Page 3 of Haunted Nights & Savage Sins
She’s still in there.
I swear I hear her screaming for me. Her beautiful, soothing voice is nothing more than an angry screech. She’s burning alive, all because she tried to help me.
“No! Mother!” I scream and break away from Killian’s grasp. I make it halfway down the hall before my father comes from around the corner, his face sweaty and his usually immaculate clothes charred and dirty.
“It’s over. She’s gone.”
It’s all so final. Sudden.
The last remaining pieces of my soul slip away from me like sand in an hourglass.
I see several of my father’s security with fire extinguishers in their hands, but I already know nothing they do will put my world back into place. Even if they manage to beat back the flames, I’m forever changed.
Numb, I get my legs under me and turn back toward the exit. Killian and Declan wait for me by the open door.
The stars shine bright, illuminating this cursed mansion. The glow washes over me, but instead of feeling comforted by the light, it makes me feel uneasy.
I crave the darkness.
After all, that’s where the monsters live.
1
BRENNA – PRESENT DAY
No matterhow long I stare at my father, my mind just can’t seem to comprehend what he’s just said.
I’m betrothed?
Marriage?
Me?
“Father, you can’t be serious? How is shipping me off to marry some man going to fix this problem? No, there’s another way. There has to be.” Disgust and panic run rampant in my gut.
My father has threatened to pawn me off for many years. His solution for having to deal with a female child who has a mind of her own. Still, I never thought he’d actually go through with it. I thought it was all bluster and warning.
“There is no other way. It’s already agreed upon. Just think, instead of being a thorn in this family’s side, you can do something honorable.”
“There’s nothing honorable about this. What fucking century are you living in? People don’t do this anymore.” I snap at him, and the resulting glare he shoots in my direction lets me know that I’ve made the wrong decision.
“Watch your mouth. I promised them that you’d be delivered in one piece, but I never agreed that the piece would be nice to look at.” His words hit home.
My father made sure I knew punishment. “Don’t spare the rod” might just be his favorite mantra.
“You can beat me. Make an example out of me. Do what you have to do in order to save face, just don’t send me away.” I drop to my knees in front of him. I’m begging, not because I want to spend my life with him, but because I don’t want to be shipped off to a new devil.
“I’ll curb my mouth. You won’t hear anything more out of me.” I look up at him with tears in my eyes. Not like crying will do anything; it’s just an emotional response to the fear inside me right now.
“It’s too late for that now. Maybe you should’ve thought about your consequences when you decided to make a fool out of me at that meeting.” He snarls down at me before he steps around my kneeling form and back over to the large dark oak desk. He plops down in the oversized chair and pulls out a paper, as if pretending to go over correspondence will do anything to stop me from pleading for my life.
It’s my mouth that got me into this mess to begin with. Instead of being agreeable and just going along with the misogyny that comes with most of the higher-ups in the underworld, I decided to tell one of my father’s enemies exactly what I thought of him.
I told him he was a sniveling pussy, that he was a fool for ever agreeing to any deal that would put his family in jeopardy. I told him that my father would only be the first who would strip him of his power piece by piece. Not exactly the words to foster a good deal.
Yes, my mouth has brought nothing but problems for me, but now I’m going to have to use it to get out of this.
“This won’t have any effect on our family, the business. No one cares about me. Even if you marry me off, things will be the same.”
