Devils with halos malign.., p.10
Devils With Halos (Malignant Book 1), page 10
I pulled against his hold, making the pain worse.
“This bracelet has no meaning here. It’s a sentiment to a god that does not exist.” He tore it off, launching it across the room. “The only god for you is me. I am your religion, the patron saint of your fucking demise.”
My arm was shoved away, the deft fingers tangled in my hair turning to a fist. I cried out as he wrenched my head back so far, my neck popped.
He grabbed the gauntlet with his free hand and brought it to my mouth, liquor sloshing over the rim and onto the table.
“You drink. Now.” He twisted his fist, winding my hair further around it.
I tried to keep my mouth clamped shut, but he wouldn’t relent. He kept twisting until my eyes were squinted and my scalp seemed seconds away from tearing off completely.
“Okay,” I relented on a quiet sob. “I’ll drink it.”
His hold dramatically loosened but he didn’t let me go. The cool glass was brought back to my mouth.
I parted my lips and drank, choking as the burn slid down my throat to coil in my stomach.
“Good girl,” he soothed, gently massaging the roots he’d just tried to tear from my head.
He made me drink until the glass was near empty before pulling me from the chair altogether with a hand wrapped around my torso.
A hand on my spine forced me to bend until my cheek was pressed against the smooth wood of the table.
My stomach churned, and it took great effort not to throw up all I’d just consumed. I rolled my lips together trying to get rid of the numbing sensation I’d invoked.
“You’re so beautiful,” Ryker murmured from behind me, lifting my teddy to expose my ass. When he palmed the globes, fingers delving inside an area that had never been explored, I knew what was coming.
“You’ve also disappointed me today.” He dug dry digits deeper, scissoring them apart inside my asshole.
I tried to say something but it came out jumbled and wrong, my tongue too heavy to lift all of a sudden.
A jingling of a belt had me attempting to lift my head.
I got it a few inches off the table before I gave up and dropped it back down.
“You chose the drug dealer when you should have chosen the bitch that helped kill my baby brother.”
He picked the gauntlet back up and dumped the remaining alcohol between my spread cheeks.
“I absolve you.” He pushed his cock into me, fully seating himself. I barely felt the intensity of what he’d done, tearing my ass to fit himself inside with no foreplay.
He pulled out and rocked back in so hard the force moved the table. And that’s how it continued. In and out his cock went as I lay there and took it.
I should have been crying out for him to stop.
I should’ve been doing anything other than being bent over completely calm as he destroyed my ass.
Tears trickled down as the night went on. Before my mind completely shut off, he bent low over me, nipping my ear and whispering, “This reminds me so much of our first time together.”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Faith
I barely made it to the toilet.
My knees hit the floor and my gut convulsed, sending everything from the day before into the bowl.
A pain I’d never known was coming from my ass. It felt as if it had been ripped apart from the inside out.
Like my head felt right about then.
Keeping my chin down, I ensured I was done vomiting before I flushed and rose to sit on the seat.
Finally taking a good look at myself, I saw I was wearing a lacey black bra and nothing else. My skin was smooth, and my hair was still damp.
I didn’t question the outfit change; I didn’t care.
I began to urinate, stopping midstream.
“Ouch, fuck,” I sucked in a breath and bit down on my lower lip as I parted my legs.
Fresh blood was drying between my ass cheeks.
I swallowed and leaned my head against the wall, beginning to do my count.
The night before was all a blur after I’d been forced to drink the alcohol. I had zero recollection of what had transpired.
But I remembered everything that came before then. The truth was in the midst of it all. And that truth was tragic, ugly, and heartbreakingly unfair.
Sutures were torn wide open, bringing back rancid memories and bubbling puss as old wounds were re-exposed.
I thought it would make me break down and sob; there was just a profound sense of loss instead.
There was this aching fucking emptiness that could have been prevented if one person in this web of deceit had just spoken up and said something.
No one was who they said they were. Everyone had their own secrets to hide. We’d all done terrible, shitty things. And we all had demons to try and cope with.
