Duke Prologue
The bar was quiet, which was great after all the noise of Pocket and Chloe’s wedding party, but it was maybe too quiet.
The sound of my breathing was heavy in my ears, and I just didn’t know why. There was no one else there. The doors were locked, and I was alone. No one could get in.
“You are safe,” I whispered to myself and the first hint of the nervousness I tried so desperately to hide came to the surface. I forced it back down.
I was safe here, lost in a city that had swallowed down my past. I was Sy now, and what had happened in the past had to stay there.
Except seeing Keeley and Gio had brought it back to the surface. It was hard to move on from the horrors of your life when it stared back at you. Keeley looked happy, so at least she had moved on. It was only me that couldn’t.
“You are Sy,” I said to the empty bar. Gathering up a stack of empty glasses, I headed to the back room behind the bar.
It was a small, cramped space. Somewhere to wash glasses and store a few bottles, and in one corner was a stool.
That was it. It was nothing glamorous, but then again, my life had never been glam, anyway.
I worked in a goddamn biker bar, after all.
Again.
But this was what I knew. All I knew. Bikers and bar work. That was me.
And it was dangerous for me to be here. I knew that as well. If the Savage Sons found out who I was, they would run me out of town so quickly. I wasn’t exactly the most loved by the club, but somehow no one had clicked on yet.
I was hoping no one would.
I just had to keep hiding in plain sight.
I’d changed my appearance enough. Dying my bleach blonde hair dark; I had even changed the way I dressed, and I desperately tried to hide my American accent.
So far, it had been enough.
But I knew it wouldn’t last forever. Now Keeley had seen me. She might not mean to tell anyone, but my identity would slip out sooner or later. It was only a matter of time before I had to move on.
With my hands full of pint glasses, their sticky rims making my fingers feel gross, I froze in the doorway to the back room.
There was no one there, but the air in there felt wrong. Stale and sour.
Letting my eyes travel around the room, it took me only a few seconds to realise what was wrong.
The stool in the corner had moved. Like someone had pulled it out slightly, so it was more prominent. My black bag that I had left on it was on the floor. But the stool wasn’t empty.
There was something glistening on it. A thick curl of golden blonde hair tied with a pale blue ribbon. There was a smudge of red blood on the stool and hair. It stained the golden locks pink.
The air left my lungs in a whoosh.
It looked almost identical to the one that had been left at my flat, except this time the hair was a little darker. We had assumed that one had been Chloe’s crazy stalker…but he was dead.
Could all of those creepy cards and letters have been for me after all? Was the hair meant for me?
I already knew the answer to that.
Yes.
I think I had known all along that it had nothing to do with Chloe and everything to do with my past.
Because I had been through this before. Back then, I had buried my suspicions deep inside of me. I hadn’t spoken out and women had gotten hurt.
Lots of women.
Keeley included.
And now there was a serial killer loose in London. A killer that preferred pretty young blondes.
It was too much of a coincidence.
A loud noise behind me made me whirl around with a scream. The glasses I had been holding fell from my hands and smashed in a shower of glass to the floor.
Screaming, I backed up, throwing my hands up to try to protect myself.
Strong hands clamped down on my arms. Not hard enough to hurt, but firm enough to hold me steady.
“Sy, love, what’s wrong? Why are you screaming? It’s just me.”
I blinked up at him in surprise. The mist of terror finally lifted from my eyes. “Duke.” I crushed myself to his chest, hiding my face in the warm leather of his cut. “Duke,” I sobbed. “I’m in so much trouble.”
To be Continued…..