by Dee Garcia
“Rome!” Lux bellowed, igniting a raging fire in his eyes.
I sighed impatiently, squeezing the bridge of my nose. “Jesus-fucking-Christ, Lux, did I not tell you to be quiet?”
“Where is she?” Rome growled.
“Back home where you left her, safe and sound.”
“I’m coming for you, Rome, do you hear me? I’m coming for you! Vic, you better text me that information—I’ve already bought the next flight out. It leaves in two hours.”
“Excellent.” I nearly rubbed my palms together. Everything was falling into place famously. “In the meantime, here’s a little motivation to get you moving faster in the event you thought I was joking…”
With lithe speed, I reached for the pistol tucked between the seat and flung my arm back, whacking the damned thing against Rome’s head.
Roaring in pain, he fell back into the seat as deep crimson blood began trickling from his temple.
“Stop! STOP!” Lux screamed in terror. “Don’t touch him! Don’t fucking touch him!”
“Oh, I won’t be, but I’m sure Liza can’t wait to get her hands on him one last time,” I mused.
Very slowly, Rome turned toward me, squinting through the aftermath of my assault. “Liza?” he rasped.
“The very one.”
“They’re working together!” Lux yelled, widening Rome’s expression in tenfold.
“You’re working with fucking Liza? Are you shitting me?!”
“How do you think she found you, brother?” I flashed him another grin.
But it didn’t last long.
One second I was lucid, and the next, well, I wasn’t.
The world around me was fading.
Fading.
Closing in on me.
Black.
♫ The Devil Within - Digital Daggers ♫
I’ve been called crazy more times than I can count.
I like to think I’m poetic.
Passionate.
Maybe a little twisted, and a whole lot spoiled.
I have daddy to thank for that. He spoiled me rotten, like he did all his girls.
His women.
My mum included.
He loved me best, though, I know he did. Loved me more than most daddies love their daughters.
Even at my youngest age, I knew it was wrong; we both did, but we couldn’t stop.
Until one day, when my first crush came into my life. Daddy didn’t like it one bit. He didn’t like him, didn’t try to get to know him. He wanted to keep me for him is what he’d said.
I tried to sway him.
Tried to explain he would always be my daddy and I’d always love.
But he didn’t listen, wouldn’t hear me out.
So I killed him.
Killed mum, too, when she finally figured out our dirty little secret and tried throwing the blame at my feet.
To the world, it looked like a heart-wrenching homicide, a sordid tale of how a young girl killed her father in self-defense after he killed her mother.
And that’s how I left it.
I never told anyone the truth—not even Rome.
Promised myself I’d take that to the grave.
I mean, why would I ever come clean when all it had done was help me get by in life? Help me rise to the top.
Everyone who knew my story saw me as poor little Liza the orphan, the orphan who deserved the world for being so brave, for persevering despite the awful hand life had dealt her.
I had everything handed to me on a silver-fucking-platter, had everyone eating out of the palm of my hand—the boys especially.
Roman.
Vic.
Leo.
Every last one of them.
They were my puppets, and I was their master.
I wanted them all, wanted to love them all, wanted to play with them all, just like my daddy used to do with his girls.
But Roman ruined it in his selfishness.
He killed my Leo, almost killed Vic before that.
For a while, I loathed him. I wanted him dead. Chased him all over New York, reminding him I was never too far away.
It was under those pretenses I came into contact with Vic again. He was supposed to help me corner Rome, help me kill him. And in return I’d help him end his precious Lux.
But that was then, and this is now.
Very soon, I’ll have my playthings back together. Maybe not all of them, but two will suffice. I might even keep the little bitch, too.
They’ll serve me like the Queen I am…and I’ll love them.
Forever.
And ever.
And ever.
♫ In the Name of Love - Martin Garrix and Bebe Rexha ♫
Landing in Heathrow was surreal.
The last time I’d been here was more than ten years ago, and even the fifteen-year-old version of myself never imagined I’d come back. In fact, that was the plan as Suki and I barreled through the terminals, hoping we’d make it on the flight without incident.
Neither one of us had anything here, and we surely weren’t going to miss it either.
But plans change, and now, Rome needed me.
Despite what he’d done to me, despite how it all ended, he needed me.
It was that simple.
Vic was dangerous, so was Liza, apparently. Together they’d likely best me without question.
Yet I couldn’t leave the man I loved to die. If I didn’t come after him, he’d take his final breath under their rule.
And that was no way for the King to perish.
“So, do you have a plan?” Suki asked as we exited the airport, throwing on our coats. Unlike Miami, the U.K. actually experienced all four seasons.
I slipped my carry-on over my shoulder. “No, but we should probably get to a hotel in the mean time. Vic hasn’t text me the information yet and I’m not about to wander the streets waiting for him.”
“Well, let’s get a taxi then, shall we?”
Nodding, I glanced around in search of one as well. “Did you tell Rams?”