All except Camilla. She was an angel brought into the devil’s lair. She didn’t deserve any of this.
Placing my hands on the wall, I used it to push myself up and waddled to the sink. Turning on the spicket, I washed my face and greedily consumed some of the tap water to wet my throat and settle my stomach.
After doing a quick finger comb, I studied my reflection.
The bracelet being gone was the only evidence that anything had happened.
I didn’t look like a killer, an alcoholic, or an addict. I just looked like me, albeit exhausted.
Hearing a door open and close I padded back towards the bedroom.
He stood at the edge of the bed waiting for me to enter, dressed more casual than I’d ever seen him.
His gaze swept over me from head to toe, coming back up to search my face. If I didn’t know better, I’d say he looked remorseful.
It should have been me apologizing. I knew there was only one other person who would have been in the bathroom with Sam that night.
Had I just put the bottle down for one goddamn second, maybe he would still be here.
So many things would be different if Sam were still alive.
Though Ryker was far from innocent in this whole crusade, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t understand why he did it.
“You hurt me again,” I stated somberly as I walked in, never taking my eyes from his.
“It wasn’t my desire to hurt you, but I did enjoy it.”
I stopped near the nightstand, crossing my arms over my chest.
“You look like you slept well.”
“Wow.” He slipped his hands into his pockets and rocked back on his heels. “Is that all you have to say? Even knowing what you know?”
I gave a bitter laugh, moving slowly to take a seat on the bed.
“Well like you said, sorry is a trivial word. Instead of kidnapping me, branding your initial and cult symbol on my side, and raping me, you couldn’t have just talked to me?”
“No, because you would have spoken to me as the man you thought I was, and not the man I am.”
“The angel instead of the devil,” I mumbled.
“For you, I always try to be both, but the latter tends to shine through.”
I sighed, glancing up at the ceiling. Why were we discussing this? It was the equivalent of having a conversation about the weather. I needed to forge ahead while I could.
“Lilly was the one who set us up.” Not a question, a statement.
Marcy’s brains had been blown all over the chapel.
That was her quick salvation, the price she paid for helping murder, Sam. That’s why she was here.
I knew in the depths of my cracked and battered heart that Camilla had been nothing more than a friend to the wrong people.
That’s why she was here.
That only left one person.
“Her name is Lindsey. She’s twenty-seven years old and has been around for a few years now. I sent her to keep tabs on you when I couldn’t and to ensure the other night happened,” he explained.
She was the one who needed salvation. She’d come into my life with ill intentions and played upon my kindness for another’s gain. She was the sole reason we’d been on that road that night.
I clasped my hands in my lap, turning my head to look at him again.
“So what now, Rye? Is this it? I stay in this room day in and day out doing exactly as you say, learning your ideology? Spreading my legs whenever you want?”
“No.” He rounded the bed and came to stand in front of me. When I looked up at him, he gently cupped my cheeks. “You wish me harm?”
“Yes,” I replied truthfully.
Man makes monster. Monster kills man. It seemed rather fitting because that’s all he had done. He wanted me to be more like him, unleash the thing inside me I’d gone my whole adolescent life trying to exorcise.
“Then I think there’s hope for us yet.” He smirked. “We still have a lot of work to do with you, but things will be so much better between us.”
“Once you learn the true meaning of the future Malignant.” Another kiss placed on my lips, before he sighed and stepped back.
“By the time I’m done penetrating your mind, your body won’t be able to live without me. You’ll be on your knees begging me to fuck you.”
Diverting my attention to my nail beds, I processed all he was saying with how I felt. It oddly made sense. I had nothing to live for. My life was going nowhere. Maybe having a religion in the form of Malignant could give me that thing I needed to have a purpose again.
“How would you do it?” I finally asked.
“I’d do it at home. Down in the basement after Skyler is in bed fast asleep. You’d be spending a lot of time on your knees.”
Brows furrowing, I glanced back up.
“Who’s Skyler?”
Instead of replying right away he reached in his pocket and pulled out a round, blue opal ring. It was identical to the same one I’d lost after a late night of partying.
