Hearts Of Darkness (The Santiago Trilogy #1)

Prologue

PROLOGUE

EVE

I sense him watching me all the time. Drinking in my reaction, feeding off my frustration. I can tell he’s been wanting to show me my hopeless reality for days. Is he tiring of my constant defiance? Too bad. He’s taken nearly everything from me, and it’s all I have left.

“I wasn’t trying to run,” I say quietly. “I know there’s no escape from this place. I know what you’ll do to my parents if I try.”

He laughs. “Then maybe we’re finally starting to understand one another, my angel .”

I don’t want to be his ‘angel’.

I don’t want to be his anything.

“I’ll never understand you!” I try to yank my arm away, but his grip is unflinching. “You’re nothing but a heartless monster! ”

“I thought we’d agreed I was the devil?” His dark pools are glinting unpleasantly at me now.

“There’s a difference?”

“A monster is never Machiavellian in his intent, Eve. He’s not that smart or patient. I, on the other hand… You wouldn’t fuck me willingly, so I starved you for two days. It made your submission that much sweeter. A monster would have taken what he wanted from you, then and there.”

“I hate you!” Tears of helpless rage and some other emotion sting the corners of my eyes. “I wish I’d never walked into that damn liquor store!”

“Careful,” he warns, pulling me back to the unwelcome warmth of his body, lust sparking in his hooded gaze. “I tend to find your defiance amusing, but you’re really pushing my patience today…”