes land on me, and my hand reaches for the knife drawer, pulling it open, while I watch him watching me. It scares me. He sees the knife as I grip it tight, his eyes widen, then tame in an instant.
“You left me… again, Mil.”
A shiver breaks out over me. “Don’t touch me.”
His hand touches my face, and before I can do anything, he’s flying backward and away from me. Connick’s now standing in front of me, his hands skimming my body to see if I’m okay. I want to strangle him, push him away and stab him. He looks at me with those sinister eyes that hold so much love and hate for me, it’s a mixture between the two. Derrick’s gone the minute I turn to look for him with the only sound of the door banging as he leaves.
“I love you.”
Connick’s eyes go wild at my words. He doesn’t expect those words to leave my mouth, and neither do I, to tell the truth. Tears spring and run down my cheeks. I know what I have to do, but knowing and doing those two things are completely different. His chest pushes up against my knife still in my hand.
“Do it, Milanka. Do it, I won’t stop you.”
My heart beats fast, I close my eyes and open them again, looking up at him.
Why won’t he stop me? I don’t understand, but I feel his pain.
“The moment I use those words, they scare you. So, you’d rather I kill you?”
He leans in close, his breath touching my face, his eyes still wild. “I don’t love, silly girl, I own. You’re owned by me, and you know it.”
Shaking my head at him, I go to tell him, no, but his finger to my lips silences me.
“Those words slipped from your mouth. I forgive you. Now don’t say them again.”
My hand goes to drop, but the shaking makes me hold on tight.
“I can’t let you do it. I won’t. And if I have to save myself from you, I will, Connick. I’ll pick me because no one else has.”
He nods his head and stays still.
I do what I never thought I could do…
Savage Reckoning: Book Two
Copyright T.L Smith 2017
Savage Reckoning by T.L Smith
Book 2
All Rights Reserved
This e-book is a work of fiction. Any references to real events, real people, and real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the Author’s imagination and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, organizations or places is entirely coincidental.
All rights are reserved. This book is intended for the purchaser of this e-book ONLY. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping, or by any information storage retrieval system, without the express written permission of the Author. All songs, song titles and lyrics contained in this book are the property of the respective songwriters and copyright holders.
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Warning
This e-book contains sexually explicit scenes and adult language and may be considered offensive to some readers. This e-book is intended for adults ONLY. Please store your files wisely, where they cannot be accessed by under-aged readers.
Cover – RBA
Photographer- Perrywinkle Photography
Edited – Swish Editing
Proofread – Contagious Edits
Formatting - Angels-Indie-formatting
Blurb
She was everything, yet she was nothing.
She was there, then she wasn’t.
I didn’t expect her, never wanted her.
But there she was, everywhere yet nowhere.
She drew me in with her looks. Locked me with her first words, then stole me with her lust.
She was everything I didn’t know I was searching for, yet nothing I needed.
She was a conundrum, difficult and confusing.
One who was impossible of staying away from.
Prologue
Connick
To love someone else, you must first love yourself—or so the saying goes.
I love myself, there is no mistaking that. I’ve worked exceptionally hard to be where I am today and everything I have accomplished I’ve gotten to that place by myself.
Yet her—I don’t even know where to start.
Understanding what she wants and needs doesn’t process in my thoughts as it would someone else. I want her for her, not the attached emotions that are connected with her.
So why does she ask for them?
Why must she try to pull those emotions from me?
Is this the reason why I’ve never bothered forming any kind of relationship, because I don’t like the way they go? The terrible thing is that I like being with her even if it’s not what she wants, and I want to keep it that way even if she doesn’t. She will come to see I’m right, that the way I want things is what’s best for both of us. Because we are both as fucked up as one another, at least I can admit that. Now I just have to make her see the same thing.
Chapter 1
Connick
Milanka’s lips are moving, she’s saying something, but I don’t recognize nor want to hear it. If I could shut her up, I would, in an instant. I don’t want to hurt her any further than what’s marred on her body. Bruises kiss her beautiful soft skin. Scars touch those places trying to lock in her pain. Milanka’s beautiful green eyes hold me captive and are so full of emotion that I can’t look for long.
When she went missing, I thought she had run from me like she’s done before. Then I went to her work and knew she hadn’t run, rather, something had happened. It was days later when I finally connected the dots, and even then, after figuring it all out, finding information was hard.
Derrick is my brother.
He is the sole reason Milanka’s in my life.
Yet, it has nothing to do with him at all.