“There was a night a few years ago when a girl climbed into my bed and helped herself to my dick.
I kept this as a memento. I swore that night watching you ride me; the pleasure on your face was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen.”
“No.” I mumbled. My heartbeat slowed, and my world began to shrink in on itself even further.
He either didn’t hear me, or he didn’t give a shit if I wanted him to continue or not because he did, wrecking me even further.
“Then your dad sold our daughter for a whopping four thousand dollars, and I have to admit, she’s much more beautiful than you or I will ever be.”
Four thousand dollars.
He told me he’d found the baby a good home. A much better home than someone in my state could give him or her considering the circumstances.
I woke from the C-section at an outpatient clinic, and the baby was long gone. I never saw its face or knew where it went. Dad wouldn’t tell me.
“It’s better if you let go,” were always his exact words.
I had a daughter.
I had a daughter with, Ryker Silas.
“How did you find her?” I reached for the ring, and he caught my hand.
“I never had to look. He sold her to me without knowing she was mine. I don’t think he was too concerned as he’s never brought her up since.”
He slipped the ring back on my ring finger, where I always used to wear it. When he kissed the back of my palm, I pulled it away and covered my face.
“How do you know for sure it was him with Sam?” My voice cracked as my heart finished splitting down the middle.
“My brother’s phone pocket dialed me during the struggle. I heard everything. He blamed him for his marital issues. Your mother finding out they were fucking one another, the whole nine. Marcy walked in on the argument, and the rest is history.
“She shoved in the needle while your dad pinned him down.”
I could picture it. I could see Sam struggling and trying to get out of the bathroom, not wanting to hurt Dad.
I could see Mom’s face when she found out Dad was responsible as he would have told her what he’d done.
And she couldn’t handle it.
I could barely handle it.
He was the sole thing in my universe I trusted to never hurt me aside from Ryker.
He was a goddamn liar, the worst of the worst in this whole situation because everything was a domino effect of his actions.
One secret caused so many fucking problems. I should have known they were messing around.
Sam was bi-sexual and had never hidden his flings from me, but there was one person he never told me about.
I wouldn’t have judged him for it. I would have still been his friend as I always had, but it was too late for all that.
Ryker let me cry for what felt like hours, standing still as a rock aside from the soothing motion of his hand running through my hair.
“You have someone to keep going for. And if you agree to my terms, you can see her as soon as we work out a few more minor details.”
That was enough to stop my sob-fest. His terms…what were his terms? Did it fucking matter? I could stay at Malignant and try to figure out what Ryker’s end game was, get Camilla out and shut the place down, or I could go with him to finally see the face of the baby taken away from me.
“When can we go home?”
I looked up at him with blurred vision and puffy eyes, catching the tail end of a victorious smile.
Epilogue
Faith
Parting from her was one of the hardest things I’d ever done.
I had to choose my daughter or my only friend. One I’d never got the chance to know and the other I felt like I’d known my whole life.
In the end, Camilla decided for me. Her understanding of the situation didn’t make me feel any better.
“You’re going to see your little girl, Faith. I will be here when you come back to visit. And I’ll take care of Lilly,” she whispered in my ear as we embraced.
I could tell right then that in the short amount of time that we’d been here, something within her had changed. She was handing it though, she hadn’t had a mental breakdown. I prayed she could hang on a bit longer.
I wanted to tell her not to do anything that would change the clean slate she’d arrived with, but Ryker was urging me to the town car idling behind us and Bishop was watching her like a predator watches its prey.
Lilly, as I couldn’t bring myself to call her anything else, was nowhere to be seen. I think Ryker did that wisely for her safety.
The path to the car seemed long and winding, but it was the only path for me. I could pretend like I always did.
I could be what Ryker wanted and even love him all the while hating him as I did it, for the sake of a little girl. I was going to get Camilla out of here though, that I was certain of.
Glancing at the massive structure as Ryker guided me to the car, I knew by the time I returned that nothing at Malignant would be the same.
Neither would I.
