Page 103 of A Taste Of Darkness

“Try again in an hour!” I snapped. Hopefully, she remembered this the next time she tried to rush me.

My family’s impatience was the last thing I tolerated. Anything they did, I wasn’t going to tolerate, but they’d learn soon enough.

“Seriously?” Adriana groaned loud enough that I could hear it through the closed door. “Whatever. I don’t even want to talk to you anymore.”

“I thought you liked your sister?” Sterlie asked, interlocking a hand with mine.

“I can’t afford to treat one better than the other,” I replied. “And I especially can’t treat my sister better than my brothers. It’s fucked up, and I always hated it, but trust me, the flowers outside get more attention than the women here do.”

Her eyebrows rose in surprise. “I kind of thought you guys shower your wives with presents and such.”

I chuckled. “Yeah, well… doesn’t mean they have a say in anything.”

She cocked her head, eyes filling with worry. “I don’t want to have a say in anything here, but I also don’t want you to treat me like I’m just hot air. And I don’t want your family to think they can order me around.”

“That’s not going to happen,” I assured her, stroking my thumb over her knuckles. “You have so much more power here than you think, cuore mio. If one of them ever tried to order you around, they’ll be dead the next second. If one ever doesn’t listen to what you tell them to do, take a guess what their outcome will be.”

“Death?”

I nodded. “I’m not here to lead, my love. I’m not playing by the rules. I’m here to make it as difficult for them as possible until they wish they’d never found out I was still alive; until they wished they’d died.” Unless I found a different kind of solution that I could live with.

Sterlie leaned her head against mine, sighing. “But what if you annoy them too much? What if they’ll kill you?”

“Don’t you worry about that.”

“But I am.” She stood up and took a seat on my desk so she could look at me. “I know you think your life is worth less than mine, so just for a moment, think about what it’d be like if I died.”

I shook my head, not wanting to entertain the thought of it.

“Do it,” she demanded. “Think about how you’d feel if I died. How angry you’d be because you couldn’t keep me safe. Think about how you’ll never see me again, how you’ll have to live in a world where I don’t exi?—”

“Don’t.” Just the thought of her gone from this world caused immense pain inside of my chest. A world without her wasn’t a world worth living in.

A tear rolled down her cheek. “That’s how I feel when I think about you dying, Milo.”

52

NIGHTTIME TERROR

Sterlie Adams

The night stretched on, enveloping everything in a heavy blanket of darkness.

I sat on the bed next to Milo, watching him with teary eyes as he slept ever so peacefully. My fingers traced a soft pattern on my thighs, anxious thoughts swirling in my mind as the silence of the room haunted me.

No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t shake off the vivid images that played out in my head.

From what I gathered, nobody here liked Milo, only accepted him because they had no other choice. But if he could sneak in and kill his father, everyone inside this house could eventually sneak up on him and do the same to him.

And what would happen if I showed up and found him lying somewhere, blood gushing out of him, his face frozen in a surreal stillness. Blue lips and an empty stare.

The image sent shivers down my spine.

I closed my eyes, trying to banish the haunting scene, but the more I resisted, the more vivid they became.

Bullet wounds covered his body, bruises everywhere. His eyes so empty, that it looked like he’d never lived. His soul long gone.

The room echoed my fears as if a demon was lingering right behind me, whispering these thoughts to me. Each thought pierced my heart with a painful certainty.

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