Shattered Innocence (Black Rose Auction #5)

Chapter 1

1

BIRDIE

O ne more chapter. Just one more chapter, and then I’ll get back to work.

It’s a lie I like to tell myself when I’m alone in the house. Rain pelts against the windows as I sit curled up on the floor in front of the cold and empty fireplace. Even with the rain, it’s hot outside; what I wouldn’t give for winter weather when we’re allowed to turn on the fireplace. There is nothing better than reading to the sounds of rain and the crackle of the fireplace.

A car door closes outside in the distance.

Shit.

After quickly climbing off the floor, I run to the window and see my stepmom’s car pulling up to the front of the house.

“Shoot,” I whisper, my breath fogging the glass. The rain must have postponed the horse race, so she’s home three hours early. In a sprint, I hurry up the stairs to my room. Going first to my closet, I climb the shelves to discreetly shove my paperback on the top, safely out of view. I refuse to lose another one to my cruel stepsister, Luna, who seems intent on destroying everything I love.

Then I dash down the hall to where I left the vacuum sitting unplugged and silent in Luna’s room. Just as I hear the front door close, I switch on the machine, and it whirrs loudly as I start running it in straight lines across the floor.

There’s a commotion downstairs, but I ignore it. With the sound of the vacuum, I can’t make out what they’re saying anyway.

I’m minding my own business when someone jerks hard on my hair, and I let out a shriek. Spinning around, I stare daggers at Luna. Reaching out, I grab a handful of her bleach-blonde waves and tug hard.

“You fucking bitch!” she screams, and I can tell by the slur in her voice that she’s drunk. I guess she and my stepmom had enough time at the track to get trashed.

“You started it,” I reply quietly.

Her hands fly toward me in a violent shove. I trip over the vacuum but catch myself before falling on my ass. When I gape back up at her in shock, I see she’s wearing a smug expression on her hideous face.

She’s always hated me, so it’s easy to hate her in return.

I don’t shove her back, no matter how much I want to, only because I won’t play her games. And because I know which of us will pay for it in the end anyway.

But nothing stops Luna. When I roll my eyes at her, she lifts a hand to hit me. I cover my face, preparing myself for the blow.

“Don’t,” barks a feminine voice. When I open my eyes, I see my other stepsister, Violet, holding her sister by the wrist, sneering at her angrily.

They stare at each other momentarily before Luna tears her arm away. Then she glares at me.

“Get the fuck out of my room,” she snaps.

“Gladly,” I reply with a condescending bow. Then I brush past Violet as I storm down the hallway. Before I can reach my room, I’m cut off by my stepmom reaching the second floor. As soon as she sees me, she makes a face of disgust.

“What is going on up here?” she says with a snarl. “Birdie, what the hell are you up to now?”

“Nothing,” I mutter as I try to move past her to my room.

She snatches my arm. “Where do you think you’re going? Did you finish your chores?”

I roll my eyes. “Yes,” I lie. She’s too drunk to know the difference anyway. We have cleaners who come twice a week, but my chores are a form of torture. And her way to manipulate me.

She claims it’s my way of earning my keep since I’m nineteen now. But it’s not like being an adult means I’m free to leave and live my own life. Ever since my dad’s heart attack two years ago landed him six feet under, leaving my stepmother a wealthy widow, she’s made it her mission to make my life hell.

And what choice do I have? I have rights to my inheritance, but she keeps that under lock and key. With no car, skills, or connections of my own, I have no way out.

Not until this weekend when I’ll be forced to trade one prison for another.

My stepmom yanks me toward her, putting her vodka-scented breath in my face. “You’re an ungrateful little bitch, you know that? And I’ve put up with you long enough.”

“Only until Saturday, though,” I reply, my head held high.

“That’s right. Then you’ll be someone else’s problem.”

“You’re not concerned about who might win my hand in marriage? It could be a murderer or a monster, and you don’t care.”

She snickers with an evil smile. “I hope it is. Then you’ll finally get what’s coming to you after the way your father treated me.”

I swallow down the acid rising in my stomach from the thought of my father, as if I had any control over how awful he was to her. He made all our lives miserable, but she seems to think I was his accomplice instead of another one of his victims.

“Or you could just send me off on my own. I’ll take exactly what’s owed to me and leave forever.”

Her grip on my arm stings. “And miss out on the payout I’ll receive? Men will pay a lot of money for a pretty virgin bride like you, Birdie. Besides,” she adds with her chin held high. “You agreed to this, remember?”

“Only to get away from you,” I mutter under my breath.