Epilogue
Ryker
I looked down at my lap where Faith’s head was resting. It reminded me of the older days. She had always sought comfort from the man she should have run screaming from.
Always seeking out what should have been off limits. I believe it was her soul finding a kindred spirit in mine. We were perfect for one another; in due time she would believe that again.
Skyler knew I was bringing her mommy home so we could be a family. I could give Faith and our daughter an idyllic life while continuing to unleash the demons she’d buried within her.
After all, I was just a devil with a halo. Very few people knew the man I truly was.
The pretty girl fast asleep in my lap was beginning to learn.
She’d dozed minutes after asking what was going to happen to her father. I hadn’t answered.
The man was already chained in a room, just like Harper and the remaining two people I’d taken the night Faith was.
It all tied into a much bigger picture, something fitting for the new start of Malignant.
Glancing out the window as we got further and further from my rising empire, I found myself wondering what was whispered between the two girls before we departed.
Whatever it was, Bishop would be responsible for dealing with Camilla on his end.
It didn’t matter much on mine.
By the time Faith saw Malignant again it would be a much different version. Camilla wouldn’t even be able to recognize her.
When we walked back in those doors, she’d be running it by my side.
MALIGNANT SERIES
Devils with Halos
Ryker & Faith
2. Angels with Horns
Bishop & Camilla-TBR
3. Saints that Sin
Pope & Harper
4. To Be Announced
Conclusion
DEPRAVITY
NOVEMBER 27TH
(mm/mmf/ mfm.) Standalone.
Add to TBR
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Prelude
Copyright
DEPRAVITY by Natalie Bennett
© 2018 by Natalie Bennett. All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any written, electronic, recording, or photocopying without written permission of the publisher or author. The exception would be in the case of brief quotations embodied in the critical articles or reviews and pages where the publisher or author specifically grant permission.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
Cover Design: Jay Aheer
Editing by: Pinpoint Editing
Blurb
I was born an ordinary girl with a tiny seed of sickness.
As I got older it grew bigger, the roots sunk deeper.
Mama told me to lock it away and let it wither.
Solitude became my closest companion.
Solo, single, lonely.
Until Declan.
Until Ethan.
“This bracelet has no meaning here. It’s a sentiment to a god that does not exist.” He tore it off, launching it across the room. “The only god for you is me. I am your religion, the patron saint of your fucking demise.”
My arm was shoved away, the deft fingers tangled in my hair turning to a fist. I cried out as he wrenched my head back so far, my neck popped.
He grabbed the gauntlet with his free hand and brought it to my mouth, liquor sloshing over the rim and onto the table.
“You drink. Now.” He twisted his fist, winding my hair further around it.
I tried to keep my mouth clamped shut, but he wouldn’t relent. He kept twisting until my eyes were squinted and my scalp seemed seconds away from tearing off completely.
“Okay,” I relented on a quiet sob. “I’ll drink it.”
His hold dramatically loosened but he didn’t let me go. The cool glass was brought back to my mouth.
I parted my lips and drank, choking as the burn slid down my throat to coil in my stomach.
“Good girl,” he soothed, gently massaging the roots he’d just tried to tear from my head.
He made me drink until the glass was near empty before pulling me from the chair altogether with a hand wrapped around my torso.
A hand on my spine forced me to bend until my cheek was pressed against the smooth wood of the table.
My stomach churned, and it took great effort not to throw up all I’d just consumed. I rolled my lips together trying to get rid of the numbing sensation I’d invoked.
“You’re so beautiful,” Ryker murmured from behind me, lifting my teddy to expose my ass. When he palmed the globes, fingers delving inside an area that had never been explored, I knew what was coming.
“You’ve also disappointed me today.” He dug dry digits deeper, scissoring them apart inside my asshole.
I tried to say something but it came out jumbled and wrong, my tongue too heavy to lift all of a sudden.
A jingling of a belt had me attempting to lift my head.
I got it a few inches off the table before I gave up and dropped it back down.
“You chose the drug dealer when you should have chosen the bitch that helped kill my baby brother.”
He picked the gauntlet back up and dumped the remaining alcohol between my spread cheeks.
