by Rachel Angel
Destroy Me Not
Heartbreak Falls #4
Rachel Angel
Destroy Me Not (Heartbreak Falls #4)
Published by Romance On the Go, an Imprint of Sparklesoup
Copyright © 2020 Rachel Angel
All Rights Reserved. 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 or retrieval system, without the permission in writing from the publisher except in case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. Do NOT post on websites or share this book without permission from copyright holder. We take piracy seriously.
All characters and storyline is an invention from Rachel Angel/Kailin Gow. Any resemblance to people alive or dead is purely coincidental.
For information, please contact:
www.Sparklesoup.com
First Edition.
DEDICATION
This series is dedicated to Fin and Ian, my muses.
SERIES BLURB
With a name like Heartbreak Falls, one didn't expect to find love at the new town I had moved to courtesy of my new stepfamily aka Mom's new husband and his sons.
Something was up with my new rich stepfather, his sons, and what happened to their last stepmother. Something was up with the entire town, which my stepfamily seemed to run. Along with the school where my stepbrothers reigned as cruel princes. All 3 of them were known as The Heartbreakers. Two were twins and my age, and then there was Tristan, the eldest. Gorgeous but god-awful hateful to me. What was up?
I was about to find out...if I lived long enough.
**Heartbreak Falls is a RH Dark Bully Romance and mystery for 18 and up. It is YA/NA and has themes of bullying and rough sex. If that's fine with you, then dig in! Destroy Me Not is book 4 of 5 and contains a cliffhanger.
Author’s Note
Thank you for picking up Destroy Me Not, the fourth book in the Heartbreak Falls Series. This book contains scenes that may be triggers such as bullying and violence.
This is a dark romance and while it takes place in high school, the sexual scenes are between 18+ and above characters.
This is also a Reverse Harem, which means the main female character will have three or more love interests.
Finally, this is a bully romance which means enemy to lover romance. By no means do we promote or advocate bullying of any kind, but seek to prevent it in real life. If anyone is facing bullying in real life, there are resources and help available out there.
Prologue
Haven
Age 5
Father’s Day
When my mother picked me up from kindergarten, she took one look at my tearful face and asked, “What’s wrong, baby?”
I wiped the big drops of tears threatening to roll down my cheeks from my eyes. “Everyone in class!”
“What happened, Haven?” my mother asked.
“They all have fathers they made a Father’s Day card for,” I said.
Mother looked at me with a sad smile, “Oh Haven,” she hugged me. “You still have a father. He’s just not with us in person. He’s in heaven, watching over you and mommy.”
“But everyone else gets to bring home a card for their daddies. I don’t.”
Mother took my hand and said, “Not true. Where’s your teacher?”
I turned around to point my finger at the grey-haired wrinkly-faced woman with a stern permanently unhappy face, sitting in the corner of the class, grading papers.
My mother led me over to her and said, “Hi, Ms. Pierce. I’m Haven’s mother. Why didn’t she get to make a Father’s Day card to take home?”
Ms. Pierce looked surprised at being confronted by my mother. Maybe she thought all parents would just sit tight and accept the way she taught the little kindergarteners since they didn’t know much.
“She, um, said she doesn’t have a father, and…so I didn’t push her to make one,” Ms. Pierce said.
Mother looked at me and frowned. “Haven. Not true.” She looked at Ms. Pierce and said, “Of course she had a father, but he passed away shortly after Haven was born. Haven didn’t get the chance to get to know him, but he was a wonderful man.”
“I’m sure he was,” Ms. Pierce said, suddenly sympathetic.
“So you see, Ms. Pierce, all children have fathers. It’s biological. I’m a psychologist, and I think it’s necessary for every child to participate in this activity…making Father’s Day cards. I’ll make one with Haven right now so she can be like everyone else in class. Okay?” she looked at Ms. Pierce, who wasn’t immune to Mother’s beauty and charm.
“Sure, Ms. Hillshire,” she said. “That’s Haven’s seat, and she has all the supplies in the center of her group.”
“Thank you,” Mother said, telling me to go sit at my desk. She joined me later after she talked to Ms. Pierce a bit more.
I was already drawing a picture of my mother and me on the cardboard paper with a big heart over us. Mom joined me, and she smiled at the kids who were finishing up their cards. “Hi Kids,” Mother said, “I’m Haven’s mommy. Did someone here say something to Haven about her daddy?”
All the kids shook their heads “no,” and one girl with pigtails pointed to a boy and said, “Taylor said Haven doesn’t have a daddy and that’s weird.”
My mother laughed and said, “Well, Taylor, Haven does have a daddy, but he isn’t with us physically now. He went to Heaven. But that doesn’t mean Haven doesn’t have a daddy.”
Taylor nodded and said, “Oh, I didn’t know.” He looked at me and said, “Sorry.”
Mother nodded back and looked at me.
Even at 5 years old, I knew what my mother expected. “That’s okay,” I said. “You didn’t know. You didn’t mean to be mean and make fun of me.”
