The Beginning of Connie and Isaac (The Blue Butterfly #3) Read online

  Graham slid his arm around Mae’s shoulder and pulled her to his chest, consoling her when it was obvious she was upset.

  Another snarl tore from Shadow. “How dare he touch her? How dare he taint her in his sickness!”

  I couldn’t help but slyly smile. She was like a hungry dog with the scent of a rabbit. The energy and loathing emanating from her made me euphoric. It seemed all my hard work had finally trickled into her soul.

  Three hours later, when darkness descended and the house lights extinguished, I turned to Shadow who hummed vigorously beside me. “Are you ready to do this?”

  She chuckled and the sound made my skin freeze. “Oh yeah.” She nodded slowly as her teeth clenched with hatred. “Oh yes.”

  Giving her a nod and praying, I released the door locks. She dipped for the small black bag beneath her seat, tore the balaclava over her head and stepped from the car.

  Pulling my own headpiece down, I climbed out of the car and ran behind her as she rushed across the road. She scoffed when she entered the key code for the large gates. “Stupid bastard should have changed them,” she whispered.

  I didn’t reply. Instead I allowed her precedence. She needed to lead this and for the one and only time, I would be her second.

  She ran around the edge of the bordering wall and ducked beside his car, then without waiting for me to do or say anything, she climbed underneath. Her hand appeared from underneath and I handed her the cutters. Within seconds she had cut his brake cable and slid back out.

  We ran back down the driveway, and as we reached the gates, she turned around. Sadness poured from her. I could physically feel her sorrow as she stared up at one of the bedroom windows. “Goodnight, my beautiful Mae,” she whispered. “I love you. Be happy.”

  Then she turned back round, gave me a firm nod, and we left.

  And she never returned.

  “HARDER,” PANTHER SAID as I punched the bag again. “Use your knuckles, not your fingers.” The bag swung further when I twisted my hand a little, doing as he instructed and connecting the leather with each bulging knuckle. He smiled and nodded as he caught the bag when it spun towards him. “That’s it. Better.”

  I’d been grateful when Devlin had announced it was a training day. The thoughts of what I’d done two days ago to my own father were torturing me and I was hungry for a diversion. Although I had been eager for his death after I found out what he really was, nightmares of his death being slow and painful had tormented me. After all, he was still my father, even if he was an evil fucker. But knocking the shit out of a punch bag had been a Godsend and kept me sane.

  Sweat ran down the centre of my nose and dripped from my chin, mixing with the damp patch on my t-shirt. My muscles burned after two whole hours of training and when Devlin nodded at us both, I grabbed my knees and attempted to regulate my breathing. “Much better, Shadow.”

  “I’m starving,” I groaned when my belly growled. Apparently, Frederik was in one of his moods and breakfast had been ‘cancelled’. Luckily, Mouse had been saving snacks, hiding them in her massive cleavage to sneak them out and had built a small stash, so she’d handed Bullet and me a couple of biscuits around eleven that morning before training started.

  “Supper’s up in thirty,” Panther called over his shoulder as he grabbed his towel and rubbed it across the back of his neck. “Although, looking at those hips, you could do with a salad.”

  “You cheeky arsehole!” I chuckled and flung a bottle of water across the room at him when he winked cheekily.

  Devlin laughed at our antics and I smiled at him. Devlin was okay. He was strict and harsh with our training but he was also considerate of our situation. I’d heard Joel was a bastard to East, and I was relieved we had Isaac and Devlin on side. I hadn’t seen Isaac since we returned after our first assignment together, and I had to admit I was somewhat upset by his lack of support. I was sure he thought killing your own father wasn’t a big deal and that made me wonder what sort of monster he really was.

  We all stilled when the door to the training room swung open and Frederik appeared, regarding us all with an inquisitive stare. I could never quite determine where his mood was at by just looking at him. His face was always impassive but there was something in his eyes when he turned them on me that made my body freeze. Slowly he walked farther into the room, Panther and Devlin watching him carefully as his fluid gait brought him closer to me.

  He clicked his tongue and sighed. “I always knew you’d be a disobedient bitch.”

