Heartless

by Vi Carter

  My bare foot slips on the edge of a step in my haste to get away from the madness behind me. My chin takes the impact of my fall as it hits the concrete slab. I don’t stop as a metallic taste fills my mouth. I need to reach those doors before he reaches me.

  My palms cry out as I slam them repeatedly against the black doors, but they don’t budge. My frantic heart sends my temperature spiking, sending the cold that I briefly felt racing away. A sob that I can’t keep down trembles on my lips before it forms fully. I blink, allowing the tears to fall as I push with my shoulder. Something shifts under me, and the smallest breeze that escapes the crack of the door, has me pushing harder. With every ounce of strength I have, I manage to get the doors open and spring from the basement.

  Grass still covered in dew blankets my feet as I race across the front lawn. I don’t dare look back; I don’t dare let that final image flood my mind. I want to scream for help; I want to beg someone to help me. But no one is around. Holding up my white bloodied nightgown, I continue my race for freedom across the lawn that feels more like an endless meadow. The wind whips hair across my face, the feel of it is frozen and harsh against my skin.

  My fingers dig into the wooden fence as I pull myself over it. The shouts from the house, along with lights being turned on along the porch, have my heart fluttering and my vision tinges with black along the edges. Dread pools in my stomach as I fear I might pass out. The shouts mingle along with the blood that pounds in my ears as I fall across the fence and onto a hard surface. My fingers race across the tarmac.

  A road.

  I am on a road. Standing, I wobble as I spin around. More tarmac, more trees. My tongue feels heavy in my mouth and I wonder when was the last time I’d had something to drink. I couldn’t remember. My feet start to move again.

  I freeze. The noise of someone coming has the blood running cold in my veins. My chin scrapes against the tarmac as I throw myself down on the ground. Fear is consuming me; something I can’t control, my vision blurs and wavers. Feet appear out onto the road. A whimper pulls at me and I close my eyes tightly. Warm liquid rushes down my face.

  He can’t see me. He can’t see me.

  My skin crawls and I’m too afraid to open my eyes. Another part of me wants to scream so this will end. I open my eyes slowly and the feet race past me. My heart hammers in my chest as I wait for them to stop and come back, but they don’t. The whimper leaves my chattering lips.

  Get up, Ella.

  Pushing myself up on shaky arms, I spring from the ditch and start to run in the opposite direction that the other person had gone. My eyes shoot around the landscape as my mind tries to push the images back in front of me. Like a detective sliding a gruesome image in front of the murderer to make him crack.

  He wanted me to break.

  He wanted to break me.

  My lungs burn as I race around a bend in the road. I don’t know how long I’ve been running for, but I haven’t seen a car. My mind won’t decide if that is a good thing or a bad thing.

  Red thin lips. I cover my mouth to keep the scream in, the scream that’s building inside me and wants out.

  The noise of a vehicle cracks through my thoughts and without slowing down I throw my body to the left of the road where most of the undergrowth is. My skin burns from the sharp thorns that pierce my skin and drink my blood.

  As I lie still once again, the cold ground becomes comforting, it reminds me that I’m out here and not in there with that monster.

  The one blond curl wrapped in red. Stained in blood. I tighten my eyes as my mind tries to conjure the rest of the image.

  Move Ella.

  I leave the road completely and start to run across an open field.

  Help me.

  My frantic mind won’t slow as my feet dig deep into the grass. I don’t remember how I got here but when I stop and look up I’m standing outside my house.

  “Mam.” My lip trembles as my voice cries for my mother. My body shakes and dips like it’s giving up. I am a yard from my own front door. A yard from my home.

  “Mam,” I shout louder as I find the use of my legs and start to run.

  “Mam.” My roar is said with a pounding heart. How long had it been; weeks, months, a year?

  “MAM!” My fists hit the door; the overhead porch light burns my eyes from the darkness of the night.

  “Mam.” My cries grow and when the door opens I collapse on my knees, at my mother’s feet.

