Yuri

by Marian Tee

  YURI

  (STANDALONE COLLEGE NEW ADULT BIKER ROMANCE)

  by

  Marian Tee

  About Yuri

  His name was Yuri Athanas.

  They called him the golden boy of the Afxisi, a college org during the day and an underground racing club at night.

  Like his brothers, Yuri was rich, powerful, gorgeous, and devastatingly sexy.

  Unlike his brothers, Yuri did not leave a trail of broken hearts behind him.

  Yuri was the angel amidst all the other Greek devils, they said.

  I liked hearing that about him. It gave me hope that when we do meet again, he would remember his promise, and he would keep it.

  He would take one look at me and he wouldn’t mind that I wasn’t…okay.

  He wouldn’t mind I wasn’t…normal.

  If he was everything I prayed he would be, he’d take one look at me and love me, like he had promised.

  Want More Hot Alpha Billionaire and Biker Romances from Marian Tee?

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  Standalone Novels

  Captivated: 4-in-1 Friends Romance Boxed Set – Enjoy four standalone romances between passionate, domineering billionaires and the women who were their friends first before becoming their lovers.

  All stories have either happy-ever-after or happy-for-now endings.

  His Fair Lady – Prince Julian knows the blind fortune teller Cass is everything he wants in a woman, but she can never be his bride.

  Greek Billionaire Romance Serials

  24-year-old school teacher Mairi, a hopeless romantic, thinks all her dreams will come true with Greek billionaire Damen Leventis. Problem is, he only wants her as a mistress.

  The Art of Catching a Greek Billionaire (FREE!)

  The Art of Trusting a Greek Billionaire

  The Art of Loving a Greek Billionaire

  The Art of Forgiving a Greek Billionaire

  The Art of Wedding a Greek Billionaire

  The Art of Kissing a Greek Billionaire (FREE!)

  Schoolteacher Velvet enters into a marriage of convenience but is too proud to tell her Greek billionaire husband it’s because she’s in love with him.

  The Greek Billionaire and I

  24-year-old Willow is an ill-mannered junior editor.

  27-year-old Stavros Manolis is a conservative Greek billionaire. They have nothing in common except…that one night they had with each other.

  The Greek Billionaire and His Secretary (FREE)

  Dear Greek Billionaire

  Love, Your Greek Billionaire

  Forever and Ever, My Greek Billionaire

  Mediterranean Affairs

  (Greek Billionaire Romance Mini-Series)

  A Fling with the Greek Billionaire – Furious over his lover’s deception, control freak billionaire Nik is determined to teach the free-spirited Daria a lesson on revenge.

  Prequel

  Standalone

  The Greek Billionaire and the Nanny – Coming Soon!

  Prequel

  Standalone

  Eternally Seduced: Contemporary Romance (7-in-1) Boxed Set

  How Not to be Seduced by Billionaires (4 parts) – 24-year-old Yanna has old-fashioned ideals about love, and all of it are put to the test when her CEO billionaire boss, Constantijin Kastein – also Netherlands’ #1 Playboy – sets out to seduce her.

  (Chased: Part 1 can be downloaded for free).

  How Not to be Seduced by Rockstars (2 parts) – All eccentric senator’s daughter Saffi wants is a taste of freedom when she attends a concert disguised as an experienced groupie. But she gets more than she bargains for when Staffan Aehrenthal – also Sweden’s #1 Sex God – picks her out from the crowd.

  (Note: The Rockstar and His Fangirl is a short story on Saffi & Staffan, and sold separately.)

  How Not to be Seduced by Dukes – Although Mary’s determined to resist the charms of the Duke of Wellesley – also England’s #1 Heartthrob – fate decides otherwise, and Mary suddenly finds herself an ordinary college student by day, and the duke’s mistress at night.

  (Note: The sequel, The Ice Around My Heart, is sold separately.)

  Warning: Love Moderately (BBW Billionaire New Adult College Romance)

  Derek and Jaike have always hidden the truth about themselves. But when they meet – it’s not just explosive chemistry. One look, and it’s undeniable. Even if they’re too young, they know. He’s meant to be her Master, and she’s meant to be his Sub.

  Unwillingly Yours (FREE!)

  Meant to Be Yours

  Heart Racer: BIKER Romance Series

  Leandro & Bobby’s Story (2 parts) – A young billionaire biker chooses a snarky do-gooder to be his pretend girlfriend.

  Heart Racer (FREE!)

  Driven by Love

  Helios & MJ’s Story (3 parts) - Even though he's commitment-phobic, the aloof president of a billion-dollar bike racing club finds himself jealous of the "secret crush" of a tomboyish camera-wielding first-year student.

  Swish (FREE!)

  Burn

  Click

  Kellion & Aria (Standalone) – Aria’s content living her life alone, shut off from the world, but when bad boy Kellion Argyros starts following her wherever she goes, it’s impossible not to start living…and impossible not to start falling for him.

  Yuri & Kalli (Standalone) – He’s the angel amongst Greek devils. She’s the heiress who isn’t quite okay, isn’t quite…normal. Even so, Kalli hopes that when they meet again, Yuri would take one look at her and love her, like he had promised.