Suki froze for a beat, then turned back toward me with an exaggerated smile on her face. “No.”
“Suk, really?!”
“I didn’t want her worrying!” she explained, drawing several eyes in the near vicinity our way.
“Because leaving without telling her isn’t going to worry her?” I whisper-hissed.
Reaching for my hand, Suki pulled me to her side and laced her fingers with my own, offering a supportive squeeze. “I’ll call her, okay? What we need to focus on is a plan.”
“And yet, we can’t do that without that damned information. I can’t map shit out if I don’t know where they are.”
“Have you text him since landing?” She waved an arm manically as a cab slowed within the airport traffic.
“No.”
“Do it then. Let me worry about about the taxi.”
As Suki went about whistling and bouncing around to get us some transportation, I fished my phone out of my bag, powered it on, and opened my thread with Vic. He still hadn’t responded to my last message before take off, but I assumed it was done with purpose, as was the way our call ended so abruptly after I’d bought my ticket.
Scare tactics and all that shit.
Me: Just landed.
I waited and waited, boring into the screen impatiently, but nothing came through until we were actually in the back of the cab several minutes later.
Vic: Excellent.
Me: Where’s the info?
Vic: What info?
“Really?” I muttered aloud, indignation striking deep in my gut.
Suki shifted her attention away from her phone and glanced over at mine. “What happened?”
I let her read the message.
When our stares met, she rendered the same dubious look already settled on my face.
Me: Don’t play stupid now.
Vic: Call me.
My eyes almost rolled out their sockets.
Of course he was going to make this more difficult than it already was.
Clicking through a couple of screens, I selected his number and set the phone to my ear. It rang only twice, but I didn’t give him the chance to speak even a word.
“I should’ve known you weren’t going to give me those details, you lying bastard,” I snapped.
His voice never followed, though. Instead, a woman’s sultry chuckle met my ears.
“So angry…”
I knew who it was immediately, my heart-rate spiking to a dangerous degree.
“Liza…” I gritted out, whipping Suki’s head toward me as Liza hummed appreciatively.
“The one and only.”
“Where’s Rome?”
“He’s a bit tied up at the moment,” she mused, evoking a growl so savage within me, even Suki’s eyes widened in alarm.
“If you hurt him I sw—”
“Settle down, little girl. I have no plans to hurt him.” Another chuckle. “I just want to love him.”
Sure you do.
“How do you plan to make that work when he doesn’t love you anymore?” I questioned, noting Suki was holding out her earbuds beside me.
Taking them from her open palm, I plugged them into the jack and passed one side so she could listen in.
“Oh, he does,” Liza cooed, sounding so sure of herself. “Deep down, he still does. He always will. I am his first love and all.”
“You sure about that?”
“Positive. And should he deny it, should he try to play hard to get, I have little ways to remind him of where his heart stands.”
Suki twirled a finger beside her head, depicting my exact thoughts.
“You really are insane,” I stressed.
“Is that what he told you? Did he tell you Liza was crazy?” she queried, cackling maniacally.
“Not verbatim, but he might as well have.”
“And you believed him… Bless,” she crooned.
My blood boiled.
I’d had enough of her mind games. The chick was clearly unhinged and I was not about to feed into it.
“Where are you, Liza?” I barked.
“Oh, you know, around,” she sang childishly.
“You know that’s not what I meant… Tell me where the fuck you are!”
Suki shook my arm in haste, typing something out furiously on her phone when I cut my eyes to where she sat. Turning the phone toward me, I read the message on her notepad.
CHECK HIS LOCATION!!!
My best friend was a fucking genius.
I had to refrain from taking her face in my hands and smacking a million kisses all over her.
Of course—tracking his location! Why hadn’t I thought of that?
“What do I get in exchange for our location?” Liza asked as I got to work on my phone.
“What do you want?”
“Hmmm? How about fifty-thousand pounds?”
I scoffed. “Is that all he’s worth to you? Fifty grand?”
“Oh, no—he’s worth much more. That should be enough to get us out of here, though,” she clarified, knocking me still.
“Umm, I’m not handing over fifty grand for you to leave with him. You want the money? Let him go.”
“For a business woman, you really have shit listening skills,” she jeered. “The money was in exchange for the location, not for Rome. I’m not releasing him to you or anyone else for that matter. He’s mine. You can try taking him from me but I promise you, you won’t make it out alive.”
Suki and I both rolled our eyes. Poor girl clearly thought she was invincible. Too bad she didn’t know how crazy my girl and I could be.
“We’ll see about that,” I countered.
“What’s it going to be, Lux? The clock is ticking. Am I to expect fifty thousand at some point today?”
“No—I’ll find you my damn self. Be prepared, Liza. You have no idea what you’re up against,” I warned her, grinning triumphantly as Vic’s location popped up on my screen.
