by Dori Lavelle
“Playing hard to get, husband? Isn’t it a little too late for that?”
“Don't say a word.” He positioned himself on top of me, but didn't enter me just yet. He slid my nipples into his mouth, taking his time with each one. With his mouth and tongue, he worked every sensitive spot on my body just the way I liked it.
“Your turn.” I ached to have him inside me, but it was only fair to treat him as well.
“That’s right; it’s my turn. But I'm the one calling the shots here.”
He didn't turn onto his back so I could put him in my mouth. Instead, he turned me onto my stomach and slid a hand underneath me, pulling me upward until I was on all fours. Then, just like that, he stroked into me. My breath caught from the unexpected turn of events.
“I thought…” I frowned. “I wanted to—”
“I know what you wanted to do,” he whispered into my ear, “but like I said, I'm the one in charge.” He pushed into me so hard that pain overrode pleasure. He pulled out suddenly, then slid into me again. I lost my balance, my face falling into the pillow. But he kept going, fucking me so hard my head and body slid in the direction of the headboard.
“You’re hurting me,” I murmured into the pillow, struggling but failing to push him away. Tears of disappointment soaked the expensive sheets. My head had reached the headboard, and with each new thrust from him, my forehead slammed into the engraved wood. How could he not hear it, the sound of my skull against the wood?
He kept fucking me, and I cried harder, attempting to pull away, but he was too strong for me. He pressed a hand on the back of my head and pushed my face into the pillow until I struggled to breathe.
“What the hell are you doing?” The pillow swallowed my words. “Please stop, Miles, you’re hurting me.”
Not a word from him. Finally, he grunted and shuddered as his orgasm gripped him. He was enjoying himself while my head felt as though it had been hit with a hammer. I gasped for air.
He released me and walked into the bathroom, slamming the door, leaving me paralyzed by confusion.
I pulled myself up on the bed, shivering with pain, with shock, unable to understand what had just happened. This was not how I had imagined our wedding night. What the hell?
The toilet flushed, and I heard the water running. Then the door flew open.
I flung myself at him. My bunched up fists pummeled his hard chest. Rage caused my temples to throb. “What the fuck's wrong with you? I told you to stop. You were hurting me.”
A huge grin split his face and his eyes narrowed. He caught both my hands, shoving me away so hard I fell back on the bed, giving me a look that made me shudder. Something was wrong. Very wrong.
“I have been waiting for this moment for so long. I was being honest—I never thought it would arrive, but here we are.” The grin was still on his face. His eyes were intense, a dark shade of brown I had never seen before.
“What you did was not right. This is our honeymoon. How could you do that? You just took what you wanted knowing full well I was in pain.”
“You don't get it, do you?” He took a deep breath, frustrated at my lack of understanding. “See, it was meant to hurt.”
“How can you say that?” I shook my head, tears flying everywhere. “I don't even know you right now.”
“You don’t know me? Are you sure about that? Look harder.” He reached for a robe on the back of the bedroom door and put it on. His eyes didn't leave mine. “I don’t blame you. It has been a long time. Thirteen years, five days, and three hours, to be exact. I've been counting.”
“What...? What are you talking about?”
He pointed both thumbs at his chest. “It's me, Kelly… Alvin Jones. You thought you killed me. Well, turns out I'm not dead.” He laughed. “And now it's my turn to do to you what you and your friends tried but failed to do to me.”
My stomach dropped. I gripped the edge of the bed. I felt like I was falling.
He shoved a hand through his hair. “I know, I look quite different from that boy. It took a few surgeries and a lot of exercise to create this brand-new me.”
“No,” I whispered. Fear clawed through me, and sweat trickled down my spine. I felt like I was having an out-of-body experience. I didn't even realize when I lurched forward and vomited on the side of the bed. He didn't seem perturbed. Trembling, I swiped the back of my hand across my mouth and turned to look back at him, whishing it were all a dream. “Miles?”
“Don't call me that. Miles is gone, and Alvin is back from the dead.” He sat at the foot of the bed, and I scooted as far away as I could. He didn't try to touch me, just kept giving me that sickening grin. I searched for Miles in his face, in his eyes, but the man in front of me was unrecognizable. Even the sound of his voice.
“No, no. You can't… you can’t be.” My mouth turned dry. “You’re lying.”
“No, baby. It was me all along.” He cocked his head to the side. “I played the game like a master. I pretended to love you, to be the man of your dreams. I could have gone on pretending, but revenge is so much sweeter than love. Everything I did was meant to lead up to this moment. It was so much fun sending you those cards and watching you squirm with fear.”
He reached into a drawer and removed a stack of envelopes. “With each card, I waited for you to tell me what you did, to confess. If you had, maybe I’d have forgiven you. But no. You lied to me each and every time.”
He threw the envelopes down on the bed next to me. My heart collapsed, and my world started to spin. Words, thoughts, and memories swirled inside my head in a terrible tornado.
All this time, it was him. My fiancé, my husband, was a man who didn't exist. He was never real. He was an illusion. Fear hit my core like icy water, rendering me speechless.
He pointed a finger at me. “Seeing you like this? It’s priceless. I can see the wheels turning inside your head.” His mouth twisted. “Want to know why I went to all the trouble of being the best man for you? I wanted to make you happier than any man had ever made you, to give you your own fairytale and everything. For the grand finale, I wanted to see your pain when I took it all away. You're so fucking stupid, you fell for it.” He pinned me with his eyes, his jaw set. “I went through a lot to get here. Everything I did was part of the grand plan to make you pay. Now do you understand why I named this yacht Vendetta?” He held up a hand to stop me from responding. “Does that name ring a bell, remind you of something? Does Vendet Group come to mind? Well, it doesn’t exist. The merger wasn’t real. What kept me busy the last few weeks were preparations for this day. I had no idea it would come so soon. By the way, eloping was a brilliant plan. I didn’t have to wait until the honeymoon. I’d waited long enough already.”
“You’re lying. You’re making it all up.” I screamed and shook my head like a mad woman, gasping for breath, the smell of my own vomit shooting up my nostrils.
“You can choose to believe it or not. Doesn't make a difference to me either way. I'm here to make you pay for everything you did to me.” He looked down at his wedding band. “In my wedding vows to you earlier, I promised to give you a future you will never forget. Your future is now. The Vendetta is your final destination, and I’m the last person you’ll see before you die. But first, I’m going to make you suffer. By the time I’m done with you, you’ll wish you were never born. It’s best you prepare yourself.”
With those words, my life as I knew it went up in flames.
END OF BOOK 1
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Other books by Dori Lavelle
Moments in Time series (Contemporary Romance)
To Live Again serial (Contemporary Romance)
His Agenda series (Dark Roman
ce)
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Table of Contents
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Other books by Dori Lavelle
Connect with Dori Lavelle
