Madness: A Dark Revenge Romance

I wake up and moan into the pillow. My body is so sore. Every muscle aches. “Fuck,” I groan and sit up. Pushing my wild hair from my face, I look around his bedroom to find I’m alone. No surprise there.

I’m sore in places that I didn’t even know existed. I have his handprints on my thighs and my hips where he held me down as if I went through an exorcism and he was trying to suck the demon out of me.

After using the bathroom, I walk through his closet. There’s not a lot here, which tells me what I already knew—this isn’t where he usually stays. The question is, why is he still hiding out here? Why hasn’t he gone back to Carnage yet? Why hasn’t he gone home?

I pull on a T-shirt of his and exit the primary suite, deciding not to wear anything of my own. The house is eerily quiet, which makes me nervous.

Padding my way to the kitchen, I look over the kitchen island and out into the open living room. The curtains are open, showing off the woods. It’s a sunny day. The clock on the stove says it’s almost noon. I’m not sure what time he was done with me or what time he finally allowed me to pass out, but I slept like a baby.

I open Muffin’s food and pour it into her bowl, shaking it a little to get her attention.

Meow.

I step out of the kitchen and into the living room to look up at the balcony since I heard her come from up there. “Breakfast time,” I say and then whistle. She meows again, but still, she doesn’t come down the stairs. “Muffin? Come on, baby. Time to eat.”

MEOW.

A cell ringing slices through the quiet house, and I look over at the end of a hallway when I hear Haidyn’s voice. “What’s up, man…yeah, I can be there. Okay.” Then silence blankets the large house once again.

I debate walking over to the open door but think better of it. Instead, I take the stairs and look around for Muffin but don’t see her anywhere. “Muffin?” I call out, and I hear her again opposite from the railing to the balcony.

Frowning, I walk over to a set of double doors and place my ear up against it, waiting for her to meow again. She’s inside of the room.

Twisting the knobs, I push them open and step inside to see it’s another bedroom. Large windows cover the opposite walls to show mountains and more woods. Muffin is laying on a bed, and when she sees me, she jumps up and runs out of the room. “How the fuck did you end up in here?” I wonder, turning to follow her out.

I squeal when I run into a hard and wet surface. “Jesus!” I place my hand on my racing chest when I look up into a set of green eyes.

He tilts his head to the side, his eyes dropping down to my bare feet and slowly run up my exposed legs and then my chest. I feel my nipples harden under Haidyn’s T-shirt. I didn’t think anyone else would be here. I wrap my arms around myself. At least his shirt is so big that it swallows me up, not leaving much to see.

“Why are you in my room?” His tone is as if he’s accusing me of something.

“Why did you have my cat locked in here?” I counter.

He smirks, and I narrow my eyes on him. Something about him seems familiar. I just can’t put my finger on it…

“What can I say…I attract pussy.”

I roll my eyes and drop my arms. Typical Lord behavior. And the fact that all he has on is a towel wrapped around his narrow hips, allows me to see the Lords crest branded onto his chest. It’s old…definitely been there for a while.

Exiting the room, I shoulder past him, and the doors shut behind me. I come to a stop when I see Haidyn standing by the balcony with a set of keys in his hands. His eyes go to the closed doors behind me before they meet mine.

“I’m leaving,” he states. Before I can ask where he’s going, he adds, “Don’t leave this house.” With that, he turns and walks down the stairs. I hear the door to the garage shut.

HAIDYN

I knew I couldn’t keep Charlotte from running into Adam at the house, but I didn’t think it’d happen this soon. A part of me likes that he’s there. He’ll protect her while I’m away. But the other part didn’t like that she was standing in his bedroom dressed in nothing but my T-shirt while he was fresh out of the shower in a towel.

I watched him look her over as if she was some strange woman at a club, and he was trying to decide whether he wanted to take her home, tie her to his bed, and fuck her. That’s what I get to do to my doll face. No one else.

But I know I can trust him. I bought that house our senior year for him. So he comes and goes as he pleases. He needed a place to hide when everything was going down and he was on the run. I thought I was doing something good for him but like always, someone is watching.

Four years ago

I’m driving down the road, the woman sits in my passenger seat, sequined mini skirt and matching bra with stripper heels—she’s a prostitute that I just picked up on the corner. I really need to let off some steam, and the more you’re willing to pay, the more they let you do whatever the fuck you want to them.

Pulling into my driveway, I open her door and enter the house. I flip the light and walk to the kitchen, pouring us both a glass of scotch when I hear the woman scream.

“What—?” I look up and my body tenses when I see a woman sitting on my couch that I hadn’t noticed before. This can’t be happening. “Get the fuck out,” I bark, slamming the bottle down.

Her dark green eyes move to the half-dressed woman standing in my living room. “How much is he paying you, dear?”

“I said get the fuck out!” I walk around the island and over to her.

She reaches into her purse, pulls out an envelope, and stands. Holding out her hand, she speaks to the woman. “Here’s ten grand, honey. Take the weekend off.”

The door slams shut a moment later, and she smiles up at me. Sitting back down, she lets me know she’s not going anywhere.

I run a hand through my hair, wanting a cigarette and my gun so I can blow her brains out. “How did you find me?”

“You’ve been caged for six months, Haidyn. The three of you scattered like fucking rats after you completed training. Saint is on the search for Ashtyn—he’s got a lot of time to make up for. Kashton is probably out getting his dick sucked, just as you were about to get. It wasn’t hard to find you. All I had to do was wait and follow you.”

Jesus, there’s no escaping her.

She tilts her head to the side in thought and asks, “Did you honestly think they wouldn’t make you pay for killing them?”

I say nothing.

She stands, her fingers running across my chest, feeling my heart race. “It wasn’t all bad, was it?”

“Fucking hell,” I answer.

She laughs, and it makes my skin crawl, knowing what she’s done to my brothers. I tried to take on as much of her punishment as I could to save them. But she knew that and didn’t do them any favors. “Let me make it up to you.”

“No thanks.”

“They told me you’d be the hardest to break but also the first one to step up…take the fall so to speak.” She grabs my arms and turns my hands over—palms up. Her eyes look over my recent scars from the suicide attempt that they accuse me of doing. I yank them out of her hold.

Her eyes meet mine. “Let’s see how true that is.” She pulls a manila envelope out of her purse and hands it to me.

I take it from her and rip it open, removing the content. It’s a picture of Adam. He’s in a hotel room. He’s standing naked at the end of a bed. A woman lies on it, also naked with rope tying her hands to the headboard and a blindfold over her eyes. Her legs are spread wide as he admires cum leaking from her cunt. I toss it onto the coffee table and look up at her. “You of all people know what sex looks like.” Giving her my back, I make my way back to the kitchen for that scotch.

“That was taken last night…in Vegas.”

I come to a stop at the island and look up at her, my body trembling at her words. FUCK!

“He’s on the run, right? I feel sorry for that poor innocent girl he killed.”

My teeth grind. “He didn’t do it.” She’s missing. No body has been recovered.

“I hear there’s evidence that he did.”

Shit. Shit. Shit. She’s got me cornered. Again! Whatever she wants, I have to give her. Adam is in Vegas to watch over Ashtyn. Does she know they’re both there or just Adam? I won’t rat him out.Text property © Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org.

“What’s it going to be, Haidyn? You…or Adam?”

I pick up the scotch and throw it across the room. It shatters when it hits the wall, and the scotch runs down it to pool on the black marble floor.

When my eyes meet hers again, she’s giving me that smile that I’ve grown to hate so fucking much.