And it’s true. I did agree to this ridiculous auction—even had to sign some asinine contract stating I was doing so consensually. But honestly, what choice did I have? I could either agree to be married away to the highest bidder or live out the rest of my days as the dirt under my stepmother’s shoe.

Nothing could be worse than this hell.

My nostrils flare as I fight the tears that want to spring to my eyes. How did my life get like this? I know my own mother loved me and wanted a beautiful life for me. I may not remember much, but I remember the love I felt from her. It was always supposed to be me and her forever. Then, a drunk driver took her life when I was only six years old.

And my father turned into a violent jerk who married another violent jerk.

“The best you can do now,” my stepmother snarls in my face, “is get your beauty sleep and pray you land a generous husband at the auction this weekend. And if you try anything sneaky before then, I promise I will make the rest of your life hell, Birdie. You’ll wish you were in that car with your mother. Understand me?”

When I blink, a tear slips over my lashes and down my face. “I already do,” I mutter angrily before snatching my arm away.

She sways in place as I rush off to my room, slamming the door when I’m safely inside. Then I stifle a scream that I can’t let out. It’s bad enough I slammed the door—if she hears me throwing a fit, it’ll only make her want to punish me more. My face is red with anger as I snatch a pillow off my bed and toss it against the wall in my rage.

Then I drop to the floor and pull my knees to my chest. I hate it here.

I hate her. I hate Luna. I hate my life. I want to rewrite my story and somehow give myself something happier than this.

When the door opens, I wince, hiding my face in my hands. Through my fingers, I watch as someone steps closer, looming over me.

I know without even opening my eyes, it’s my stepsister Violet. I don’t want her pity, and I don’t want her to see me crying like a child. Tearing my hands away from my face, I defiantly gaze up at her through my tear-soaked lashes.

Regardless of what I want, pity washes over her features. Her brows fold inward, and her mouth presses into a straight line.

“Don’t say anything,” I mutter through gritted teeth.

“Oh, Birdie,” she replies. Then she drops to her knees and throws her arms around me, gathering me into a warm embrace.

“I hate her.” I sob into her neck.

“I know. I do, too,” she replies. Her arms hold me tight, stroking my back and then my hair. “It’s okay,” she whispers, letting me cry out my frustration. “I’m here.”

As she squeezes in closer, my legs part, allowing her more room, and my arms wrap around her middle.

After my tears have subsided, she pulls away, taking my face in her soft hands. She gently brushes my hair from my face and wipes my tears with her thumb.

“I’m so sorry,” she whispers.

When I gaze into her eyes, I feel like I’m no longer in this hell. Violet makes this house bearable. She is everything my stepmom and Luna aren’t. She’s warm, gentle, and she looks into my eyes with love, not disgust.

When she leans forward, brushing her lips against mine, I let it erase everything else in this house. Her touch is hypnotizing, making me forget the rest of the world. And when her tongue slides into my mouth, I forget my own name.

“I love you,” she whispers once the kiss comes to an end.

Our foreheads are resting together as I cling to her body. “You promise you can get me out of that auction?”

“I promise,” she replies, her hands squeezing my arms.

Violet is the one person I care about—the only person who truly sees me.

What started as a friendship five years ago, when my father married her mother, slowly morphed into something more. It was a montage of quiet nights in the same bed and whispered secrets under the covers.

Violet has always been the one bright beacon in my life. But just last year, when she finally confessed her feelings for me, she became even more so. Whispers became kisses. Secrets turned into touches.

Now, Violet is everything to me.

“I don’t want you to worry, Birdie,” she mumbles softly as she kisses my cheek again. “I’m going to figure something out, okay? I won’t let her marry you off to some monster.”

“What are you going to do?” I whisper with a sniffle.

“I don’t know.” She grabs my hands with hers and links our fingers. It’s intimate, and my heart starts to beat faster. “But if I can find a way to get you away from her, then you and I can take care of each other. We’ll move so far away that she’ll never bother us again. You’d like that, right?”

She glances up through her lashes so our eyes meet.

The erratic beating of my heart is overwhelming now. This plan she’s been talking about feels like a dream. It’s the only thing I live for now.

“More than anything,” I reply. The corner of my lips tugs into a crooked smile.

Violet pulls me in for another kiss. We don’t let it get heated because we don’t have enough privacy for that right now. If her mother or sister found out about us, they’d ruin us.

“Just trust me, okay? I’ll make sure no one else can take you away,” she whispers.

“Okay,” I reply. I’m putting my future in her hands, but I do trust her.

Violet would never let anything happen to me.