I saw the appeal, the appeal of her. Most men do just from looking at her. She uses her allure for lustful gain and pleasure—sexual gratification, in particular.
In the beginning, Milanka wasn’t there for me to go after. I was there purely to scare her, freak her out just a bit so when Derrick came back, she would trust him. Derrick’s a fucking idiot, and if he weren't my brother I would have killed him a long time ago.
The debate on that is still up in the air. Especially after what Derrick did to Milanka. How he hid her from me. It’s totally unacceptable.
She’s scared of Derrick. That much is obvious.
I wonder if she’s scared of me?
The knife is still in her hand, and I lean forward, pushing on it. Milanka may as well stab me with it than say those words again.
She shouldn’t be saying them at all—I’m evil.
Just like he is. Maybe even worse so.
Derrick was here this morning while she slept. He knew I had her and wanted her back. I wasn’t going to let him take her from me this time without her consent, and that I knew she would n
ever give him. His hands were on her as she came down the stairs. My heart fell in my chest, and something happened, anger took hold of me at seeing that in real life. I grabbed and threw Derrick as far as I could. The look on her face was pure anguish—Milanka didn’t want his hands or him anywhere near her. Derrick muttered something as he left, and I knew it wouldn’t be long until he tried coming back for her again.
The way she’s looking at me right now—she’s lost. It’s the same way I remember her being all those years ago in his house when we were teenagers. I was almost an adult—being older than both of them—I was days off of my eighteenth birthday.
It was my first taste of her.
The way Milanka did as Derrick commanded as soon as the words left his mouth, it was like she was a zombie. She never saw anyone else when she was with him. It was like she was in a trance. Open eyes, but seeing nothing.
Derrick would pass her around like Milanka was his own personal toy to all his friends. He even offered her to me that night. I shook my head but watched them in fascination. He would always hold her somewhere, keeping her locked with his hands tightly and she would stand there staring out at nothing.
Milanka was beautiful then—hidden, but very beautiful.
Derrick was spoiled, he always has been. Getting everything he wanted when he wanted it, he became tainted. His mother was never home, and our father was always away on business trips, so he had the house to himself most of the time.
I wasn’t raised with Derrick. Actually, the only times I saw him were on vacations. My world was completely different, living in my father’s condo in the city with a nanny while he went back to his other family, his new wife. Our father spoiled me too, though. I didn’t think one of us got more than the other, it was just how we were with it all. I received most of our father’s businesses as he got older, whereas Derrick only wanted shares so he could live comfortable in his own fucked up little world and not have to do much for the money he received.
I worked hard, harder than any one of my employees. Even harder than my father did, and with that hard work came success and I was able to expand. Even in areas Derrick doesn’t know about. My mother died at a young age, and the only mother figure I knew was that of my nanny. I’ve never been in a relationship, and I’ve never been in love.
None of that has interested me—until her.
She’s so different, unlike any woman I’ve ever met. Milanka has so many problems that if you dig deep enough, you can bring them all to the surface. She came to me unexpectedly—much like a hurricane, fast and hard. She doesn’t see me for my skin color, nor does she see me for my physique.
I notice when she stares at me, she’s searching and looking deeper. I’m afraid that she’s found what she’s looking for and it’s something I’m not ready to give.
She repeats those words again, and I want Milanka to stab me. I want her to take that knife locked in her hand and push it through my stomach. Because then she will see that love is not lust and lust is not love. She can’t separate the two. Milanka needs to recognize that there are two distinct differences because both cannot exist in my world. Only one can, and I’m pretty sure she knows which one.
Milanka’s lips are so full and her eyes so green, it’s like she’s lost at the bottom of the sea.
I had never been so worried until the day I found her. She was pieces of everything. Pieces that tried to fit together, just like a giant jigsaw puzzle with the wrong pieces that don’t fit. The moment I had her in my arms I could feel she felt safe. Milanka fell asleep and didn’t even wake when I carried her to my room.
I was so mad, that she made me leave the morning she went missing—I was so furious that I actually left, even when I knew I shouldn’t have. I don’t try to understand the workings of her mind, it eats away at enough of her as it is.
Sex is what bonds us. It’s what gives me that connection to her, but I’m afraid Milanka thinks of it as more.
Now I have her standing in front of me, doing something I never thought she’d do.
Let alone to me.
Yet, she does it anyway.
And I’m powerless to stop it.
It comes like a bullet, powerful and strong, tearing you apart from the inside out.
