ELEANOR SINCLAIR The outside air was bracing as I rushed through it, late autumn biting sharply at my exposed arms in the dress I had specially worn to please my now enraged husband, who was waiting. I tied up my coat and started off, my mind whirling with questions. Once again, I checked the number, and it was his. It had to have been sent to me in error, and it was going to be cleared up the moment she got home. The only thing that frightened me about it was that Damian hardly ever made such mistakes, and he would have checked it if it were her fault. As time went on and he did not call her again, she became more and more convinced that he truly did not send it. It was the one thing that bit at her.If Damian didn't send the message, who did, and why? On his phone, as well...The road was deserted as I stopped the only taxi in sight, the golden light of the afternoon fading into nothingness while being replaced by the streetlights that glowed as I passed through. My phone felt he
DAMIAN BLACKWOOD The gun in my hand was heavy.I had used many kinds of guns over the years, but this was one that particularly weighed me down, holding me to the chaos that had erupted in our home while having nothing to do with its weight. For all I knew, I had had many enemies like my father before me, but none had dared to come close to our home, both during his time and during mine. None at all.As much as I tried to keep myself in control, my heart kept on racing, the adrenaline rush that had come from tearing through the bedroom like a psychopath while searching for whatever clues that could have been left still in my veins. From where Eleanor stood by her dresser, her fingers dancing around the edge of the drawer she'd just opened, I could see that her face was pale but had somehow managed to be serene. Too serene, maybe. I could see the questions churning in her eyes, which I guessed were the same ones bubbling in my own. Someone had lured her out of the house, while making
Eleanor's POVSLAP!The impact and sound of Damian’s palm hit my cheek with such force that I tumbled backward. For a moment, my vision became blurry, and a strong pain ran through my face. The world around me turned around, the big chandeliers above turning into streaks of gold. Gasps filled the ballroom, followed by a suffocating and usual silence that felt like a heavy weight pressing down on me.I pressed my fingers to my burning cheek, the sting only adding to my pain. While my ears rang from the blow, tingle tingle, the pounding of my heart was even louder. This couldn’t be real. This couldn’t possibly be happening to me.Damian Blackwood, my husband, my love, my everything,g stood before me, his gaze filled with cold, unyielding fury, just like that of a dagger."You ungrateful whore! You bastard" he roared, his voice moving through my entire being.I recoiled at the venom in his words. My lips twisted, trying to defend myself, but my throat felt dry and my mind was a blank and
Eleanor's POVI woke up to a sharp pain all over my body. A piercing, strong, heart-wrenching pain ran through me like wildfire. My arms lay motionless and unmoved. My legs felt as though they were made of lead and steel. My mouth was dried, and my lips cracked and were bleeding profusely.I attempted to blink, yet the world remained an unstable haze of shadow and dim light. The ache in my head was so overwhelming that I thought for a fleeting moment I might be dead by now.But I wasn’t. As much as I wished I were.The instant my vision sharpened, I saw them. And that’s when hell truly began….******I found myself sleeping helplessly on a strong concrete floor, my hands were tied behind me, my body weakened from hunger and exhaustion. The odor in the air was unbearable sweat, urine, poo, something putrid and really irritating.And then I saw them. Three men.Filthy, obese, ugly, stupid men.Their gaze ran over my body like insects, their laughter low and really disgusting."Finally a
Eleanor's POVI didn’t go down without a fight. I kicked and screamed, struggling against the chains restraining my wrists as Vincent’s dogs dragged me down the shadowy hallway. The iron cuffs bruised my skin, the chains twisting with each step.But that didn’t matter. They had taken everything from me. They would not break my spirit. Whatever lay ahead, they would pay for their actions, they would surely pay.******The dark and shabby underground chamber was filled with the scent of cigars and pricey cologne. Heavily furnished, with expensive curtains and caged chandeliers casting sinister shadows over the faces of influential men gathered to bid.I had heard rumors of such place before, a place where humans are being sold. Where women were treated as mere objects, like pieces of trash.Where predators in tailored suits drink expensive whiskey while bargaining on human lives. At the heart of it all stood Vincent Moreau, that bastard, the man who destroyed me.He remained beside me,
Eleanor's POVI had hoped that my torment would stop once I was removed from Vincent's presence and cage. I never knew that more suffering and beating awaited me. I briefly thought that Kieran Lancaster might be my way out of a nightmare, my way out of severe punishment and bitterness, but I was mistaken. I was really wrong, so utterly mistaken.The mansion was really beautiful, with white designs, endless marble corridors, and fine chandeliers that shone like diamonds. It looks like a scene out of a fairytale in movies, yet to me, it felt like just another prison, a place where I didn’t fit in, a place where I looked like a dog, maybe. As soon as I entered, a deep sense of unwelcomeness ran over me, and I knew instantly that my suffering had just begun.I had not even gotten into the house before a loud sound of heels echoed carelessly down the hall like a drum, followed by a voice that reeked with cold hate.“So this is what you brought home?”I slowly turned my head, my body shakin
