Perfect End: A Dark Romance Thriller (Beautiful Ashes Book 2) Read online

  The officer stops walking to the door and turns around. I continue to make sounds. To my surprise, their force vibrates through my body, bringing it to life. My adrenaline spikes and I start to thrash on the bed, yanking my hand from Hunter’s grip.

  “Are you sure she’s all right?” the cop asks again, a frown between his thick eyebrows.

  “Yes,” Hunter says impatiently. “You don’t have to worry about it. It’s nothing I can’t handle. I think it’s best you leave. When she’s in this state, strangers agitate her.”

  “Okay,” the cop says reluctantly. “Have a good day, Mr. Brooks…and Mrs. Brooks.”

  As soon as the door closes, my heart shrinks to a painful fist inside my chest. My chance is gone. I might never get another opportunity to speak to a cop.

  Hunter waits until the front door downstairs closes, then he brings his face close to mine, his warm breath touching my lips. “What you did was a huge mistake,” he whispers roughly. “Don’t fuck with me like that again.”

  “You bastard,” I say, finally finding my words when they can no longer help me. “You lied to him. I’m not mentally ill.”

  “Of course, you are, sweetheart,” he says, stroking my short hair. “Only a mentally ill person fails to notice how good they have it. Amanda, it’s time you get used to your new life and your new role as a wife.” He climbs into bed next to me and to my horror, he pushes a hand into my panties, grabbing my vagina. “This is mine. You are mine.”

  “Get your hands off me.” I try to move away, but he refuses to let go and I’m still too weak from the drug and the fear of him to push him away.

  My tears take me by surprise. They roll down my cheeks and soak the pillow. Hunter withdraws his hand from my panties and sweeps the palm of his hand across my face to wipe away the tears. “It’s all right, baby. I know change is hard, but you’ll get used to it. As long as you do everything I say, we’ll be very happy here.”

  Chapter 4

  I open my eyes to find Hunter looking down at me, a gentle expression on his face. He looks handsome in the morning light that brightens the room, just like his smile.

  I blink the sleep from my eyes and smile back at him. In return, he lowers his head and kisses my lips softly before moving his mouth to my nipples. The realization that I’m completely naked under the covers makes me shiver with desire.

  I murmur with pleasure and giggle when he sucks the sensitive mounds one after the other before returning to my lips to capture them with his warm mouth.

  One of his hands travels down my belly in search for the throbbing place between my legs. A gentle motion of his fingers lures them apart. He doesn’t need to work hard to make me respond to his touch. A soft moan pushes its way past my lips as I arch my back and grind against him, my hips rolling in rhythm to the song he’s playing between my legs.

  He keeps going until I can’t take it anymore, until the bubble of desire burns hot and threatens to burst inside the pit of my belly.

  “You want this?” He guides my hand to his hardness, all the way from the shaft to the tip.

  I’m too overcome with desire to do more than moan. No words are needed for me to get the message across. One moment I’m lying on my back and the next I’m flat on my stomach, my face pressed into the pillow and him inside me.

  The thrusts are deep, long, and hard. They bring me both pleasure and pain.

  Desperate for air, I turn to my side and fill my lungs with oxygen while he drives me to the brink of madness.

  I come first, almost choking on my own saliva as my orgasm rocks my body. Soon after, Hunter lets go as well.

  When he stops jerking and stiffening, a sharp slap burns the taut skin of my buttocks, then he leans down and whispers into my ear, “Amanda, are you awake?”

  That name shakes me awake. The dream is gone, and I’m now gazing into the eyes of the man I used to love, a man I no longer know. A man who has robbed me of my life, my career, and everything I knew and loved. A psychopath.

  Disgust wells up inside my throat when I remember the erotic dream that fooled me into returning to the past, to a brief moment in time when we were happy. My body has betrayed me. How could I dream of having sex with him when there’s no shred of love left inside me for him?