  Play With Me: A Sports Romance Series

  All Lace Wyndham wants is to be an NBA coach.

  All bad boy billionaire Silver March wants is HER.

  It’s not a match made in heaven, but since he already had his heart stolen, Silver is willing to do whatever it takes – bribe, deceive, manipulate – to make Lace realize the inevitable: It’s his name she’ll be crying out…every night.

  Play With Me

  This Round I’m Yours

  The Art of Claiming an Alpha: My Werewolf Bodyguard (Paranormal Romance)

  Human-slash-pack-princess Calys is a toughie, but she still needs the help of the powerful, dominant, and gorgeous werewolf Alejandro Moretti to be an ‘alpha’. Unfortunately, he wants her body in exchange for her help.

  Wolf Fight (FREE!)

  Wolf Games

  Wolf Kisses

  The Master and His Soul Seer Pet: New Adult College Vampire Romance

  Life isn’t easy for 18-year-old Zari. As a soul seer, she sees visions of dead people as well as those who are about to die. As a human pet, she struggles to control her feelings for her Master, the powerful, gorgeous, and mysterious vampire Alexandru, who’s in love with someone else.

  Ensnared (FREE!)

  Beholden

  Reviled

  Unclaimed

  My Werewolf Professor

  What I know about Alessandro Moretti: he’s the most beautiful professor alive, and I’m his plainest student. I need to let him know I want him, even if he’s likely to dump me. What I don’t know about Alessandro Moretti: he’s a werewolf…and he may just want me, too.

  My Werewolf Professor 1

  My Werewolf Professor: 4-in-1 Boxed Set

  YURI

  (STANDALONE COLLEGE NEW ADULT BIKER ROMANCE)

  Copyright 2015 by Streak Digital Publishing

  All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely
coincidental.

  Thank you to Jean of Bento Days, who took the time to answer my overly long questionnaire.

  I wouldn’t have had the courage to use my own ideas for bento designs if not for her inspiring words.

  Prologue

  One Man Can Change the World

  Madame descended into the basement, hoping tonight would be the night she succeeded in breaking the child’s spirit. After switching the lights open, she found the child curled up on the cold hard ground, sucking on its thumb, its eyes squeezed shut. For Madame, all the children that came under her care were objects that needed to be trained. In her eyes, they were genderless and mindless, their only purpose in life to prove that Madame was good.

  Madame’s lip curled as she observed her latest project. The child was emaciated and smaller than most other seven year olds. But for Madame, it hadn’t been starved enough.

  “Get up.” A kick to the child’s ribs punctuated the words.

  Its eyes flew open.

  Madame drew her breath sharply. She despised a lot of things about this latest project of hers, but none more than those violet eyes staring at her right now. Terrible in its deceptive purity, the eyes made Madame feel soiled and—

  She shook her head violently. No, this was the work of the Devil, using the child to make her feel like she wasn’t guided by God’s hand.

  But still, those big violet eyes stared, damning her, and Madame shrieked, “Didn’t you hear what I said?”

  Seeing Madame taking one step towards her seemed to throw the child into a panic. It scrambled to its knees, pale body shaking hard as it bent its head. “I am sorry, Madame,” it whispered. Please make Madame believe me, it prayed. It hated itself for being a liar, but no matter what it did, it just couldn’t stop lying.

  When Madame reached the child, it threw itself prostrate on the ground. Her skin crawled when it tried to kiss her feet. “Get away from me!” Madame shoved the child away with another kick to its face.

  It bit back a cry of pain.

  Madame’s hatred grew at how silent and stoic it was. Why was this child so different? “You don’t want to see me, do you?”

  “No, Madame.” The child shook its head fiercely even while keeping its gaze trained on the ground. “I’m happy to see you.” It was lying of course, but it prayed hard that maybe this time God wouldn’t tell Madame it wasn’t speaking the truth. The child knew Madame was good and it was bad. It knew this, but it didn’t believe—

  “Liar!”

  Madame’s hiss made the child bite its lip hard. Please God, please make me believe the truth. Please make me believe so that Madame would love me—

  Madame suddenly cupped its chin, forcing it to look up.

  The child’s eyes clashed with the woman’s.

  Madame screamed, “Stop looking at me like I’m evil!”

  It tried to protest but it wasn’t given any chance. Madame’s hand cracked against its cheek. Madame tried to scratch its eyes out. And then Madame was gripping its hair, dragging it up the stairs and out of the basement.

  The child forced itself to keep quiet, hoping its silence would make Madame forgive her. But what the child didn’t know was that the more silent it was, the more Madame would despise it.

  In its desperate, innocent desire to please, the harder it had become for Madame to remain blind to the truth.

  Madame threw the child to the floor when they reached the dining room. She waited for the child to cry and fight back, but it only raised itself to its knees, looking up at Madame with eyes that neither hated nor questioned.

  In those eyes, Madame saw the truth – the real truth, and not what she had tried to convince herself and all the children that she had killed in the name of her love for them.

  Madame screamed, “Why won’t you just break?” Pulling the child up to its feet, Madame waited for the child to lift its head before slapping it as hard as she could.

