by K. H. Kate
“I don’t love him.” I don’t. There’s no reason for me to stop.
He chuckles. “As you wish, Ms. Taylor. But for him to believe you, I suggest you take some of the wine yourself."
"Ok." I nod along. "Ok, I can do that."
"Good." He says, in a hurry to leave. But he has the grace to stop just before escaping from the balcony. "I wish I could say that you will win...but he's a Martinez. They are always ten steps ahead of you. No matter what you think you can do to drag them down."
I don't doubt it. After I failed his mission, he’ll hardly want me here. And now that my idiot brother got caught, there's no way he’s keeping me alive. Gritting back a sigh, I take the wine bottle from the table he left on. Hope. That's a worse poison than the one in my hand.
"Do you think you can go through it, huh, Raine?" I wonder aloud. Taking a gulp from the clear wine bottle does nothing to clear my head. Instead, I have to swallow more than the half bottle for my mind to swirl in random directions until only the useless ones stay. Leaning back, I only have to prepare two glasses of wine filled with poison before the door bursts open. I don't have to turn to see who it is.
He's here.
And he's anything but the Ace I know.
I wait for him to say something. Anything. Or to drag me by my hair and kill me. My stomach clenches in anticipation but he doesn't even cross over to me. It's me who has to look up to see him staring at me. And I have never been terrified by the silence. Or his calm demeanor.
"Ace, I-"
"Yes, Barbie?" He purrs taking a step toward me. He is too close, I'm too high. Before I can escape, he wraps his arms around me. "Isn't there something we have to talk about? About the job, you just failed?"
Shit.
"I-I was trying to catch her but she was too strong." The lies come too easily. I don't know if he believes me or not but nothing is stopping me now. "She had a man with her. He came and they fought...I tried. I tried not to fail..."
"Shh..." His lips are near my ear. My body betrays me when he gently turns me around. I’m hyper aware of his closeness when he asks. "Why are you drinking?"
"You threatened to kill my family. You threatened to kill me." I don't have to lie about that one at least. His grip tightens to the point that a whimper leaves from my lips but I doubt he cares about that much.
He whispers against me instead. "And you think I'll kill you now?"
"I don't know." I shrug, though my breath comes out in pants. I'm losing the war. Even before it started. My mind demands to take the glass and sip once.
It's poisoned.
I can die.
But it's far better than be in his arms and doubt every one of his moves. Gripping the glass, I look at him. Really look at him. His eyes have dark circles around him. Scars rise over his knuckles and something in my chest tightens. I might be the one killing him but his mother was the one who really wanted him dead. Is it pity I feel? Is that why I'm dragging my feet?
"Are you going to take a sip?" He challenges with a raised brow. I don't take a second to answer back.
"Only if you do."
Surprisingly he snatches the glass from my hand and instead hands me the one still on the table. If I had even an inkling of doubt about his intention, it's fruitless. Both the wine glass is poisoned. No matter who drinks, both of us will be dead.
He makes a toast before raising the glass to his lips. My breath stops, the sound of my own heartbeat getting louder by every minute. It's happening. I'm wining...falling. His gaze doesn't steer away from me and I can't seem to imagine him falling to the floor when the poison starts working. I can't imagine ditching his body behind an alley as Bosco instructed. I can't-can't do this anymore.
"No!" Panic grips my mind, as I shove the glass from his lips. The sound of glass breaking makes me step away from him. My vision blurs that I realize the traitorous tears are falling down my cheeks. Someone laughs. Someone whimpers.
I don't know who is who anymore.
"What happened? Aren't we drinking anymore?" His voice cuts me deep enough that I stagger back a few steps. Shit. Shit, what have I done? Why couldn't I- "Or did we get to the point that you can’t even kill me, Barbie?"
Everything stops at once.
My mind. Heart. Life. Every freaking thing.
"You didn't think I knew?" His every word is a sword running over my flesh. He knew. God, he knew. He yanks me to his chest before chuckling at my pathetic whimpers. "Oh, Barbie...I told you I'd rip you apart, didn't I? I just had to know just how far we have to play the game for you to break. And even now-"
He pauses, showing his infamous glare. I have done something that can't be forgiven. "Even now you're failing. You were supposed to let me drink. You were supposed to kill me."
"Why would I do that!?" The scream sounds so broken that I have to repeat myself. It hurts. God, the pain feels like it will never go away. "Why would you-why would you want that?"
"Because you are my sworn enemy! The Bratva? Seriously?" My tears come to a stop. Bratva? "Your father and brother knew what was happening. They plotted to ruin me and you won. Fuck, you won."
What's he saying? "I-I don't understand-"
"You made me crave you. You made me fucking weak. My weakness, my Thorn."