  I may not be mentally ill, as Hunter told the cop, but if I don’t find a way to escape, it won’t be long until I’m actually crazy.

  But how would I ever be able to release myself from his grip?

  Hunter lied to the cop. If I go to them for help, they might just think I’m having one of my “episodes”. The best thing would be for me to get in touch with someone who cares about me, someone who can do something to help.

  Karen and Vivian. They must be wondering where I am. I’m sure they’re worried.

  Karen’s housekeeper must have told her that I never made it to Monte Carlo, and if she can’t reach me on the phone, she would know immediately that something is wrong.

  She already knows how dangerous Hunter is. She knows I wouldn’t change my plans without notifying her, not when she was so kind to allow me to stay in her villa. I have to believe that she has alerted the cops about my disappearance. I just have to find a way to contact her or Vivian. They will know what to do. My friends will fight for me if I can’t fight for myself.

  I need to get to a phone. When we used to be a real married couple, Hunter always kept his phone by his bedside table when he slept. It’s there now. Not the phone he used to have, but a phone nonetheless. My fingers itch with the need to grab it.

  “Are you feeling okay? Did you sleep well?” Hunter asks, disturbing my plans of escape. How dare he ask how I feel when he doesn’t give a damn? My skin shivers when he strokes my face with his cool fingertips.

  “I need a painkiller,” I murmur. “I have a headache.” That’s not the only pain in my body. I don’t even care about my physical pains anymore. I just need him out of the room.

  “Yes, my lady.” He kisses me and gets out of bed. “Your wish is my command. I’ll get you some breakfast as well. But you have to get your strength back soon so you can take care of your husband.”

  I swallow down the scathing words I desperately want to say to him.

  I hold my breath as I watch him walk out of the room, locking it behind him. I listen to every step he takes as he descends the staircase.

  My eyes are on the phone the entire time. Did he forget it, or did he leave it there on purpose? I don’t even care. The important thing is that he left it behind. I won’t let my chance slip by.

  Feeling sick with nerves, I slide across the bed to his side and curl my fingers around the device. It’s warm. He must have just charged it.

  My gaze flickers between the phone and the door as I dial Karen’s number, my fingers so sweaty they leave wet marks on the screen. I call her twice. Both calls go to voicemail.

  My chest is tight when I dial Vivian’s number and get the same result.

  I’m about to call Jacob next, when the door is thrown open and Hunter is standing in the doorway, empty-handed.

  The phone slips from my hand and falls onto the comforter while my mouth grows dry with fear.

  “I thought you might try to use that. By leaving it behind, I was testing you. Looks like you failed the test.” He picks up the phone without moving his gaze from my face. “You were calling your friends, weren’t you?” He lowers himself onto the edge of the bed and reaches for my trembling hand. “Baby, there’s something you should know. Your friends are no longer with us.”

  “What... what?” I shake my head, confused.

  “What I mean is, they’re dead. I had no choice. They stood in the way of us. Now it’s just us, my wife and I.”

  “No.” I clamber out of bed, my head exploding with confusion.

  “I did not plan for it to end that way for them, but like I said, I had no choice. Things were getting out of hand. Those bitches were constantly meddling in our marriage.”

  My hands cover my mouth
as I stare at him in disbelief, tears flooding my eyes.

  “It’s okay for you to grieve them, but don’t let it be for too long. We have a life to live.”

  Chapter 5

  “You’re a fucking liar.” He has to be lying. It’s a way for him to control me, to make me even more scared of him.

  He’s a lot of things—terrible things—but a murderer? I can’t believe it. I don’t want to believe it. If it’s true, I’m even more of a fool than I thought. I fell in love with him. I shared my life with him. How could I have been so blind and stupid?

  “I’m not lying to you, my love. I’m very sorry, but your friends are no longer a part of this world. They stood in the way of us. They had to go.”

  I shake my head as tears roll down my cheeks. I still don’t believe him.

  He comes closer to me and I take a step back. “Stay away from me. Don’t you dare touch me ever again.”