Eleanor's POVI thought I had seen the worst of Bianca's ruthlessness and wickedness when she forced me to lick her shoes in that disgusting bathroom. Yes she told me to lick her shoes, she forced my mouth on the tile, I licked poo and a lot of disgusting things.As soon as she finished dripping in my humiliation, she seized my hair and dragged me through the mansion, ignoring my protests and my shivering body as I stumbled on the icy floors with my bare feet, She really made me suffer."You're not finished yet, whore," she spat, pulling me into her big bedroom. "You have something else to clean for me."I was nearly too weak to stand, yet I forced myself to move, pain running through me with every step. When we reached her room, she flung the door open and pushed me inside.The disgusting odor of blood hit me immediately.Then I saw it.A heap of dirty clothes is on the floor, dark stains of dried menstrual blood staining the fabric.My stomach twisted violently, the smell was just t
ELEANOR The darkness swam around me when I opened my eyes.It was frightening, too, to open them and see Lady Lancaster standing alone with her son, Kieran, staring down at me with impersonal looks on their faces. I could have screamed out in horror of how much they made me think of evil—of demons standing by my bedside, with the flowing black clothes they wore and how white their faces seemed. Pale and vampire-like. “You're awake,” Kieran said, as though he needed to remind me.I made a feeble attempt to nod, but my body felt like lead and it made me want to cry. “Why didn't you tell me you were pregnant?” And there, the bombshell dropped. It made my heart start to race, and my skin went damp in that instant. “The girl is weak, Kieran,” Lady Lancaster said, as a smile spread across her lips. “There is no need to ask her such questions, is it not. Besides, the baby from your so-called wife is gone, just like a balloon left off to go on its own.”There was a slight, almost inaudib
DAMIAN BLACKWOOD The gun in my hand was heavy.I had used many kinds of guns over the years, but this was one that particularly weighed me down, holding me to the chaos that had erupted in our home while having nothing to do with its weight. For all I knew, I had had many enemies like my father before me, but none had dared to come close to our home, both during his time and during mine. None at all.As much as I tried to keep myself in control, my heart kept on racing, the adrenaline rush that had come from tearing through the bedroom like a psychopath while searching for whatever clues that could have been left still in my veins. From where Eleanor stood by her dresser, her fingers dancing around the edge of the drawer she'd just opened, I could see that her face was pale but had somehow managed to be serene. Too serene, maybe. I could see the questions churning in her eyes, which I guessed were the same ones bubbling in my own. Someone had lured her out of the house, while making
ELEANOR SINCLAIR The outside air was bracing as I rushed through it, late autumn biting sharply at my exposed arms in the dress I had specially worn to please my now enraged husband, who was waiting. I tied up my coat and started off, my mind whirling with questions. Once again, I checked the number, and it was his. It had to have been sent to me in error, and it was going to be cleared up the moment she got home. The only thing that frightened me about it was that Damian hardly ever made such mistakes, and he would have checked it if it were her fault. As time went on and he did not call her again, she became more and more convinced that he truly did not send it. It was the one thing that bit at her.If Damian didn't send the message, who did, and why? On his phone, as well...The road was deserted as I stopped the only taxi in sight, the golden light of the afternoon fading into nothingness while being replaced by the streetlights that glowed as I passed through. My phone felt he
ELEANOR SINCLAIR The restaurant she sat waiting in was a soft buzz of clinking glasses and hushed tones.It was the kind of place Damian always chose as long as he wanted the meeting-someplace upscale but unostentatious, with soft lighting that cast a touch of intrigue and mystery over all who sat under it. I sat alone at our usual window seat, my hands tracing the edge of the silky white tablecloth in need of something to do while I waited, and my gaze cutting to the door every couple of seconds, just to make sure I did not miss him.Times were the best when he wasn't hitting me.It was what our marriage was sometimes. It could go from being sweet and enchanting to being a warzone, and I did all I could to make sure that I didn't displease him. Was that not the only reason we had fights, because it was all my fault?The waiter had already come by me twice, his smile polite but tightening each time my hand rejected his offer to place an order for me. "Just a few minutes," I had said