“I absolve you.” He pushed his cock into me, fully seating himself. I barely felt the intensity of what he’d done, tearing my ass to fit himself inside with no foreplay.
He pulled out and rocked back in so hard the force moved the table. And that’s how it continued. In and out his cock went as I lay there and took it.
I should have been crying out for him to stop.
I should’ve been doing anything other than being bent over completely calm as he destroyed my ass.
Tears trickled down as the night went on. Before my mind completely shut off, he bent low over me, nipping my ear and whispering, “This reminds me so much of our first time together.”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Faith
I barely made it to the toilet.
My knees hit the floor and my gut convulsed, sending everything from the day before into the bowl.
A pain I’d never known was coming from my ass. It felt as if it had been ripped apart from the inside out.
Like my head felt right about then.
Keeping my chin down, I ensured I was done vomiting before I flushed and rose to sit on the seat.
Finally taking a good look at myself, I saw I was wearing a lacey black bra and nothing else. My skin was smooth, and my hair was still damp.
I didn’t question the outfit change; I didn’t care.
I began to urinate, stopping midstream.
“Ouch, fuck,” I sucked in a breath and bit down on my lower lip as I parted my legs.
Fresh blood was drying between my ass cheeks.
I swallowed and leaned my head against the wall, beginning to do my count.
The night before was all a blur after I’d been forced to drink the alcohol. I had zero recollection of what had transpired.
But I remembered everything that came before then. The truth was in the midst of it all. And that truth was tragic, ugly, and heartbreakingly unfair.
Sutures were torn wide open, bringing back rancid memories and bubbling puss as old wounds were re-exposed.
I thought it would make me break down and sob; there was just a profound sense of loss instead.
There was this aching fucking emptiness that could have been prevented if one person in this web of deceit had just spoken up and said something.
No one was who they said they were. Everyone had their own secrets to hide. We’d all done terrible, shitty things. And we all had demons to try and cope with.
All except Camilla. She was an angel brought into the devil’s lair. She didn’t deserve any of this.
Placing my hands on the wall, I used it to push myself up and waddled to the sink. Turning on the spicket, I washed my face and greedily consumed some of the tap water to wet my throat and settle my stomach.
After doing a quick finger comb, I studied my reflection.
The bracelet being gone was the only evidence that anything had happened.
I didn’t look like a killer, an alcoholic, or an addict. I just looked like me, albeit exhausted.
Hearing a door open and close I padded back towards the bedroom.
He stood at the edge of the bed waiting for me to enter, dressed more casual than I’d ever seen him.
His gaze swept over me from head to toe, coming back up to search my face. If I didn’t know better, I’d say he looked remorseful.
It should have been me apologizing. I knew there was only one other person who would have been in the bathroom with Sam that night.
Had I just put the bottle down for one goddamn second, maybe he would still be here.
So many things would be different if Sam were still alive.
Though Ryker was far from innocent in this whole crusade, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t understand why he did it.
“You hurt me again,” I stated somberly as I walked in, never taking my eyes from his.
“It wasn’t my desire to hurt you, but I did enjoy it.”
I stopped near the nightstand, crossing my arms over my chest.
“You look like you slept well.”
“Wow.” He slipped his hands into his pockets and rocked back on his heels. “Is that all you have to say? Even knowing what you know?”
I gave a bitter laugh, moving slowly to take a seat on the bed.
“Well like you said, sorry is a trivial word. Instead of kidnapping me, branding your initial and cult symbol on my side, and raping me, you couldn’t have just talked to me?”
“No, because you would have spoken to me as the man you thought I was, and not the man I am.”
“The angel instead of the devil,” I mumbled.
“For you, I always try to be both, but the latter tends to shine through.”
I sighed, glancing up at the ceiling. Why were we discussing this? It was the equivalent of having a conversation about the weather. I needed to forge ahead while I could.
“Lilly was the one who set us up.” Not a question, a statement.
Marcy’s brains had been blown all over the chapel.
That was her quick salvation, the price she paid for helping murder, Sam. That’s why she was here.