  “I’m afraid that’s not possible. You’re my wife. I can touch you whenever and as much as I like.”

  “You didn’t do it. Please, tell me you didn’t do it.” I bring my hands together, begging him for the truth. “You wouldn’t.”

  “Of course, I would. I would do anything for you, for us. Don’t underestimate a man in love.”

  I keep moving backward until I reach the corner of the room and cannot move any farther.

  “See,” he says, coming even closer, trapping me. “You cannot run from me. Don’t even try.”

  “Who the hell are you?” I whisper.

  “Your husband. I’m your husband.” He grips my wrists tight and brings my hands to his lips, kissing my knuckles. Then he yanks me forward so I crush into him. “I’m sorry, my darling. I’m so sorry for your loss.”

  “Prove it,” I say with determination. “If you really killed them, prove it.”

  “What kind of marriage would this be if you don’t believe your husband?”

  I can’t believe he’s even asking me that question. What we have is not a marriage, but a joke.

  “I said prove it, you bastard.” I yank my hands from his grip. I expect him to hit me again, to chip off another piece of my heart, but when his palm lands on my cheek, it still takes me by surprise. I grit my teeth to contain the pain and return my gaze to his. I refuse for him to see me as weak. I won’t let him break me that easily.

  “Don’t make me hurt you again,” he says in a low, gentle voice. He tries to touch me again, but I flinch away. For a long time, he continues to watch me, then a smile touches his lips and he backs off.

  I don’t say a word as he walks over to the nightstand and picks up his phone. “I thought you might need proof.” He returns to where I’m standing and turns the screen to me for just a second, long enough for me to see he’s not lying. I didn’t see their faces up close, but I saw bodies in a grave, limbs twisted in unnatural positions.

  “I can’t let you look closer. It’s not a pretty sight. You’re already upset as it is.”

  He really did it. My husband is a murderer.

  I drop my head and tears drip onto the floor. My best friends are dead.

  I’ll never see them again, never hear the sounds of their voices. He erased them from the world as if he had the right to do it. Then he dumped them into some ditch of a grave like people no one cares about.

  Unable to hold back my anger and the excruciating pain, I charge toward him.

  “You bastard. You—”

  “Don’t do this, Amanda. I’m warning you.” He fights me off and he’s so much stronger. Instead of striking me again, he brings my body to his and holds me so tight I cannot breathe. He presses his lips to the top of my head and gives me one of his toxic kisses.

  I let him hold me, not because I need him, but because he won’t let me go.

  “I did you a favor, my love,” he whispers. “From now on, no one will distract us from the life we’re supposed to live together as a couple. They deserved what they got. They tried to take you away from me. I will never let anyone come between us again.”

  I push away then, so hard that when he releases me, I stumble back. My body once again hits the wall. I slide to the floor and allow the sobs building up inside me to break me. I rest my face on my knees and my tears trickle down my legs as I weep for the life I used to have, the friends I used to know, the husband I used to love, the strong person I used to be.

  He lets me cry. I don’t know for how long. It feels like forever. When I have no more tears left, he comes back to me.

  “That’s enough,” he says in a hard voice. “You’ve grieved them enough. Now it’s time for us to move on with our lives.”

  I look up at him with wet eyes. Through my tears he doesn’t even look human anymore. He can’t be. For him to do the things he did, he has to be some heartless creature, an animal.

  “I’m going to the cops,” I say, pulling myself up, ignoring all the aches in my body. “You’ll go to prison for this. I’ll make sure of it. I’ll destroy you.”

  “How will you do that?” he says, picking up his phone. “You’re no longer the hotshot lawyer you used to call yourself. The person you once were and the life you used to have are gone. Now all you are, and all you’ll ever be, is my wife.”

  “Fuck you,” I say, pushing past him and walking out the door. He doesn’t follow me until I’m at the bottom of the stairs, but his laughter follows right behind me, taunting me, stabbing me in the back.