VINCENT MOREAU The plan was unfolding on schedule, and with all efficiency.I watched from my own safe vantage point near their home and with a pair of binoculars-from a dark alleyway behind a gnarled oak tree opposite the house. I caught her shadowy form leaving the house, and thought that it was going well enough. Perfect.Long, golden strips of light lay across the pavement from the late-afternoon sun, and there was a fine scent of long dead fallen leaves in the air. I spotted her slow, methodical walk, her coat flying slightly in the breeze, confirming that she had gone. The message I had sent-one painstakingly crafted to mimic Damian's brusque voice-had worked. To think she hadn't even hesitated, hadn't questioned, and had done it all for him without thought.That was Eleanor when it came to anything concerning him. Loyal, trusting, predictable.If only she knew how much this was going to cost her...I let out a heavy, tired sigh, quite rattled that I was sitting in a tree like
VINCENT MOREAU I do not know why it took me five years to finally do something, though. But I found myself staying in Vieuti longer than I had in any city since my dear Paris, and I like to think that it was because the place quickly became a sort of comfort zone for me. I invested my five million dollars with Damian and thirsted after his wife while harbouring secret plans to have him for myself. Oh... I still do not know why I was in for this couple. But it took me five years to decide that I truly wanted them apart. And when I moved, I struck right where I wanted. **The thing about Eleanor was that she rarely ever left home, which was a dent in my plans given what I planned to do with her. It was as though she enjoyed being indoors, and it was my first difficulty. To do that, I needed to do something believable. To execute my plan, I needed her out of the house more than anything else. It was a question that was almost difficult to answer...How was I to coax a woman who se
VINCENT MOREAU I did not refuse when Damian invited me to come see him sometime after that.I thought it was a sign of good things, a sign that he was starting to trust me, and I chose to make the best I could out of it. So I took a trip from the hotel I was still living in-I had come to like the room I was in so much that I put away all thoughts of renting something more permanent and simply continued staying there. I had enough money to buy the hotel.Damian's mansion had been a profound revelation when I first stepped in. The sprawling on a raised part of the city that made it seem as though he was overlooking Vieuti's glittering skyline, with the building standing as a monument to his dominion of the city beneath him. The white, marble floors gleamed and shimmered under crystal chandeliers that were just as white, and every piece of furniture within the perimeter screamed of wealth-from hand-carved mahogany statues that sat here and there, gold-trimmed mirrors that were undoubted
DAMIAN BLACKWOOD My footsteps echoed loudly on the marble floor of my home as I walked into it.Everyday, the weight of Vincent Moreau's words clung to me, as heavy as the file tucked under my arm which was slowly becoming a reminder of our discussion earlier that day, each word of his burrowing into my mind and turning it into a puzzle I didn't understand.'A chain. A beautiful one, maybe, but it holds you back.'Exhausted, I tossed the file onto his desk to relieve myself of it, but then it opened and the names of the nine traitors glared up at me, men who had turned and helped Wesley Black against me. It wasn't their betrayal that gnawed at me as much as the idea that I, Damian Blackwood, the untouchable king of Vieuti, was considered by these men to be vulnerable, predictable, and human. And they did not hesitate to use it against me. Not in the least.The door to the bedroom creaked open, and there she was. Eleanor, my wife.Her eyes were wary as they stared at me, and she froz
VINCENT MOREAU Our eyes met as he set his glass down on the table with a clink, his fingers dancing on the rim. "You think I cannot do enough to protect what is mine?""I think you're trying to protect too much," I shot back, launching into a dramatic show that required descriptions of my words with my hands. "A man like you-ruthless, calculating, untouchable-doesn't need attachments that make him predictable and even worse, vulnerable. Your wife is not just a person now. She's a target, and every time you go home to her, or let her soften your edges, you're giving your enemies a path to your open self, something they will use against you. And believe me, they're studying it closely."Damian's lips twitched. It was not quite a smile, but something that showed how amused he was. "You've got a sharp tongue for a man of your age and status, Vincent. Most men would have lost it by now for saying half of what you just did to me. No one ever says that."I allowed myself a small smirk, mas
VINCENT MOREAU It was not surprising, then, when Damian Blackwood started to pay me attention.I knew he admired me—not in the way I would like, but he was impressed by how I managed to find out about Wesley Black and curb her kidnap just as it happened. So when he reached out to me for drinks a week later. I had a number of spies keep tabs on the Blacks, and waited for any tug of some unfortunate prey over the new web I had cast.Thankfully, there was nothing, not yet. Wesley Black had run off like a frightened dog with its tail between its hindlegs, and I waited for Damian so I could stun him with the names of the men who were involved in the plot, all of the nine former men of the Black family.Again, we sat across each other in the restaurant where we first met, sipping glasses of brandy. I handed him a file of the names he wanted which he flipped through, silently nodding his head. Then he kept it aside and continued to drink."They should never have dared to attack me,” he sudd