Chapter 1: Counting Down
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There are trigger warnings. A whole bunch. It's dark. There's kidnapping. Forced touching, blurry consent at times, mature sexual content and themes, sexual assault, violence, and explicit language.
If you're still with me... then do as you're told and scroll on 😏
GABRIEL
The debt that has been bestowed upon her is not hers to bear. She shouldn't have to pay for the sins of her brother. She shouldn't have to suffer at the hands of a monster like me.
But now that I've got her, I'm never letting her go.
I'll use her in every way imaginable to extract my revenge.
She'll stay with me until I grow bored of her... or I kill her. Whichever comes first—and It's damn near impossible to satisfy me. I lose interest quickly, and so far, no woman has been able to keep my attention longer than it's taken to pull out of her after I finish.
Because my sister was just as innocent.
And that didn't save her from a bullet.
So why should Rowan be saved?
Why should I show her mercy?
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I spent six months preparing, watching her through shadows in dark alleyways. Stalking her through parks and subway rides on countless chilly nights. Following her down the eerie isolated streets of New York City, fully aware of the blood that pumped from her heart and the power it held.
She comes from a generation of arms dealers — the best weaponry from Miami to Los Angeles and every country on the map. And even though she'd removed herself from the family legacy and the last name, she knows she's untouchable. She knows she's protected by the man who created her birthright and the one she shares it with — though she'd renounced the throne to the bloodstained kingdom the day she graduated from Columbia University. She wanted no part of the trade they were involved in—no piece of the destruction and terror they spewed into the world.
And for twenty-one years of her life, no enemy had dared to challenge her father — the King, Marcellus Sparks. No man had ever tried to defy the strict threats of her brother, Vincent, either.
But that was all about to change...
Because I come from a generation of violent men as well. I come from silver spoons and tainted money, too. And I want retribution from the only son in the family that everyone fears, but no one dares to cross. I seek justice for the senseless murder of my sister Olivia at the hands of Vincent Sparks, and I've vowed to use the only sister he has to obtain it.
Rowan Bradley is living a fairytale of make-believe, thinking she's safe because of who she is and where she comes from. She's been sheltered from birth to believe there is nothing to fear in the big bad world, having no trouble at all falling asleep at night in the modern two-bedroom apartment she shares with a friend right in the heart of Manhattan.
But I'm her worst nightmare... and I'm coming for her.
Until now, I'd never gotten my hands dirty before — never wanted to. I pay a shit-ton of money to a select army of men to kill and torture so that I don't have to waste my time taking the trash out. I give orders. I don't risk tarnishing the ridiculously lavish fabrics of my expensive suits with blood and whatever else comes from a body when shot or stabbed. I mark my enemies and those who cross me for death, and I've been entirely satisfied with paying for the cleanup afterward.
But not anymore.
You see, Vincent is different.
This time it's personal. It's very goddamn personal — and Vincent fucking Sparks will feel all the anguish I'd felt when I knew my sister was dead. He'll toil as he thinks about the agony I'm going to rain down on his precious little sister.
I want the thoughts of every vile thing I do to her to drive him insane. I want him to suffer through memories of her crying and screaming out in pain. And I want those screams to haunt him in his sleep — the same way Olivia's final scream still ricochets off the barriers of my brain.
And then I want him to stew in the realization he can do nothing to save her.
She's marked for death and the only choice he gets is to live with it. Like I have to.
His sister will be my first Captive, but I don't plan to go easy on her.
And now her time is up...
The blistering sun in Cabo has set beyond the mountains, tiki lights now illuminate the party on the beach.
Like a glowing red carpet leading straight to my prey.
I'd laid in wait for six long months, but the time to act has arrived. It is time to begin her hell and put an end to mine.
It's time to make my move...
It is finally time to hunt Rowan Bradley.
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