Page 42 of Darkest Deception

Tears gather in my eyes, and I blink them back quickly so I can still see him. It’s all a blur. His dark green eyes are the only thing I can focus on.

“Fuck. You,” I rasp out.

He throws me on the floor. I throw my hands out to stop the fall.

I heave and gasp, taking in oxygen after being starved of it for a few minutes, after being hung over my death bed like it was just another day. Helia dances with wrath at his fingertips, happy to destroy the world if something of his is taken from him.

My eyes slide to him, and he crouches in front of me, taking my jaw in his hands, holding me tight.

“I will say this one last time: fix that fucking attitude.” His voice is laced with malice, hate, and rage all combined.

“You took everything from me and still expect me to bend to your will?” I don’t know how I still have any fight left in me after he did all that to me.

He looms over me like an immortal monster, crowding my personal space as if it’s his own and I don’t deserve any. Everything around me darkens, and I can only see him.

“Yes. Yes, I fucking do. As long as I live.”

He raises his hand, and I flinch, not shutting my eyes, instead locking them on his. When I feel his finger trace along my neck, I don’t move a single muscle.

I won’t show any weakness. Won’t let him see that I’m scared of knowing he can end my life. Won’t show him that just the sight of him evokes conflicting emotions, though wishing for his death steals the top spot.

He won’t ever get anything from me.

His eyes, for some reason, show a glint of appreciation. For what? For me standing up for myself and not succumbing to his bullying? For trying to instil fear in me? For the marks he’s left on my neck?

Why?

“Don’t touch me with your disgusting hands.” I slap his hand away before getting off the floor and walking away, slamming the door so loudly behind me that I spot someone at a desk jump at the sound.

How dare he?

How fucking dare he put hands on me after telling my sister he won’t touch me?

That proves to me to never trust anything that comes out of Helia’s mouth.

He’s a monster.

The unapologetic villain in my story.

A fucking nightmare.

One I will not, under any circumstance, let win in my story.

14

I stand before the house of one of the women I unfairly fired. I am shivering but ready to take her on. I know nothing will faze me, not after what Helia has done. She worked in Glamorous before I arrived, but the minute she messed up a small sum on the marketing budget report, I rained down on her in front of the whole staff and fired her on the spot.

She was supporting her small family of two children along with her husband, who had broken his leg and was unable to work. She was in a tight position.

I ring the bell, and when she opens her door, I am met with her widened eyes.

“Can I talk to you for a second, Savannah?”

Her lips part in shock, but she lets me inside.

“Are your children not home?”

“What is it you need, Ms Torre?” The cold tone she uses has me spinning around to find her arms crossed.

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