PROLOGUE
Dimitri
Revenge is a dish best served cold.
That’s the way I am serving it—cold, empty, broken, and completely fucked up.
The need for revenge is all consuming. Did I ever plan to spend ten years of my life searching for a man just to seek retribution? No. But it’s all I am now. It’s all I know. It’s all I breathe. My life spiraled down into darkness a long time ago, and darkness became all I knew. It’s all I know now.
You can’t save someone from themselves—not when they don’t want to be saved.
Once darkness reaches in and takes hold of your heart, there’s no going back. It takes your life and it steers it on paths you never wanted or planned. But you go with it, because darkness has the control now. I have accepted what I am. I have accepted that my path has been chosen. I have accepted that I will do whatever it takes to make him pay.
I am where darkness lies.
CHAPTER ONE
Jess
The ship sways, jerking me from the void that has been surrounding me on and off for the past two days. I lick my lower lip, tasting the dry, coppery blood there. My head aches, I’ve gone beyond hungry now. I’m just desperate for something, anything. Hell, a glass of water wouldn’t hurt. I try to blink but my eyes are so dry they burn. I move my aching, distressed body and try to focus on the room around me.
I’m still in the cell.
And he still hasn’t come back.
I know who has me. I heard his name—Dimitri. Hendrix’s stepson. I know this, because I have been on Hendrix’s ship since he saved me all those years ago, and have, plenty of times, overheard conversations about his damaged stepson whom he abandoned at the age of fifteen. I guess Dimitri wasn’t going to just sit back and move on with his life.
I close my eyes, taking a deep breath.
I can survive this. It’s a revenge tactic, which means he won’t kill me . . . not yet, anyway. He wants Hendrix, he wants a fight, and so he will keep me alive. He might not take care of me, but he’ll keep me here until he gets what he wants. I slowly push to my feet, and the chains around my ankles rattle. Where do they think I’m going to go on a ship? Dive overboard and kill myself? Maybe attack them with a piece of rotting wood? Seriously. Dimitri clearly has no idea how knowledgeable I am when it comes to the ocean.
Dimitri—the angel of darkness.
I think back to when I first looked at him. Somewhat like an angel all wrapped in black. To look at, he’s absolutely breathtaking. The kind of breathtaking that not only steals your breath but causes your entire body to stop working. His eyes are the color of baby blue blankets and his skin is that creamy olive that only so many people can pull off when they have such fair eyes. His hair is thick, whipping around his shoulders. It’s dark. Like him. I will never understand how such beauty can be the home of such darkness.
I shuffle over to the door but my chains clank just before I reach it; I’m in a wooden room with no windows and no spaces to see through. The only gap is a small hole in the door that’s far too high for me to see anything. With my tiny frame, there’s no way I could ever get elevated enough. I manage to shuffle around the cell as much as my chains will allow, shoving at the walls I can reach in a pathetic attempt to find a weakness in them. I know better, though. I’ve been on a ship for long enough to know how sturdy they are.
My body is so damned sore, like I’m living with a bad cold each day. It’s probably because last night, in my haze, I froze. It was so cold, and I had no blanket to cover me up. I shivered and groaned, rolling for most of the night. The least they could do is give me a blanket, but apparently luxuries such as that aren’t in the deal. Sniffling, I find my spot back on the floor and sit down.
Hendrix will find me.
I know he will.
He’s been my protector since that awful night all those years ago. He made promises to me, and I know he’ll keep them. I know he’ll come after me, but what scares me the most is the damage that might come to him in doing so. Dimitri—he’s the essence of gloom. His kind of damaged runs deep. I honestly don’t know what kind of danger I’m in, or what kind of danger I’m putting Hendrix in.
I just know this situation isn’t good.
I have to hang in there, though. I’ve lived through worse. These kinds of things, they don’t scare me the way they scare most people. I’ve run with the ultimate criminals and I’ve seen things most wouldn’t see in their lifetime. What most people shouldn’t see in their lifetime. I’m prepared for whatever is thrown at me. I’ll keep my cool. I won’t show fear, and I won’t let him see any kind of weakness in me.
I won’t break.
It’s just not who I am.
My chin is pressed against my chest and I’m exhausted by the time he shows his face again. I’ve only seen him once since I’ve been here, and it was when he threw me down into this cell, slamming my body against the cold wooden wall. That’s when I split my lip. He didn’t speak, he didn’t even look at me, he just tossed me down and left. I was starting to wonder if he’d show up again, or if he’d just leave me down here to die.
I lift my head when I hear his boots stomping on the wooden floor. The door rattles and a moment later, it’s swung open and he comes in. I stare at him, in complete awe. It’s hard not to when someone is as beautiful as he is. His dark hair hangs heavy around his face and his expression is hard. His eyes, though beautiful, hold a whole lot of pain. He’s wearing a hoodie that covers his large torso, and his jeans are met with heavy black boots. The ultimate bad boy. In every way.