Running from hell isnʼt easy. Especially when someoneʼs dragging you back down into it.
Belligerent, brash and always in shades of black, Freya is hardly a lady. Hidden away by her father, sheʼs lived a normal life despite being born into the dark...
a/n: there are 5 chapters of TORMENT left! reminder to add book #2, RUIN, to your library because iʼll start updating it soon.
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WHEN I WAKE UP, there’s a pounding ache at my temple. The blinds are closed all around the apartment, so that only a muted sunlight filters through. Enough sunlight for it to be close to midday.
I’m enveloped by something hot — arms, I quickly realize — thick, heavy arms.
Torren.
His arms are around me. Holding me to him.
One of his big hands is buried in my hair, cupping the crown of my head, the other, wrapped firmly around my torso.
Heat is pouring from his body into mine, and his cologne — hints of spiced wood and fresh soap — hits me anew, sending my heartbeat into a frenzied rush. I’m sprawled on top of him, and every breath he takes presses his chest against mine. My entire body shifts to the rhythm of his breathing.
A frown tugs at my brows. He’s fully clothed, and my upper half is covered only by my lacy bralette. I’m sure I put on a hoodie when I came back from the bar . . .
But it’s missing.
I tilt my head slightly, narrowing my eyes as my gaze snags on a mass of black material across the room — thrown recklessly in the fireplace, ashen and burnt.
What the hell?
He burnt my hoodie.
Ben’s hoodie, to be exact.
Memories of last night flash in my mind. Me getting drunk at the bar, him appearing in the apartment.
The flash drive.
I opened the flash drive. There was more on it than I expected — the skeleton of his operation — dirty feds, bribes, information on the family’s annual meeting. Information on meeting locations, information on security.
Including a file on me.
He knew I existed.
They’d been trying to find out more about me the entire time I was in college, but couldn’t come up with much. After all, I was studying under a fake surname and zero affiliation to my father. It would’ve been like finding a needle in a haystack.
But it’s not the realization that he knew about me that truly grates on my nerves — it’s the fact that his intention was never to marry Ana. My sister was just a placeholder to him. A placeholder for me.
Annoyance floods my veins. Why? Why go so far? What did my father do for Torren to want retribution this badly?
I almost told him the truth — almost admitted that I’d stolen his information. But somehow, even in my drunken state, I had enough sense to cover up my mistake with some excuse about being banned from the rink.