  CONTINUE READING A DEADLY OBSESSION: BOOK ONE IN THE OBSESSED DUEThttps://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B086T6231X/

  CHAPTER ONE

  HER

  “Dance for me.”

  A soft melody plays in the background, its beat is designed for swaying hips. I want to open my eyes, but the earlier warning to keep them closed has my lashes resting on my cheeks. Wringing my hands behind my back I squeeze my eyes tighter. The crop top I wear just barely covers my breasts, doing very little to hide the humiliation that burns my chest. I keep my hands firmly joined so I don’t start yanking at the top.

  “Don’t fidget. Do as you’re told and most importantly keep your eyes closed at all times.” Linda’s words of warning were given before we entered the room.

  So I was doing as I am told and not fidgeting. My black stilettos click on the oak polished floor as I move slowly from one foot to the other. My face burns as Linda sniggers at my stiff and mechanical movements. Anger races through me and I’m tempted to open my eyes, but I don’t. Her warning to me was clear. I wasn’t allowed to set my eyes on my new master. I wasn’t worthy, she had told me the first day I had arrived here. I wanted to tell her that I didn’t want to be worthy. The only thing I wanted was to go home. Not be here in this castle with this man that my father had sold me to. I had been here three weeks and the pain of being sold by my own father to clear his gambling debt still pierced me.

  “Is that how you dance for me?” A shiver races across my bare arms and I stop dead in my tracks. His voice is behind me. Every fiber of my being is awake, alert. I want to turn and see the man who bought me. His breath touches my bare back. His question is filled with disappointment.

  Letting out a heavy breath that shakes on the end, I listen to the music again and find the beat. Dipping my head, I let it fill me as my hips move to the music. I don’t think of how I’ve been sold or how humiliating this is. My eyes burn and I pour all that anger into the dance. My hips sway wider, my head rises.

  “Good girl.” His breath brushes my cheek. The heat of his body is right behind me. I falter slightly but find my rhythm again. I hate his praise. I hate him. I hate my father. I move faster finding the freedom I am seeking in the music. My hands flutter out to either side of me, controlling the movement of my hips as the music picks up its pace, crossing that mountain that I’m racing across with the tempo. Throwing my head back, I allow myself to smile as I move my body as if a lover’s hands were caressing me. Linda no longer sniggers and no one else interrupts my dance. I’m not sure if he is still behind me, but I continue to move until the song ends and I’m left standing in the silent room, feeling a bit breathless. The silence has me searching behind my eyelids for a change in the darkness that I have become accustomed to.

  “Were you a dancer before?” His voice is no longer behind me.

  His question catches me off guard. “What?” I shuffle, moving to try and follow the flow of his deep hard voice.

  “Answer him.” Linda’s voice pierces the silence. She always sounds like she is one moment away from exploding. Like every button of hers has been pressed one too many times.

  “No.” I hold my breath and stand rigid like a circus monkey waiting to hear what my next trick will be. No one speaks and the longer I stand here half-naked, the more fear seems to grow in me. I’ve waited for the last three weeks to be raped or tortured, but instead, I’m made to dance for this man. I don’t think anyone else is ever in the room, aside from Linda. I have no idea what she is to him. A lover? Possibly. I have no id
ea why I’m not allowed to see him. Is he scarred or deformed? My eyes continue to search the darkness. I was sure I was the only other person here; I had never heard anyone else or seen anyone.

  The castle that I had been brought to was one I had visited several times. I just had no idea that anyone lived here. It was open to the public all year round. A select amount of rooms showcased what it would have looked like in its glory days. The part I was in was far more modern. But you didn’t doubt that you were in a grand castle.

  A small warm hand touches my bare arm and I’m escorted from the room. I turn my head in the direction his voice always comes from, but I don’t dare open my eyes. I think he’s tall, his voice is deep, but I have no idea of the rest.

  The click of the door behind me acts as a signal telling me it’s finally safe to look up. The light hurts my eyes for a moment. Linda moves me forward. Her sharp features are striking, high cheekbones, and a perfectly straight nose. Thin lips that never smile. She’s every photographer's dream, that is if you get past the darkness in her brown eyes. She carries it like a shield. Red nails wrap around my forearm and squeeze slightly when I don’t walk quickly enough. She never speaks to me like a person, and after the first few days here I gave up.

