Rebel Bloom Novels & Stories

His hands were shoved deep into his pockets, physically restraining himself from touching me. "I have run the Apex Bloom for seven years, Lolita," Franco began. His voice was a low, gravelly vibration that sent a familiar, heavy heat curling through my stomach. "It was designed with a singular, unbreakable architecture. A crucible. You throw the elite into the dark, and you let the pressure crush them until only one diamond remains. Every single iteration before this ended the same way: one victor, and a trail of liquidated corpses." He took a step closer. The space between us evaporated. The scent of sandalwood and something distinctly, electrically masculine wrapped around me.

Rhea sneered and pointed the tip of the dagger toward my face. "Galen Asteri is drowning in debt so he ordered you to hire a street thug to stage an attack." "He wanted you to play the damsel in distress so my son would swoop in and claim you out of a misplaced sense of duty." Odetta whimpered from the velvet chair and covered her face with her trembling hands to muffle her sobs. "You are out of your mind if you think we have the money to hire Crimson Eclipse assassins," I argued back and gripped the candlestick tighter.