  I blinked, my brow creasing in confusion. “I’m sorry, Master?”

  His eyes blazed with anger and I couldn’t seem to breathe properly.

  “We have strict rules here, Shadow. And you seem unable to follow them.” I gulped when two of Frederik’s sentinels entered the room. “But you will.”

  He twisted and nodded at the two men who walked over to me and took hold of my arms, their grip fierce as their fingers dug into my flesh.

  “Master?” Devlin questioned, his eyes rapidly flicking from Frederik to me, his own bewilderment as visible as my own.

  “Your commandant and your soldier are being disciplined, Devlin. It isn’t hard to understand. And if you value your position in this family then you will refrain from contesting my decisions.”

  Devlin shook his head. “I’m not questioning…”

  “They both fucked up an assignment!” Frederik spat, his lip curling with distaste. “You should be grateful, Devlin. Isaac’s incompetence has temporarily awarded you his position.”

  Devlin’s eyes widened in shock as both Panther and Devlin looked at me in surprise, like it was my fault that Isaac had been reprimanded for something I wasn’t aware of. My heart hammered in my chest. Isaac and I had followed the order, we’d completed the assignment given, so why were we being punished?

  “I don’t understand.” My head shook as Gregory and Jacob dragged me across the room but they stopped when Frederik lifted a hand.

  “You were given specific instructions, Shadow. An easy target.”

  I nodded, trying desperately to defend myself. “And we carried them out. I, myself, cut the cable on my father’s car.”

  He chuckled, the chilling sound making my skin crawl with anxiety. “And did you hang about to see the job through?” When I gawped at him his hand snatched out and he seized my face in his fingers, his grip bruising and painful. “No, you didn’t. You failed, Shadow.”

  I choked back a gasp. “You mean I didn’t kill him?”

  His anger was stifling me but his strong hold was not nearly as agonising as his next words. “Oh, you killed him. But you also killed your mother.”

  Nothing registered after that. My heart tore into so many pieces that I could feel the blood seep into my soul, tainting it with the evil force that lived inside me. My body moved but my mind couldn’t shift from the horror imprisoning it. I had killed my own mother. I had killed my mother.

  A visceral scream broke from me as I sagged in Gregory and Jacob’s hold, their hands the only thing keeping me upright as they pulled me through the mansion. People stopped and watched us, some pitying, some appalled. My own corruption blinded me, the smothering reality of my mistake fracturing my sanity until nothing but bleakness tinted my vision.

  Why was life so cruel? What had I done to warrant such a sickening existence? I’d followed fate’s orders, accepted what it had given me, but time and time again it had proved cruel and persecuting.

  I had orphaned my sister. My actions had left Mae alone.

  I didn’t even recognise that I had been stripped and tied to the cross. My sanity had left me; I was numb and broken. My body became an open invitation for the many Phantoms to act out their sick desires on but I didn’t care. What they did to me I still cannot remember to this very day. My mind left me for so long that when Bullet and Rogue gently lifted me down five days later, I didn’t know who I was.

  Nothing of Connie Swift remained; her skeleton housed Shadow’s emotions
and thoughts. My body was more than just damaged and abused in those long and lonely days; my spirit was destroyed beyond any hope of repair.

  I would never be the same again. It didn’t matter what happened next because I didn’t care. I wanted to die. I wanted the heavens to accept me but I knew God would never accommodate my sins. And if it wasn’t for Frederik’s promise to take Mae in lieu of my death then I would have taken a knife to my heart long before my soul froze with hatred.

  I never saw Isaac after that day. He had been sent away by his father for his part in my parents’ death, and I realised when Frederik’s cruel words taunted me, that mine and Isaac’s closeness had deepened his hatred for Isaac. It hadn’t been Isaac’s fault. I was to blame for it all, but Frederik wouldn’t accept my apology. He wanted to make an example out of both of us, and he did so every day in Isaac’s absence until nothing he did surprised me anymore. Pain became welcome because it was the only thing I actually felt. My skin bore the story of my life, the many scars and traumas the only proof that I lived; everything on the inside was dead and empty. The flowing of my blood was the only escape for all the abhorrence I stored up, yet simultaneously the brutal force of my hatred was the only thing that made my heart beat.