  We reach my room and that is where Linda takes her leave. Blonde hair cut close to her head doesn’t take away from her hard beauty as she gives me one final look. The door closes on my face and I hate the silence immediately.

  Turning, I catch myself in the full-length mirror. I look cheap. My eyes burn again and I push down the pain as I kick off the stilettos. Shimmying out of the black skirt I walk straight to the wardrobe and get out the only thing that isn’t degrading, a white silk nightgown. Putting it on it falls just above my knees covering my half-naked body.

  Several thoughts race through my mind like they do every day. Why did my father sell me? I knew he had a large debt to this man, but who sold their only child, their only daughter to a man. What did the man want with me? So far I was clothed, fed, and given a room. But I knew this wouldn’t last forever. Double doors are wide open as I walk into my bathroom. It’s half the size of my room which is also a ridiculous size. I spend most of my days trapped in here pretending that I live here and I can leave my room whenever I want. I just don’t want to. Tying my hair up, silky black strands manage to escape the tie and dangle around my face. I push them back as I face the mirror. Frightened green eyes stare back at me, sparkling with uncertainty. I look away unable to face what I see reflected back at me. The white hand basin holds me up as I grip either side of it. Memories of my life slip through my hands like sand as my chest tightens. It feels as if someone has sucked all the air from the room and I lose my grip. The walls close in as I hit the tiled floor hard. The ceiling hovers over me a million light-years away. Gold coving dips and melts as my brain short circuits.

  Blue eyes, like the blue of the clearest sky, stare down at me. The softness of the bed under me molds around my back. I can’t look away. His eyes are kind and not what I expected. He isn’t scarred, his tanned skin is smooth, he looks normal. My gaze flickers around the room as I look for Linda, but she isn’t here. Fear skitters across my skin, dampening it in its wake. We had never been alone before. I had wondered for three weeks what this man looked like and now I was face to face with him and all I wanted to do was close my eyes and un-see him. I feared the consequences.

  “Do you know what happened?”

  His voice is wrong. It’s too high pitched, too gentle. I was so used to that raspy, deep, hard voice. This wasn’t him. I try to sit up, but my head swims.

  “You need to rest.” Gentle hands push me back down. “You’ve hit your head pretty hard.” His words send a sharp pain to my head. I remember looking in the mirror and then I couldn’t breathe.

  “I couldn’t breathe,” I whisper.

  “You will be okay.”

  My focus is back on his blue eyes. The silver scope around his neck comes into view. I hadn’t noticed it before.

  “You’re a doctor?” I say trying to sit up again. Instead of making me stay still, he helps me sit up, fixing several pillows behind me.

  “Yes, I am. I can assure you, you will be fine.” His soft smile has my stomach twisting. I stare at him until his smile slowly disappears. My heart beats rapidly as my mind screams to beg him to get me out of here. I swallow. If I left, my father would be killed. That was the deal. He deserved to die. He really did, but I wasn't about to sign my own father's death sentence. I break eye contact with the doctor and will my heart to slow down.

  The door to my bedroom opens and Linda walks in. She captivates the doctor. Her hips sway perfectly in her black and white pencil skirt. The white shirt is see-through, her black bra on full display.

  “Doctor Rodgers, how is our patient?” Linda’s lips do something I have never seen them do before; they lift into a half smile. She looks slightly innocent or was youthful more accurate. She no longer had that tortured look she normally wore.

  “She’s doing fine. A bit more rest and she will be right as rain.” His blue eyes flicker to me, it’s brief like I’m the last thing he wants to talk about. His focus is now back on Linda.

  “You’re a lifesaver.” Linda stops at my bedside and looks down at me like I mean something to her. “She gave us all quite the scare.”

  Was there a threat in her words? I wasn’t sure. I sink further into the pillows. “Sorry. I’m not sure what happened.”

  She barks a short soft laugh. “One too many drinks.”