“Neither do you, babe. Neither do you. Speak soon, I guess.”
Click.
♫ Secret - The Pierces ♫
I expected for escort bloke to knock me out after watching him put Vic down, but he never did.
In fact, he didn’t speak to me at all. He merely tossed Vic’s limp body into the backseat beside me, slid behind the wheel, and pulled out into airport traffic—cool as a fucking cucumber.
We drove for quite some time in complete silence, shrouded by the dark of night.
Every instinct within me told me to fight back, to demand answers and get a better understanding of where he was taking me—since Liza hadn’t divulged a thing—but I remained tight-lipped throughout.
Stoic.
Seemingly unaffected by the gravity of the situation.
My mind was in the red, though—flags waving, alarms blaring.
Liza had finally caught up to me, in real time, and without an ounce of actual physical force, she coerced me into her trap.
Into her web of madness and revenge.
Like she’d done to Vic. She’d obviously lied to him as well, had led him to believe they were equal partners in whatever the full extent of their arrangement was.
I wasn’t afraid of death, but the thought of dying in her hands was a fucking nightmare.
Worst yet, Lux was coming after me…
What would happen if I was dead by the time she found her way to me? If she found her way to me…
Would Liza kill her, too?
Within that depraved loop is where my thoughts remained for the rest of the drive. Leaving the hustle and bustle of the city behind us, we ended up on scenic country roads where the plots of land grew larger and further apart with every twist and turn.
Eventually, we pulled into a long, narrow driveway that led to a massive estate. Securing said estate was a tall, iron gate. Escort wanker punched in the code and the doors opened slowly, granting us access to the semi-lit perimeter.
In any other circumstance, I would have ventured to say it was a gorgeous sight, all old-English style with hints of goth provided by the gargoyles at the top of the castle-like roof.
But my architectural appreciation quickly faded the moment the SUV slowed to a stop at the steps before the front doors.
Two men, who appeared to be hulking butlers based on their classic attire, came barreling down toward us. I was expecting them to yank my door open and pull me into their possession, but both men went around the back end, and opened the door opposite of me instead.
Where Vic laid, still passed the hell out.
One grabbed his arms, the other grabbed his legs… And then they were gone.
Seconds later, escort bloke was opening my door. Once again, he didn’t utter a single word, simply tipping his head by way of direction. I hopped out onto the pavement without protest and craned my head back, taking in the clear, late-night sky.
After all, it might’ve been the last time I’d ever get to see it.
And in some sense, it was—because that’s the moment when they finally knocked me out.
I didn’t even see it coming.
There was a brief whooshing sound.
Then a screeching blow to my head.
And then the world around me gave to darkness.
I woke with a start, gasping for air as I shot up from the…
Bed?
A massive plush bed no less.
My head protested immediately against the sudden movement, pounding violently to the point I thought it might explode. The back of it felt tight and sore, as though something were keeping my aching skull closed.
Stitches, I presumed, based on the images all coming back to me now.
Squeezing my eyes shut, I willed myself through the onslaught with deep breaths, clutching the sheets around my body for support, my jaw ground to avoid making a sound.
When the agony subsided, I cracked my eyes open once more, slowly, finally noting the night had passed me by. W
arm streams of daylight now poured in through the bay window not so far away, bathing the room with its incandescent rays.
I peered around, observing my ornate surroundings. Vintage floral wallpaper, gold-trimmed Victorian furniture, what had to be imported, luxury area rugs. Above the bed hung a chandelier, and in the far corner were two parlor chairs set up like a sitting area with a bookcase in between.
And then there were the doors, both a cream color with simple golden knobs.
Where did they lead? Were they locked? Guarded?
Swinging my legs off the end of the bed in an attempt to investigate, it was then I noticed I sat in nothing but my briefs.
No t-shirt. No pants.
Not even my bloody socks.
What the hell?
Panic took its hold on me as my mind began racing millions of miles per hour.
Why the hell were my clothes off?
I’d not even had a proper minute to think it through when one of the doorknobs jiggled, followed by a lock coming undone.
There went one of my questions answered.
Bracing myself, I rose onto my feet, ready and willing to tackle whoever was on the other side, and run out just like this should I have the opportunity to do so.
But the moment I saw Liza saunter through the threshold, I couldn’t fucking move.
“Good morning, sunshine!” she quipped cheerily, a silver tray balanced on her palm.
She was clad in only a silky white robe, pepping goosebumps all over my skin in alarm as my stomach churned about.
No.
Shutting the door with her bare foot, she sashayed toward me with an equally cheery smile.
Or at least she was aiming for such.
In reality, it was nothing short of creepy and deranged.
“How’d you sleep, baby?” she asked, setting the tray down on the pristine nightstand beside the bed, a lush spread of breakfast items set on its polished surface. “I’m sorry we had to sleep apart. I promise tonight you’ll get to sleep in my bed like the King you are.”