Taylor looked over at my mother and nodded.
“So, kids,” Mother said. “No one will be making fun of Haven from now on, right?”
All the kids in my group nodded as my mother smiled back at them. Then she looked at me and said, “Haven, you can write your father’s name on the card too so he would get it.”
“Really?” I asked. “Even in Heaven?”
“Yes,” Mother said. “Write To Heath Hillshire, I love you very much…”
I wrote what Mother told me to write, and when I finished, she took the card and led me back to Ms. Pierce’s desk.
Ms. Pierce looked up right when my mother waved the card in front of her. “Haven’s finished with her card,” Mother said.
Ms. Pierce’s eyes ballooned when she saw it. “I, um, Ms. Hillshire, didn’t know Haven is a Hillshire. That Hillshire. And Heath Hillshire’s…”
Mother said, “I want it kept low-key, but yes, Haven’s father is that Heath. And this card is going to be sent to her grandparents. I’m not going to deny them the chance of being involved with Haven, their only grandchild, so whenever there are any activities in class, especially with family, make sure she participates. The Hillshires would not be pleased to know their granddaughter was denied or discouraged from them and from expressing herself.”
Ms. Pierce was suddenly more energized and expressive than she had ever been. “Oh yes, Ms. Hillshire. Of course. Yes, of course!”
So…that was the first time Mother spoke of my father and his family in public. She hardly brought it up since, but even then, I knew my father was special. Not just to me and my mother, but to a bunch of people.
*****
Mother must have love
d my father so much that she never remarried until she met Terrence Triton.
And became a Triton.
The next female Triton to have gone missing, kidnapped like all of Terrence’s wives before her.
Chapter 1
Harley
Present Day
Age 18
“Haven? Haven?” a familiar male voice asked.
My eyes opened, but everything was still blurry.
“She’s coming to,” another male voice said.
“They have Mom,” I said, squeezing my eyes shut. I started shaking. The worse of my nightmares had happened. My mother had been kidnapped… probably never to be released. If history of all the women who married into the Triton family was a predictor of what would happen to Mom, I would never see her alive again.
Tears rolled down my cheeks, and strong arms lifted me tight against a hard chest. I opened my eyes and found myself staring into deep blue ones…Tristan’s concerned eyes. “We’ll get her back, Haven,” he kissed my temple. “If it’s the last thing I do, I promise you.”
Drake was already at the computer. “I checked all the security cameras around Main Street,” he said. “I’ve also hacked into the security camera aimed at the main entrance to the building where Dr. Hillshire’s new office is located and checking who came in and out of the building today.”
“Any luck?” Tristan asked.
“I’m scrolling through hours of footage as fast as I can,” Drake said. “So far, all I’ve seen is one couple walking in before Haven gets there, then they walk out before Haven walks out. I haven’t seen anyone else leaving except the bakery owner, one or two customers from the bakery, and individual people who have offices at the building. Dr. Hillshire never left the building, it seems.”
“Let’s head over there,” Tristan said.
“Dad’s already there,” Dillon said, getting off the phone and putting it into his pocket.
“Did he call the police?” I asked, walking towards Dillon.
Dillon shook his head, “No, Dad said he has his own private detective on it, and he didn’t want to get this into public hands.”
“But it’s my Mom!” I said. “I don’t care if he is worried about any public scandal. I want my mother back safe.”
“Haven,” Tristan’s voice was even-keeled, smooth and steady. “Dad is handling it the best way he knows how. Putting it into public will only motivate the kidnappers.” He looked pained. “We’ve gone through this before. If it’s made public before everything is handled, you might as well…” he didn’t finish, but I knew what he meant.
“Okay,” I said.
“Come on,” Tristan said, walking up to me to gently hold my arm. “Let’s go to your mother’s office.”
Drake joined us. “Since Haven seemed to be the last person entering and leaving her mother’s office…”
I looked at Drake and then at Tristan. “I am?”
Drake nodded.
I shook my head. “Are you saying…that I’m a suspect in my mother’s disappearance?”
Drake couldn’t look me in my eyes as he said, “Yes. The detective we hired wants to ask you some questions.”
Chapter 2
Haven
I shook my head. Was I hearing everything right?
I was now the main suspect of my own mother’s disappearance?
How could this be? I had nothing to do with the Triton’s tragic past of kidnappings, murders, and scandals.
I thought back to what I knew about it. Maybe there was a link to all of this? A clue that would tie each one to another?
First, Emma Triton, who was Terrence’s sister, was kidnapped and then murdered.
Then Rose Bradshaw, who was Terrence’s first wife and the mother of Tristan, Drake, and Dillon. She was kidnapped and then murdered.
And the Triton’s last stepmother, Penelope Hills, who died just about a year ago. Drowned in Heartbreak Falls, the waterfall, itself. She was a strong swimmer, but it was hard to swim under the falls during stormy weather. Her death was deemed an accident. But it was suspicious.
Emma Triton was Terrence’s sister. Born a Triton. Like Diamond Triton, who was the first to be kidnapped then killed…born a Triton. Then there was Rose Bradshaw…Bradshaw?