  “With Gerald?” Linda’s smile falters at Doctor Rodgers’ question.

  “No.” She answers quickly. “We better not keep you.” She holds out his bag to him with a forced smile. My brain is spinning on the name Gerald. Was that his name?

  The doctor’s brows pull down at his quick dismissal. He takes the bag with uncertainty. “Are you sure you don’t need me to stay and keep an eye on her?”

  “We have already taken up enough of your time.” Linda widens her arm, a gesture for him to come along.

  He does with disappointment in his voice. “Okay. Well, you know where I am.”

  It hits me hard after the door closes that I’m alone again. I stare at the door, the minute’s tick by and melt into one another. I want to use my voice, I want to break the silence but words are useless, they will shatter the silence only briefly before it pieces itself back together, it becomes more solid and stronger. I learned to accept what I can’t change. Closing my eyes, I let the darkness in and surprisingly I find sleep.

  When I open my eyes the room is dark. I don’t have windows in my room. My eyes skitter across the darkness. Someone turned off my lights, they were always left on. I push back the blanket and step out onto the cold wooden floor, the coldness absorbs some of the heat that pulses through me. I close my eyes and listen. I can hear his breath. I know he is there. My eyes roam across the room and I’m sure the space across from my bed is darker, deeper.

  I step towards the darkness. My knees wobble a little.

  “Dance for me.” My heart skips a beat at the sound of his voice. I’m prodding the darkness trying to make out his features, but the darkness molds around him like he’s part of it. He’s here in my room. This is something that has never happened before. I know I should be terrified, but a large part of me wants to see him or ask him if his name really is Gerald. But I don’t have the courage.

  “I don’t have music.” My voice wobbles and I take another step towards him and then pause. My pulse spikes as I wait for his response, but it doesn’t come. The shadows don’t move so I know he is still there, waiting for me to dance. If I don't, will he step closer? Will he demand me to dance or will he just leave?

  Closing my eyes, my heart beats wildly in my ears and I take a calming breath before I start to move. Swaying my hips, I don’t move closer to him but dance to my own music in front of him. I keep my eyes closed as I move slowly. I don’t allow myself to acknowledge the fact that I like d
ancing for him. Or that he makes me feel something I have never felt before. I stop dancing and open my eyes. Disgust at my own thoughts has me wrapping my arms tightly around my waist. My eyes seek him in the darkness, but he’s not there. Closing my eyes I seek out his breathing, but I can’t hear it. He’s gone.

  Moving quickly I flick on the lights. Facing the wall my heart pounds as I slowly turn around. The thought of seeing his face has my pulse throbbing in my neck.

  My room is empty. He’s gone.

  CONTINUE READING DARK: https://www.amazon.com/DARK-BILLIONAIRE-ROMANCE-Boyne-Club-ebook/dp/B084M5BJW8

  CLAIMING AMBER

  Emmett Harrington is a far cry from a knight in shining armor. He’s more like the prince of the criminal underworld. His armor a 9mm pistol.

  On the day I get arrested, I ring my best friend to bail me out. Instead, she sends her brother, Emmett Harrington. A guy I had never met before.

  So a few things about me. I like to party. Nothing wrong with that. I have no filter. That can get me into trouble at times, but I prefer honesty any day. I think that’s what Emmett likes about me, why he won’t let me go. Before I realize it, I‘m kept hostage at one of his mansions, and I have been locked up in one of his hotels.

  Turns out, he‘s pissed off a lot of people. He’s cold and unsociable, but underneath the glinting, dangerous surface, there’s something I’m drawn to. I‘m intrigued.

  Intrigued enough to throw caution to the wind and follow him down a very dangerous path. One I hope I come back from.

  If you like Mafia Style Romances, then Claiming Amber will feed your addiction for a romance with lots of drama.

  Do you want to read more about Emmett & Amber?

  Claiming Amber (A Broken Heart Series Part Two)

  https://www.amazon.com/Claiming-Amber-Broken-Heart-Book-ebook/dp/B07H4HGYNB

  Contents

  CHAPTER ONE