  By the time Isaac returned two years later, I was such a different girl. The Phantoms had finally managed to do what they set out to… destroy Connie Swift and replace her with a cold, merciless killer.

  November 2007. Aged 16.

  GUY RIVERS LOOKED like Ian Somerhalder and had the personality of a llama with a belly ache. He was the proprietor of Rivers Casinos, a chain of entertainment clubs across Europe. He also, as I’d found out over the previous four hours, liked the sound of his own voice and had a nervous habit of scraping back his inky black hair from his oddly large forehead. Sweat beaded his brow whenever he got animated in his story telling, and I noticed the more gin he drank, the more redder his lips became.

  “…And I said to Brian, ‘When you have as much money as I have, you can smile at yourself like I do every morning.’”

  I forced a smile and fluttered my lashes. “And do you?” I was bored and needed to get the egotistical prick into his hotel room.

  He peered at me like I’d just spewed random French at him. “Do I what?”

  Cocking my head a touch to the side, I ran my tongue across my lips. He swallowed heavily when, gently, I sank my teeth into my lower lip. “Have lots of money?”

  His chest puffed out and I only just managed to hold back a roll of my eyes. “I have a filthy amount, Rhianna.”

  Bringing my wine glass to my mouth, I blinked slowly and gazed at him. “Do you know how wet that makes me?”

  A slow grin crept across his handsome face. “Sometimes, just to remind myself of how rich I really am…” He leaned towards me and I held back a shiver when he trailed his fingers up my arm and lowered his voice. “…I masturbate on the bed covered in twenty pound notes and shoot my load right across her majesty’s pretty little smirk.”

  I sank my teeth into my tongue in attempt to stop the bark of laughter from escaping. What an utter fucking dick. “I think I would prefer you to shoot your load across my face.”

  He spluttered on the mouthful of gin he’d just guzzled, his eyes forming wide circles, but when he puffed out a hot breath I knew I had him. “I have a room here.”

  “You do?” Of course he did; did he think I didn’t know that?

  He nodded slowly, his eyes dropping to my chest. “It has a very comfortable bed.”

  Shrugging casually, I pursed my lips. “Who needs comfy beds? I’d rather you bent me over a couch and fucked me hard and fast.”

  I thought he was going to have a coronary when his face turned puce and a vein throbbed in his temple, his lips parted, and he started to pant like a damn dog. He snapped his fingers at a passing waiter. “Bill. Now!”

  “Certainly, sir.”

  The waiter reappeared almost instantly and Guy thrust his credit card at him. “Hurry up!” he snapped.

  Holding on to an irritated sigh, I smiled at the waiter and fished a twenty out of my purse when it was obvious my date wasn’t going to tip. “Thank you, your service has been impeccable.”

  He grinned at me gratefully. “Thank you Ma’am.” He gave Guy a short nod then smiled at me again before he left to cater to another couple on the next table.

  Guy stood as I pushed back my chair and rose. His pale green eyes were hungry as they slid down the length of me then came back to my face. He pressed a hand to the base of my spine and guided me to the elevator in the foyer, once or twice his palm lowering until it skimmed across my arse.

  Sometimes, like then, I wondered why, but Mae’s pretty face smiled in my mind and I released a sad sigh. Guy, hearing me, ran his finger along the length of my jaw. “I’ll make you feel good, Rhianna.”

  Chuckling quietly, I nodded. “Oh, I know you will.”

  His chest puffed out as his pride swelled and I glanced at my watch, annoyed at how long the bloody elevator was taking to climb all of five floors. It was Mouse’s birthday and I was eager to get back for the party. “This is us,” he declared excitedly when a ping heralded our floor and the doors opened.

  His room was a cheap, basic one which genuinely shocked me. I’d have thought this egotistical prick would only go for the more luxurious suite. He wasn’t short of a bob or two. The one hundred thousand pounds transferred into the veiled Phantom bank account from his own that morning was testimony to that.