"No." He can't mean that. "I'm not yours. I'm not."
A haunting chuckle is my only answer.
“I was testing your loyalty. Mama wanted me gone so I used it against you and Bosco? He could never even think of betraying me." He sounds enslaved to insanity. "Your drunk father turned out to be the Bratva Pakhan. And, you as the princess, the perfect pawn, only you. Only you can ruin me.”
Listening to him is torture. But I can't even shrug off his words. Lies. Everything is lies. "There was no poison in the wine so even if you let me drink...I wouldn't have died. But you-you didn't. Fuck, Raine. Why would you stop me?"
Lies.
Another game.
Laughter erupts within me. I got played yet he says that I won. And he thinks that I will let it go just like that? I might not be able to kill him but me-The wine bottle crushes against the wall with a loud thud the moment I shove him away from me. For a second his eyes widen in alarm.
"What are you doing, Barbie?"
"You drove me to insanity." Mumbling the words doesn't make the harsh reality go away. But the pinch of pain can take it all away. The rough surface of the bottle cuts until blood spills from the skin. He takes a step toward me forcing me to cut deeper.
"Go away! I-I will do it."
I will. Oh, God, I will. I have to. I can't live like this. Not anymore. He calls me his Thorn. He is mine. But I'm not his. Never was and never will be.
"What do you have that I don't, Barbie? Tell me and maybe...maybe I will let you go." He is lying again. All he does is lie. He forgot that I'm familiar with his game. He forgot who taught me not to trust anyone.
So, when my eyes meet his, he only sees what's left of me. What he wants to see. His broken Queen.
"I-I have you."
And. that's the worst pain to ever swallow...
CHAPTER 30
ACE
I have you.
Mierda. My eyes narrow to silts. I can't shake the heavy burden of her words. She didn't go through it. She couldn't. Despite how many times she said that she can't do it anymore. Like I was going to let her used as a pawn after she earned my trust.
Loyalty can make you do fucked up things. And I was going to do the worse one of my life.
"You will let me go?" She scoffs, which gets lost with her shaky laughter. What an odd mix. "You think I'll believe you after...after what you did to me-"
"And you're not interested to know what your family did to you?" I'm not stupid enough to recognize the look on that bastard's face when he proudly declared how he threw his daughter at me just to see my downfall. He was going to let any harm to her if that meant that I was six feet under suffering.
In numerous ways, I can't ignore the fact th
at I was exactly like him. We took what we wanted even if that was morally questionable. My hands were marked with blood, my heart plugged with darkness. And, once you get the addictive taste of it, you can never turn your back at it. No matter how you think you can or say otherwise.
It always hunts you, taunts you to keep going. Kill or be killed. There's not a third option.
"My father fell in love with the wrong woman." She says dejectedly, the broken wine bottle still held sharply against her wrist. I could have tried to shove it away from her, but something tells me she is just going to cut open her wrist if I dare to even move a little.
"My grandfather never approved of my mother since she grew up in the streets of Mexico. She was a danger to his social status, how could he allow someone like her in the family? Papa married her against his wishes. I think that's the only time they truly loved each other. That's the only place I can ever remember being happier. Once Nick was born, Papa went bankrupt. So, he took us to-" She stops, blinking hard. "To Moscow. But grandpa wasn’t someone to be messed with. He didn’t want anything to do with mama or us. We had no other choice but to run here, in America. The moment we reached New York, something changed. My parents started arguing more often. Papa started drinking at daylight, mama started going out with guys half her age to spite him."
With a sigh, I force myself to hear. She needs to say them aloud. Or I'm afraid I'll break her farther to the point of not coming back.
"I-I suppressed so many memories of that time. Only now…now I remember the horror of what we went through. It went to the point that they didn’t want to parent us both so mama sent me to one of her friend’s home back in Mexico. I was happy there for a while until people broke in with guns. I was supposed to be home that night but I was crying at a park for some silly reason I don’t even remember. Just like that, they were gone. Just because I heard something I shouldn’t have.”
Her eyes zero onto my chest through the shirt. “Only one of them were arrested, I-I saw the mark in his chest, the same mark you have. Nick doesn’t have the same one so I never thought about it until now.”
Because Nick was initiated into the family, not born into it. Memories are a fickle thing. They can strike at a worse time as I can’t ask fast enough. “You heard something you shouldn’t have…what was that, tell me!”
“A woman ran away with a child. The man was going to run after her but someone stopped him. They heard me coming and demanded who I was-”
“Elysaa.” The name sounds so old that I have to fucking say it again. “It was Elyssa, wasn’t it?”
