PROLOGUE II

Prologue II

____

SERAPHINA

I was struggling to make my way through the crowd when an arm draped around my shoulder and a whisper caressed my ear, “Hey, beautiful…” I looked to the side and nearly lost my ability to speak. Because none other than Oliver Romano was standing beside me.

I snapped out of my daze and watched as his lips curled in amusement, head tilted as he studied me like he wasn’t sure what to make of my presence.

“Hi,” I murmured.

“Didn’t think this was your scene.”

He was right. It wasn’t. But today, I had come with a plan which I now realised I was just over my head. Before I could answer, a tall blonde glued herself to him. “Olli!”

I watched how his left eye twitched in irritation but the smile didn’t leave his face. He wrapped an arm around the blonde and stepped away from me. Before turning away, he looked at the cup in my hand. “Don’t drink.”

I didn’t know what came over me as I lifted the cup and drank. His lips pressed in a thin line before they lifted in a smirk. I didn’t understand the change, but then the air around me shifted.

My body tensed, the fine hairs at the back of my neck rising.

Dante.

I knew without even looking.

It could only be him for whom my body reacted like this.

Even though he had never paid me any attention and never stayed longer than five minutes in the same room with me, and yet I could feel it was him behind me as his heat engulfed me.

I whirled around my whole body hyper aware of him. At some point while I was in Oliver’s presence Dante had also come out of the swimming pool area.

His jaw clenched, irritation leaping into his dark eyes as they locked onto me. He stepped closer, seeming to suck the oxygen right out of my lungs.

“What are you doing here?” His voice was sharp, cutting through the noise like a blade and people stopped to stare.

“I—I—”

He didn’t let me finish. His hand reached out, grabbing my cup. He brought it to his nose, sniffed, and then with a look of utter disgust, tossed it aside.

Before I could react, his fingers wrapped around my wrist, tugging me toward the door. “Leave. This place is not for you.”

“But, I just wanted to see—”

He didn’t let me finish, he stopped and jerked me around in the middle of the hall between all the people looking at us. “You are not welcome here. If I see you again,” He leaned closer, his mean and cold words only for me. “I’ll fuck up your life.”

Rejection burned through me, humiliation clawing at my chest as he dragged me through the crowd to the door and pulled it open. And then practically threw me onto the porch. His eyes were cold, void of anything but annoyance.

“Go home, Seraphina.”

And then he was gone, slamming the door in my face.

I stood there, silent tears slipping down my cheeks when a cold, silken voice slithered through the night.

“This was the wrong place and wrong time to seduce your stepbrother, sweetheart.”

I stiffened. My stomach twisted as I turned slowly, because any sudden movement felt like it would cost me my life.

Allister Hale leaned against the doorframe, honey colored eyes gleaming like a predator who had just cornered his prey. Even the endearment that fell from his lips felt like a curse.

“I—I wasn’t—”

He smirked, taking a slow step toward me. “You know what happens to liars, don’t you?” His voice was soft, deceptively gentle. “They get punished.”

I swallowed thickly, taking a step back.

Big mistake.

My foot slipped on the porch step, and I gasped, arms flailing. Before I could hit the ground, Allister’s grabbed my wrist. His grip was firm, unyielding. His fingers dug into my arm and I knew his grip would leave bruises, as his lips curved into something sharp.

“Run, sweetheart,” he whispered, his voice laced with dark amusement. “Run back to that mansion and wait. Maybe when Dante’s done fúcking here, he’ll give you a taste of it too.”

As soon as I was upright, I shoved past him, my heart pounding as I stumbled down the steps. My hands fumbled for my phone, pulling up the cab app with trembling fingers.

I walked to the edge of the property and waited for the cab to pull up. As the house was far from middle of the town, almost secluded, it showed twenty minutes for the cab to arrive.

I should have left on foot.

I should’ve walked away instead of waiting for the cab.

But I stood there and that’s when I heard it.

A scream.

A loud cry that pierced the night air.

And then laughter.

Sinister. Cold. Cruel.

The kind that sent ice slithering down my spine.

My feet took me closer to the screams. And as I entered the woods, the moonlight glinted across something and I turned around just in time to see Allister passing from my left with a knife in his hand.

A sound of a twig to my right hand my head snapping up just in time to get a glimpse of Dante and Oliver. A twisted smile curled on Dante’s lips. A smile that made my blood freeze.

I should have backtracked. I should’ve gone back to wait for the cab.

I didn’t.

I followed them.

I followed them into the dark forest, my footsteps as silent as they could be.

When I saw them together and what they were doing, I became the witness to something I didn’t even understand.

And committed the ultimate sin that made the headlines and for which no one in the town forgive me. And let me forget.

_______

This Book is DARK BULLY ROMANCE with themes like Revenge, bully, húmiliation, reverse harem, MMMF, MF, and dúbious cónsent.

A. Gupta