  As though better than me, he stood staring at me in the middle of the room, waiting for me to worship his dick. Clicking my tongue at his obvious self-worth, I slid my dress up over my hips, showcasing my black thigh high boots and bare pussy. “Get on your knees and lick my cunt.”

  His mouth popped open at my order, his brows shooting into his hairline. I smirked when he visibly shivered, his lust overriding his system. Following my demand, he walked over to me then slowly lowered himself down in front of me. His eyes snapped to the junction of my thighs as he lifted his hands and pulled my flesh apart with his thumbs.

  As soon as his tongue delicately touched my swollen clit, I sank my fingers into his hair and pushed his face further into me, encouraging the boring twat to get a shift on. I didn’t have all night and I had work to do, an orgasm was just an added bonus.

  He mumbled something but took the hint and started to work me faster. Arousal slicked his tongue as he circled my opening then moved back to my clitoris, frantically flicking like he had some sort of fucking nervous twitch. Sighing and giving up, I pulled him up by his hair and pushed him back onto the bed. “I want to tie you up and slide my mouth down the length of your big cock.”

  He moaned loudly and moved up the bed until he rested on the headboard. “Go for it, sweetheart.” He smirked as he rested his arms across the wooden spindles behind his head.

  What a twat!

  Yanking the belts from the two complimentary robes hanging on the back of the door, I grinned as I straddled his body and tied each of his wrists to the ornate bedposts, tightening the knots with expertise. I hunted in his suitcase which lay open on the floor, and grabbed a couple of his leather belts and secured his ankles to the bottom. His spread-eagled body made me shiver with anticipation.

  He gasped when slowly I unzipped his trousers and pulled them and his briefs down over his legs, his dick springing free and slapping against his stomach excitedly. I was quietly impressed with his size; it was almost as big as his head. “Hurry up and suck my cock,” he groaned, pulling agitatedly at his ties.

  Tutting with a shake of my head, I slid his tie from his neck and stuffed it into his mouth, binding it harshly behind his head. He grumbled when the material cut into the edge of his lips, my unyielding tether painful. I chuckled and climbed off him.

  He frowned, his rock hard cock still bouncing with his attempts to pull free when I pressed my dress back down and slid the long stiletto blade from my boot. His eyes widened when, very slow
ly, I ran the edge across my tongue, my heart beat shivering in delight when the taste of my own blood made my mouth water.

  Sighing loudly, I shook my head in disappointment. “Your wife is very upset, Guy.” He stilled instantly, staring at me like I’d told him I had four cocks dangling between my legs. Disgust, shock and alarm danced across his features. It was a shame; he really was good-looking. Such a loss. “It seems you’ve been a naughty boy. Very naughty. Lovely Kimberley has had enough of your infidelities.”

  His head shook rapidly, his eyes wet and pleading as they flicked from the knife casually twisting in my fingers then back up to my face.

  “It seems you’re worth quite a bit to her dead.”

  I couldn’t help but roll my eyes at his pathetic whimper. He wasn’t as manly as he made out after all.

  He tried to scramble away from me when I walked back over to him. Lifting his dick slightly with my little finger, I bent and kissed the tip. “Goodbye.” Then I cut it off with one simple, clean swipe.

  His tie drowned out his piercing screams, his tears pouring into his ears. Pulling a small box out of my bag, I took off the lid then placed his severed cock inside and popped the lid back on. Holding it up for him to see, not that he could really see through his dying tears, I grinned. “Little souvenir for her.”

  The blood forcefully pumping from his groin made me grimace. I didn’t envy the cleaners. Oh well, not my problem.

  “Well, take care.” I saluted him then walked away.

  Rogue pulled up at the front of the hotel when I walked out of the glass doors and slid into the passenger seat, “All done, gorgeous?”

  “Yep, let’s go party.” I grinned as I pulled off the blonde wig and shook my black hair back onto my shoulders. “I’ve never been so bored in my whole life.”

  “That bad?” He glanced through his mirrors and pulled out of the carpark.

  “God, the man was a knob.” I chuckled. “Well, actually he’s minus a knob now.”