ARTEMIS AKA WOLF I step out of the SUV, straightening my suit jacket as I fasten the middle button. I am greeted by a blonde female who looks to be in her mid-twenties. I try to keep my cool when all I want to do is storm through the villa and tear Sandros fucking head off. I haven't slept since Red was taken, and that was two days ago. I am running on fumes, and my temper has become very unpredictable. For instance, I killed my gardener this morning because he decided to trim back the red rose garden and I completely lost it. Anything to do with the colour red seems to trigger me, leaving a path of destruction in my wake. I haven't been able to stomach anything as flashes of Anastazia's death keep clouding my mind, and her face has slowly started to morph into Reds. I also haven't told Braxton about his daughter's disappearance because the last thing I need is for him to go around and fuck things up. The man is a small-time ganglord, who rides around on a motorbike instil
***WARNING THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS ABUSE [NON SEXUAL] PLEASE READ AT YOUR DISCRETION. THANK YOU...*** --- ARIA AKA RED "Fucck!!" My body jumps with fright as I am compelled to emerge from the shadows of emptiness as a loud voice resonates across the room, piercing my ear canals. I groan and peel my eyelids open as I tug on the recliner's footrest, in an effort to extricate myself from Nio's limp corpse the second my vision clears. A scream is torn from my throat as I try to hold onto the footrest the second I am being hoisted to my feet by the roots of my hair. Pain, despair, and utter suffering permeate my muscles and every inch of my flesh. On unstable feet, with my knees on the verge of collapsing, I am forced to stare into the dark eyes of a man I once trusted. "C-Ca-leb?" I whimper with surprise and anger. "Yeah, baby girl it's me." He replies spitefully with his fingers still clutching my scalp. "W-why?" "Because your husband killed my brother." He roars, shoving me
ARTEMIS AKA WOLF A FEW HOURS EARLIER... Eric’s sinister laugh bounces off the walls with every slash, brutal punch, and gunshot wound I tarnish his body with. He is strong, but he forgets that everything and everyone, has a price whether it be money or the life of a loved one. “If I don’t call the house at two on the dot, your wife and mistress will be shot in the head like a pair of fucking dogs and I cannot promise you that they won’t be raped like a couple of filthy prostitutes too.” I pick up the scalpel that rests on the metal tray above the table, which shows a variety of instruments that I like to play with when I torture my victims. I use it to slice open the branches of his ulnar arteries on his forearms, and he cries out in a muffled tone as he tries to remain unbreakable, which unfortunately for him, it doesn't last long. The wrath pouring from every pore of my body causes my chest to rise and fall ferociously. Blood seeps through the cracks in the concrete like a fl
ARIA AKA REDAs I continue to glare into Caleb's dark eyes, refusing to swallow the purple tablet. His brows draw together, and he moves the gun from my chin to the side of my head. He pulls the trigger filling my ear canals and the room with a brutal ringing sound.I scream, turning my head away, and I spit the tablet out. Fear as I've never felt before consumes me entirely.Is this how I'm going to die? Will my naked body be found by strangers walking their dogs? What about my father, will he care enough to give me a proper burial, or will he toss me into the same grave as my childhood tormentor?I have so many questions racing through my foggy mind. "NO! PLEASE!!" I cry out as I feel the cold barrel of his gun pressing against the back of my head."Pick it up and swallow it." He snarls.With a trembling hand, I reach out and pick up the dirty tablet only to drop it again when the sound of the front door being kicked in, resonates through the air. I bend over, covering my head
ARTEMIS AKA WOLF LATER THAT EVENING... As a headache develops in the back of my head, I pace the office floor while combing both of my hands through my rumpled dark hair. "I want you to show me everything. I want you to show me what it is like to be loved by the cruellest man alive, how to protect myself, and make people fear me as they do you." I am consumed by the sound of her sweet voice as her words continue to repeat in my brain like a broken record that won't stop. I approach my desk, resting the palms of my hands on the oak slab as I tower over it, and study the picture of my late first wife Anastazia, that rests next to my laptop. After her passing, I vowed that my traitorous heart would never belong to another individual again. And yet, here I am, kindling an illicit attraction. A raging fire capable of consuming both of us. It shouldn't excite or exhilarate my throbbing loins as much as it does, but the reality is I never want it to end. I have never felt this alive no
ARIA AKA REDONE WEEK LATER...As I sit on the recliner that Artemis would occupy when he would watch me as I slept, I stare at the blank wall as I try to shuffle through the emotions that have me feeling sick to my stomach. I'm tired, too afraid to close my eyes in case I find myself standing in the middle of the living room of that forsaken house again.I've lost count of how many showers I have taken, scrubbing my skin raw because the filth, stench, and memories won't wash away from my body. Is this how I'm going to live out the rest of my days? If it is, I don't want any part of it...Artemis has been coming and leaving at all hours of the morning. It's been three days since I last saw him, and he left without a goodbye or an explanation. I thought after I expressed what I wanted from him, opening up about how I felt about him, he would have sat at my bedside until the wounds I bear on my skin healed. But he didn't and it makes my heart ache for something that I never had in t
ARTEMIS AKA WOLF I move my hand from her hip, and I take her chin between my fingers, forcing her gaze to meet mine. Those piercing jade colour irises, a beacon in my darkness... The light at the end of my tunnel... Am I such a sucker for punishment? Rage twists in my gut. Fear bubbles up leaving a tangy, bitter taste on my tongue. She opens her mouth to say something, I will not condone her lippy sass anymore. I lower my chin, slanting my lips over hers. I have set many empires on fire for her, eliminating bloodlines and bearing scars that have no right marking my flesh. Heat, sweetness, mine... The familiar taste of her lips, like strawberries being soaked in brandy and sunlight, hits me in the gut. I need her, want her, fuck... I have to have her. As cliche, as it sounds, kissing her, has my fucking head spinning. I crush her to my chest in a possessive manner that has me seeing bright hues of lustrous red and pristine white. She writhes beneath me, I walk her bac
ARIA AKA RED It strikes me that Artemis Volkov knows pain. Real fucking heart-wrenching pain and I don't know why it surprises me. It's pretty ironic because the man standing before me causes so much trauma, grief, and misery in the world. When yet, he is a survivor of the most heinous crimes committed against him. Is this what drives him? Could it be a trigger that sets off his passion to cause devastation upon those who do him wrong? He knows what it is like to be used as a pawn and he is living proof of the sentiment 'what doesn't kill you only makes you stronger'. Yet, it doesn't stop my heart from aching for him, and the loss of his brothers. I stare at Wolf and I see him in a whole... different light. The cold-hearted, brutal man is nowhere to be seen in his sapphire eyes and that's what scares me the most. He has a past that makes him vulnerable just like the rest of us. A past that torments his every waking moment and haunts him in his sleep. I feel as though I can