  The child swayed on its feet, and the dance began. Soon after, the music of Madame’s palm cracking against the child’s cheek played in the room.

  Crack. Sway. Crack. Sway. Crack. Sway.

  The child’s vision dimmed, but it struggled to stay on its feet. The child and Madame had danced to this music for as long as it could remember, and the steps were simple to remember. It mustn’t fall, mustn’t look at Madame, and most importantly of all, it mustn’t ever make Madame have trouble hitting her.

  Madame was speaking/singing now, lyrics to the music that the child didn’t understand.

  Why wasn’t it still broken?

  Why did it still want to live?

  Why couldn’t it just break?

  If it had been allowed to speak, the child would have asked just one question. How did Madame want to break itself?

  Madame’s voice became feverish.

  “I can’t be blamed. I was so scared.”

  As the child continued to dance to Madame’s music, it wondered dazedly if her own terror was the same as Madame. Did Madame feel like she felt now?

  “I’m not evil.”

  The child wanted to believe Madame. There must be a reason why Madame couldn’t stop hurting her, couldn’t begin loving her. Madame was good, and it was not.

  “Those men beat me up, raped me the entire night, all at the same time. They were the monsters, not me!”

  The music rose to a screaming crescendo, and the dance reached its peak. Madame was no longer content slapping its face. Now, Madame’s fists began to color the child’s eyes with bruises, and the cracking slaps turned into painful thuds.

  Thud. Thud. Thud.

  Its eyes swelled shut, and the child struggled to dance even when it was half-blind with pain.

  “They told me to kill my parents so I did! I was scared, and that was why I did it! I was young like you. I can’t be blamed. God knows I must be forgiven for what I did. They broke me!”

  The music suddenly stopped, and the child started to tremble. The silence was bad and scary, and she wished she could hear the music again. She didn’t want this quiet, knew with all her heart that it was—

  Madame came out of her trance, and the first thing she saw was the child’s eyes.

  “No!” Madame grabbed the child by the hair, and still it didn’t speak. It was terrified out of its wits, but it still knew what was right or wrong.

  Why?

  Why didn’t it break like Madame had?

  “You’re going to break,” Madame muttered feverishly. “You’re going to break like all the others did.”

  The beating lasted for an hour. By the time Madame’s vision cleared, the child was crumpled in a ball of pain.

  Madame knelt down, breathing hard. “Open your eyes.”

  Slowly, its eyes opened.

  And Madame saw she had lost.

  It still had not broken.

  ****

  “You have to understand these things take time, Mrs. Antoniou.” The doctor’s voice was gentle but resolute. Samuel Demo knew the powerful Antoniou matriarch could have him fired for mere impertinence, but he didn’t give a damn.

  His patient was his first priority and no one else.

  Mila Antoniou’s gaze swung back to the adjoining room, its two-way wall allowing her to study her 12-year-old grandchild. “Just tell me my grandchild will get better,” Mila said tightly. “Is that too much to ask?”

  Samuel shook his head irritably. “I know you are used to getting your way, but if you truly care about your grandchild—”

  “Of course I care,” Mila snapped.

  “Then don’t force me to give you a diagnosis we both know I’m unable to provide,” the doctor snapped back. “If I could give you more reassurance, I would. But I can’t.”

  Mila’s face became stiff at the doctor’s words, but her voice shook when she spoke. “It’s my fault, can’t you see? I forced my daughter to give her baby up, and now I’m paying the price-” Her voice broke as she imagined the unspeakable horror her arrogance had forced her own flesh a
nd blood to live through. “I have all the money in the world,” she said bitterly, “and it does nothing for my grandchild.”

  The matriarch’s grief was more than palpable, and the doctor was unable to remain completely indifferent at the sight of the older woman’s suffering. “Not everything’s lost,” Samuel said, making an effort to soften his voice. “Your grandchild’s exceptionally intelligent, her IQ score off the charts—”

  “I’m not asking you if my grandchild is smart—”

  “I know that,” the doctor growled impatiently. “But I’m telling you this because I want you to be thankful for it! Your grandchild’s formative years were spent under the care of an abusive woman. Your grandchild was beaten regularly and nearly starved to death. Most children would have grown up insane or twisted and evil because of it, but your grandchild became neither. That’s a miracle and that’s…” The doctor drew a deep breath. “What I’m about to say is against my professional training, but I will say it because I want my patient to heal almost as much as you do.”

  The doctor’s weary gaze settled back on his patient. Her eyes were glued to the wall-mounted TV, which was configured to play downloaded episodes of food shows. After several months of therapy, Samuel had discovered that food was the only thing guaranteed to draw the twelve year old out of her shell. Prior to it, the child had refused to even acknowledge being called by her name.

  “I am it,” the child had muttered almost defiantly. “I don’t have a name because Madame says I’m not good.”

  They had been the only words the child spoke of Madame, but for the doctor, it was enough. He had seen enough victims of child abuse to read between the lines. Madame, whoever the bitch was, had used starvation as a way of reinforcing her beliefs on Mila Antoniou’s grandchild. Food had become a measurement of love, and the child had learned to voluntarily starve herself until Madame considered her “good.”