  I reach the front door without him stopping me. I don’t understand why. I don’t care, I just want out. I want to go to the police station and report him for murder, kidnapping, and God knows what other crimes he has committed.

  The moment my fingers come into contact with the door handle, I’m yanked back so hard, I let out a scream. His fingers are digging into my flesh, forcing pain to blind me.

  “You have no fucking idea who you’re messing with,” he growls into my ear. “You need to be taught a lesson. Maybe it’s time for me to prove to you who you belong to.”

  “Let me go,” I scream as he picks me up from the floor and takes me back upstairs, throwing me hard onto the bed.

  I scream even more when he pushes down his pants.

  I continue to fight him off until he ties me to the bed and cuts off my clothes with scissors, then he invades me in places that have never been touched before. I thought he wouldn’t break me, but as he plunges into me, I feel myself crumble.

  Once he’s done, he plunges another needle into my flesh and takes me back downstairs to the front door, where he lowers me onto the floor.

  My legs are so weak they can barely hold me upright.

  He opens the door and pushes me out, still naked.

  “Go on,” he says. “Call for help. See if anyone helps you while you’re looking like that. After today, the neighborhood will finally be convinced that you’re a mad woman.”

  Instead of screaming, I whimper and crumple to the ground, wrapping my arms around my legs to hide my naked body. I’m too ashamed to even look up.

  But I can’t let him win. I have to push past my shame and help myself. So, I stand up and walk away, my hands covering the important parts of me.

  I knock on three doors, begging and pleading to be heard. Even though our neighbors peer through their windows, no one opens up. Hunter knew they wouldn’t.

  I start to walk, not even sure where I’m going, or where the police station is.

  Not long after, my body loses strength and I fall to the ground. When I open my eyes again, I’m back in the cottage I was trying to escape from. The drug he injected me with earlier was to make sure I didn’t get far.

  Chapter 6

  HUNTER

  It’s midnight and I can’t sleep. I doubt Amanda is sleeping either. I know the sound of her breathing by heart, her shallow, gentle breaths when she’s asleep.

  I try to touch her, but she moves away from me, curling up into a ball.

  My anger boils inside me, making my chest tight. I’ve had enough.
I’m tired of playing games with her. It’s time for her to slip into her role of a wife. I’ve given her enough time to adjust. It’s been two days of watching her grieving for her dead friends. They stood in my way when they were alive. I’d be damned if I let them steal my wife from beyond the grave.

  I switch on the night light. As the room floods with light, I feel my power returning, trickling into my veins like a much-needed drug.

  It’s time for my wife to know once and for all who’s in charge. I won’t let her return to the woman she used to be in Houston.

  Filled with rage from being ignored for days, I fling back the sheets, swing my legs out of bed and stride to her side.

  “Open your eyes,” I say in an authoritative voice.

  Does she really think I’m foolish enough to believe she’s sleeping?

  When her eyes remain closed, I pull the sheets off her body. She curls up tighter, hugging her knees, her eyes squeezed shut. A side of me wants to hold her, to offer her comfort, but the other part is pissed at her for refusing to obey me.

  “I’m warning you, Amanda.”

  Her eyes fly open. “Stop calling me fucking Amanda. That’s not my name and it never will be.”

  I had not planned on laying a hand on her again, but I can’t help it. She’s driving me to the brink of fury. It burns like a raging fire inside my chest.

  The moment my palm meets her cheek, she jumps out of bed and throws herself at me, her body crashing so hard against mine that I stumble back.

  Fuck that. She’s gone too far. I don’t hit her again, but I force her to her knees, my hands tight around her wrists.

  “Look at me,” I say, my voice sharp enough to shake her. “I’ve had enough of this crap. You’re my wife. You signed up for a life with me. You’re not getting out of that agreement.”

  “Wrong.” She shakes her head, her eyes sparkling with tears and rage. “I signed up for a life with a man I thought I knew, the man I thought you were. I never signed up for a life with a murderer.”