Her eyes widen in shock. “How did you…”
“It’s because you were brought to the manor to play with Spade. Mama brought you in against Padre’s orders. But once you heard about Penelope, you had to go.” And all along, I thought Dante killed them all. Elyssa and her whole family. Spade mourned her, and so did mama. I’m surprised she didn’t remember us. Then again, I was hardly home and Ares grew up in New York.
“The letters? That’s why she looked so familiar.” Raine laughs, almost losing her balance. “Mama got angry at Papa, you know? She thought it was his fault that I could have been killed despite having a fake name. They told me over and over that it was a bad dream. That I never left and after a few years…I started to believe it myself. I think mama couldn't take it anymore. She found someone better than us. Someone who could love her despite the lies, so she left."
Her gaze stray to me in desperation. Something tells me our story is about to have a twist. "Not long after, Papa got the news of grandpa's death. That same night he left saying he couldn't be the father we wanted him to be. I think Nick was far too hurt by the fact than me. Maybe that's why he turned out like he is right now. Or maybe we were doomed from the beginning. Tell me...are they really-"
"Yes," I answer quickly, not giving it much of a thought. There's no point to lie now. "They knew everything."
"And Nick?"
Silly little Barbie. She still believes that her brother has an inch of a soul left. Maybe that's why she couldn't go through mine or maybe like her brother, she believed that I had a soul too somewhere deep inside. Pity, she is just too damn tired to keep her eyes open and see me for who I am.
Maybe that's why it's easier to march toward her and not have a single remorse about it. It's easier to snatch the broken bottle from her hands and throw it on the same wall. It's easier to capture her lips in a punishing kiss. It's easier to finally lay out the words I never dreamed of saying.
"It was always a game, Barbie. You were supposed to play it like I wanted you to. But every time you failed, you took something from me." A gasp leaves from her lips when I shove her on the wall, surrounding her with my body. "Five times. I let you run five times and yet you stayed. You think I’m going to let you go now? Fuck no."
She opens her mouth to say something but the door is burst open, the wood hitting louder than our breathing. Louder than my fucking sanity even. Fuck, what's happening? Before I can draw my gun out though, I hear the sound first. A single pop.
And, then inferno everywhere.
Continued in Damaged…
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I want to thank mom for pushing me to finish this one without tearing my hair out. Thanks to all the authors, readers and ARC readers that have showed their support for this one crazy ride. I’m really grateful for all the help you guys provided in every part of making this draft. And it’s only going to get crazier on Damaged which is already ready for pre-order.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
K.H Kate is a University student, occasional painter and author of Contemporary and Paranormal romance books. She loves to venture into the world of action, dark romance, give happy endings with a little bit of tragedy and paint a world full of raw emotions. Born and raised AS A DREAMER, she has been writing for four years. She started writing to give life to her imaginary characters until they become stories themselves.
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ALSO BY K.H. KATE
Lethal (Devil’s Shadow MC, Book 1)
My only goal is to keep my club safe at all cost. I don’t let anyone in, and I never show weakness. All it takes is one vulnerable moment, and this world will chew you up and spit you out in bloody pieces.
To survive, you need to be ruthless. Cruel. Fuelled by vengeance and hate alone. It’s the only way…it’s our way.
Jade, AKA the Ice Queen, thinks she can go around and take down every MC she manages to infiltrate.
But not ours.
I will take her down to hell in order to protect the Devil’s Shadow, and if that means I have to burn alongside her…then so be it.
Sniper (Devil’s Shadow MC, Book 2)
The club always comes first.
That's the rule we have been born and breathe into. So when I was given the job to protect one of the Devil's sister, it only meant as an act of loyalty. A distraction.
But Gwen Knight is not someone I can use as a distraction. She thinks she is broken, a woman who got skeletons in her closet worse than I can ever think of. But what she doesn't know that she is more than a little broken, she is the mayhem that I can't help but crave.
Known as a loyal Devil, I am ought to obey every rule, where even craving her has a price. But she has awakened something in me. So much that for the first time my wrath may as well breaks the club apart.
Table of Contents
AUTHOR’S NOTE
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHAP
TER 1
CHAPTER 2
CHAPTER 3
CHAPTER 4
CHAPTER 5
CHAPTER 6
CHAPTER 7
CHAPTER 8
CHAPTER 9
CHAPTER 10
CHAPTER 11
CHAPTER 12
CHAPTER 13
CHAPTER 14
CHAPTER 15
CHAPTER 16
CHAPTER 17
CHAPTER 18
CHAPTER 19
CHAPTER 20
CHAPTER 21
CHAPTER 22
CHAPTER 23
CHAPTER 24
CHAPTER 25
CHAPTER 26
CHAPTER 27
CHAPTER 28
CHAPTER 29
CHAPTER 30
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
(Untitled)
(Untitled)
ALSO BY K.H. KATE