I knew in the depths of my cracked and battered heart that Camilla had been nothing more than a friend to the wrong people.
That’s why she was here.
That only left one person.
“Her name is Lindsey. She’s twenty-seven years old and has been around for a few years now. I sent her to keep tabs on you when I couldn’t and to ensure the other night happened,” he explained.
She was the one who needed salvation. She’d come into my life with ill intentions and played upon my kindness for another’s gain. She was the sole reason we’d been on that road that night.
I clasped my hands in my lap, turning my head to look at him again.
“So what now, Rye? Is this it? I stay in this room day in and day out doing exactly as you say, learning your ideology? Spreading my legs whenever you want?”
“No.” He rounded the bed and came to stand in front of me. When I looked up at him, he gently cupped my cheeks. “You wish me harm?”
“Yes,” I replied truthfully.
Man makes monster. Monster kills man. It seemed rather fitting because that’s all he had done. He wanted me to be more like him, unleash the thing inside me I’d gone my whole adolescent life trying to exorcise.
“Then I think there’s hope for us yet.” He smirked. “We still have a lot of work to do with you, but things will be so much better between us.”
“Once you learn the true meaning of the future Malignant.” Another kiss placed on my lips, before he sighed and stepped back.
“By the time I’m done penetrating your mind, your body won’t be able to live without me. You’ll be on your knees begging me to fuck you.”
Diverting my attention to my nail beds, I processed all he was saying with how I felt. It oddly made sense. I had nothing to live for. My life was going nowhere. Maybe having a religion in the form of Malignant could give me that thing I needed to have a purpose again.
“How would you do it?” I finally asked.
“I’d do it at home. Down in the basement after Skyler is in bed fast asleep. You’d be spending a lot of time on your knees.”
Brows furrowing, I glanced back up.
“Who’s Skyler?”
Instead of replying right away he reached in his pocket and pulled out a round, blue opal ring. It was identical to the same one I’d lost after a late night of partying.
“There was a night a few years ago when a girl climbed into my bed and helped herself to my dick.
I kept this as a memento. I swore that night watching you ride me; the pleasure on your face was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen.”
“No.” I mumbled. My heartbeat slowed, and my world began to shrink in on itself even further.
He either didn’t hear me, or he didn’t give a shit if I wanted him to continue or not because he did, wrecking me even further.
“Then your dad sold our daughter for a whopping four thousand dollars, and I have to admit, she’s much more beautiful than you or I will ever be.”
Four thousand dollars.
He told me he’d found the baby a good home. A much better home than someone in my state could give him or her considering the circumstances.
I woke from the C-section at an outpatient clinic, and the baby was long gone. I never saw its face or knew where it went. Dad wouldn’t tell me.
“It’s better if you let go,” were always his exact words.
I had a daughter.
I had a daughter with, Ryker Silas.
“How did you find her?” I reached for the ring, and he caught my hand.
“I never had to look. He sold her to me without knowing she was mine. I don’t think he was too concerned as he’s never brought her up since.”
He slipped the ring back on my ring finger, where I always used to wear it. When he kissed the back of my palm, I pulled it away and covered my face.
“How do you know for sure it was him with Sam?” My voice cracked as my heart finished splitting down the middle.
“My brother’s phone pocket dialed me during the struggle. I heard everything. He blamed him for his marital issues. Your mother finding out they were fucking one another, the whole nine. Marcy walked in on the argument, and the rest is history.
“She shoved in the needle while your dad pinned him down.”
I could picture it. I could see Sam struggling and trying to get out of the bathroom, not wanting to hurt Dad.
I could see Mom’s face when she found out Dad was responsible as he would have told her what he’d done.
And she couldn’t handle it.
I could barely handle it.
He was the sole thing in my universe I trusted to never hurt me aside from Ryker.
He was a goddamn liar, the worst of the worst in this whole situation because everything was a domino effect of his actions.
One secret caused so many fucking problems. I should have known they were messing around.
Sam was bi-sexual and had never hidden his flings from me, but there was one person he never told me about.