Wait. Bradshaw… as in Max Bradshaw? Was Tristan and the Twin’s mother Rose related to Max and Megan? I looked over at Max, who was looking bewildered in his chair, still tied to it by the Twins. They had taken him to Tristan’s Lair to get him to give the code to the flash drive they found in the secret lining of Megan’s mermaid purse.
“Rose…” I said to Tristan. “Your mother…she had been kidnapped before, wasn’t she?”
Tristan looked like I had just punched him. He closed his eyes and opened them. “How did you know?”
“I read something about it somewhere,” I said. “I was just looking up our Triton name out of curiosity.”
“Then you know I was kidnapped too, as a child,” Tristan said. “They were going to kill me, but my mother told them to take her instead.”
I gulped. I couldn’t imagine what Tristan went through.
“I’m so sorry,” I said, reaching over to him to hold him tight.
“Don’t be,” Tristan said. “It made me who I am today. Not the scared kid who watched his mother die.”
Dillon and Drake looked so pained too at that moment, as if remembering how horrible and scared they were. Rose was their mother too.
I looked over at Max. He didn’t look as pained as the others. “Max, did you know their mother?”
Max snapped into attention as he looked at me, blinking as though he was just waking up. “Um, yes, she took care of me like a mother. She and my mother were so close.”
“Like sisters?” I asked.
“They were related, if that’s what you want to know,” Tristan’s deep voice said against me. I was still holding Tristan, and he had his arms around me, too.
“How?” I asked. “Does that mean you and Max are related too?”
“My mother was Max’s aunt,” Drake said. “Who moved out of the family when she was 16 years old to declare herself emancipated from her family. She was 19 years old when she married Dad. Somehow that didn’t sit well with them. But it made her family suddenly get in touch with her.”
“Aunt Rose,” Max said. “I always called her that. She was my father’s little sister…the only sister he had. Of course, Grandfather and Grandmother Bradshaw wouldn’t just let Aunt Rose out of the family. They cared for her and loved her.”
“And Megan? What was Aunt Rose to her?” I asked. Megan would have been around Tristan’s age when Rose was kidnapped. She probably wouldn’t have anything to do with it.
“Megan was Rose Bradshaw’s oldest brother’s daughter. So…her niece,” Max said.
“I don’t get it,” I said. “All this time, you were related? Max is your cousin, too?” I asked Tristan, Drake, and Dillon.
Tristan gritted his teeth as he looked at Max, “Yes unfortunately. It’s complicated.”
“I’ll say,” I said.
“I saw Haven first,” Max said suddenly. “Even before she became a Triton…I wanted her before you Tritons ever knew who she was.”
Tristan walked up to Max and grabbed his shirt, lifting him up with the chair he was tied to. “What the hell do you mean you saw her first?”
“Back in New York…I saw her walking with her mother outside her old Academy. Megan and I were sitting at the café across from her school, and there Haven was… just walking with her mother. I swear,” Max blinked, “My heart stopped, and I couldn’t breathe.”
Max was staring at me as though he was remembering the first time he saw me. Tristan, Drake, and Dillon were looking at me then, too.
“See… you all have felt that, too,” Max said. “What it is like to have fallen for Haven.”
“Only you won’t get to fuck her,” Tristan said, pushing him down.
Max looked at me and said, “That’s
up to Haven isn’t it?”
“Oh my God,” I said, “I can’t believe you guys. You’re talking about who can fuck me when yes, it is my decision, not Tristan’s…and hey…my mom has been kidnapped. Hello! Let’s go find her.”
Dillon came up to me and hugged me. “Don’t worry, Haven,” he rubbed my back. “We’ll find her.”
“I’m not so sure,” I said. “Given your history…I don’t mean to sound rude and insensitive, but my mother is only in this situation because she married into your family. She wouldn’t have been kidnapped, if she wasn’t.”
Dillon was rubbing my back again. “We’ve been there, Haven. We know how you feel.”
“Come on,” Drake said, “Detective Holmes is waiting. He’s found some evidence.”
Chapter 3
Haven
We arrived as soon as we could at the red brick building that housed a café, my mother’s office, and other offices with shops below.
It had a cozy small town feel to the place still despite my mother disappearance from the building.
I immediately ran out of Tristan’s car towards the building, and up the stairs to Mom’s office.
This was all a dream. A joke even. I had to see for myself that Mom really wasn’t there before I would believe anything.
I walked past the chairs outside to open the door with the old-fashioned frosted glass panel with the words in gold, “Dr. Pamela Hillshire” on it. Then I stopped.
Terrence was there.
A handsome man about Terrence’s age with ebony smooth skin was standing beside him.
“Haven!” Terrence said, coming over to pull me into the room with a big hug. “I’m so sorry.”
“Mom?” I shouted. “Mom?”
I pulled myself away from Terrence and search the entire room, opening the closet, going into the restroom, going into the small kitchenette. She couldn’t have disappeared from here.