Chapter 2
Connick
The Day at the Coffee Shop
The past…
I had seen her before, but hadn’t approached her. But today, I needed to make conversation. She appeared like she didn’t want to be there. I’d been watching her for a while now, had her under surveillance, and she’d never used that cell she was clutching in her hand. She was probably the last person who would use a cell, ever.
Standing outside looking in, I contemplated not going in. I knew the moment I did, it would change the course of our paths. One would affect the other, and I just wasn’t sure how large of an effect it would have on me.
Walking in and pulling the seat out at her table, it took her a moment to realize I was there. She looked up at me then averted her eyes straight away. Was she shy? Everything I had learned and picked up from her had not led me to believe she was shy at all.
“Are you waiting for someone?”
She looked again, her eyes skimming me fast before she looked back down, avoiding me.
She answered with a timid, “Yes,” and that’s all that left her lips. I couldn’t stop staring at her mouth, it was so sensual. Her lips were full, and the things I wanted to do with them I couldn’t say out loud or else she would be scared off. Or would she? I waited for her to look up, but she didn’t. So, I asked another question, wondering if she would talk more. Open up. If I could scare her.
“Tell me something… why here?”
She contemplated my words. I wanted to reach across the table, take her by her hair, drag her to my car and fuck her. Instead, I sat with my hands crossed in front of me, where I could see them, where I could trust them.
“She prefers me to be social.” Attitude pulled from her lips at that moment. She didn’t like people that were more than obvious. I got that.
“You aren’t social?”
Her eyes locked on mine now, those crystal green orbs holding me captive. Did she not know her beauty? It was quite deadly to be close to her.
“I don’t like people.”
Same, same, was all my mind thought as those words left her mouth.
“Yet, here you sit, talking to me… a person…” She was indulging me. I wondered if she were doing so because she believed she’d never see me again. I wanted to laugh at that thought because she would, she just wouldn’t realize why she was seeing me again. She wouldn’t be able to connect the dots because they were too hard to connect.
She told me she planned to never see me again and that was the only reason she was indulging in our conversation. I wanted to laugh at her. We were only just starting, we weren’t over, not yet anyway.
She looked down at her cell after telling me how boring her life was. I noticed the doctor come in, I knew it was time to move without being seen by either. What a waste of a year that would be if I were caught, but I’m not someone who gets caught.
I’m the silent but deadly killer.
Yes. Killer.
It was my first choice when I rebelled from my father. It was why I love fitness so much. I’d mixed with the wrong people at the wrong time. Those people who had offered me large amounts of money for something I was good at—killing.
Who knew? My brother sure as shit knew, that’s for sure. He used it as his leverage, blackmailed me into doing some of his dirty work, so he would keep my secret from our father. Our father was a straight shooter. He had no regard for bullshit. Having a son that had taken the lives of others would have been unacceptable for a son who now owned and ran most of his companies.
Clauses… they are bitches, and he snuck them in wherever he could, even on his own child.
My hands hadn’t choked the life out of someone for years. Instead, they had stayed to thems
elves, and if I needed something done, I had people who would do it for me. This, though, wasn’t a contract to kill. He blackmailed me to watch Milanka, to scare her.
I’d been watching and studying Milanka for over a year. She was nothing like any other girl I knew. She noticed when men stared at her and did not act shy for the attention. She either wanted it most of the time and took it in her hands, or she walked away without a single thought of that person. There was never an in-between. It was always one or the other with Milanka, and I liked that about her. How she could use what she had with no games or strings attached. She was like a beautiful conundrum.
“Where is she?” Derrick’s voice was annoying as it came through the phone while I stood outside watching her talk to her doctor.
“Coffee.”
Derrick went to say something else, but I didn’t listen as I watched. Milanka didn’t want to be there, but she respected her doctor. She’d tried to smile a few times, but it failed on her lips.
“Get it done, now.”
I hung up on him, not bothering to reply.
Would it be easier to just kill him?
We weren’t close, never had been. But Derrick was, after all, my brother, who was obsessed and sick in love with this woman who either had no idea or didn’t care. I needed to know which it was.
Walking away, my car door opened and a woman slid in who was possibly worse than I was. Harlin was not someone to play with or fuck with. Maybe I should let her play with Derrick, I’m sure we would all love that, especially her. She was cleaning out her nails in the car with a knife, one side of her arm was covered in ink, and her nose ring glittered when the sun hit it.
“Harlin… to what do I owe this pleasure?”