I wouldn’t have judged him for it. I would have still been his friend as I always had, but it was too late for all that.
Ryker let me cry for what felt like hours, standing still as a rock aside from the soothing motion of his hand running through my hair.
“You have someone to keep going for. And if you agree to my terms, you can see her as soon as we work out a few more minor details.”
That was enough to stop my sob-fest. His terms…what were his terms? Did it fucking matter? I could stay at Malignant and try to figure out what Ryker’s end game was, get Camilla out and shut the place down, or I could go with him to finally see the face of the baby taken away from me.
“When can we go home?”
I looked up at him with blurred vision and puffy eyes, catching the tail end of a victorious smile.
Epilogue
Faith
Parting from her was one of the hardest things I’d ever done.
I had to choose my daughter or my only friend. One I’d never got the chance to know and the other I felt like I’d known my whole life.
In the end, Camilla decided for me. Her understanding of the situation didn’t make me feel any better.
“You’re going to see your little girl, Faith. I will be here when you come back to visit. And I’ll take care of Lilly,” she whispered in my ear as we embraced.
I could tell right then that in the short amount of time that we’d been here, something within her had changed. She was handing it though, she hadn’t had a mental breakdown. I prayed she could hang on a bit longer.
I wanted to tell her not to do anything that would change the clean slate she’d arrived with, but Ryker was urging me to the town car idling behind us and Bishop was watching her like a predator watches its prey.
Lilly, as I couldn’t bring myself to call her anything else, was nowhere to be seen. I think Ryker did that wisely for her safety.
The path to the car seemed long and winding, but it was the only path for me. I could pretend like I always did.
I could be what Ryker wanted and even love him all the while hating him as I did it, for the sake of a little girl. I was going to get Camilla out of here though, that I was certain of.
Glancing at the massive structure as Ryker guided me to the car, I knew by the time I returned that nothing at Malignant would be the same.
Neither would I.
Epilogue
Ryker
I looked down at my lap where Faith’s head was resting. It reminded me of the older days. She had always sought comfort from the man she should have run screaming from.
Always seeking out what should have been off limits. I believe it was her soul finding a kindred spirit in mine. We were perfect for one another; in due time she would believe that again.
Skyler knew I was bringing her mommy home so we could be a family. I could give Faith and our daughter an idyllic life while continuing to unleash the demons she’d buried within her.
After all, I was just a devil with a halo. Very few people knew the man I truly was.
The pretty girl fast asleep in my lap was beginning to learn.
She’d dozed minutes after asking what was going to happen to her father. I hadn’t answered.
The man was already chained in a room, just like Harper and the remaining two people I’d taken the night Faith was.
It all tied into a much bigger picture, something fitting for the new start of Malignant.
Glancing out the window as we got further and further from my rising empire, I found myself wondering what was whispered between the two girls before we departed.
Whatever it was, Bishop would be responsible for dealing with Camilla on his end.
It didn’t matter much on mine.
By the time Faith saw Malignant again it would be a much different version. Camilla wouldn’t even be able to recognize her.
When we walked back in those doors, she’d be running it by my side.
MALIGNANT SERIES
Devils with Halos
Ryker & Faith
2. Angels with Horns
Bishop & Camilla-TBR
3. Saints that Sin
Pope & Harper
4. To Be Announced
Conclusion
DEPRAVITY
NOVEMBER 27TH
(mm/mmf/ mfm.) Standalone.
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Prelude
Copyright
DEPRAVITY by Natalie Bennett
© 2018 by Natalie Bennett. All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any written, electronic, recording, or photocopying without written permission of the publisher or author. The exception would be in the case of brief quotations embodied in the critical articles or reviews and pages where the publisher or author specifically grant permission.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
Cover Design: Jay Aheer
Editing by: Pinpoint Editing
Blurb
I was born an ordinary girl with a tiny seed of sickness.
As I got older it grew bigger, the roots sunk deeper.
Mama told me to lock it away and let it wither.
Solitude became my closest companion.
Solo, single, lonely.
Until Declan.
Until Ethan.
