I was warned from an early age that I was the vulnerable one. I was the one our enemies would focus on because I’m sick. I’m always damn well sick. And while I don’t understand all the dealings my parents are involved with, I know the majority are illegal.
I notice how people fear my dad and uncles like venomous snakes. My brother and all the other boys of my generation are precisely the same as their fathers. And we girls get left in the dark, guarded, loved, placed on a pedestal that is now crashing down.
I have no idea when I was taken. What day or time it is even. Idoknow I’m in the forest somewhere because I can hear the call of an owl, so it must be nighttime or close to it.
“Breathe, Aria,” I say to break the silence I’m encased in. “Luther and Cas told you what to do.” Taking a couple of deep breaths, I register the faint scent of gasoline in my nostrils, and fear blasts through my veins.
Feeling around me, it doesn’t take long to figure out I’m in the trunk of a car. There should be an escape latch, though, and I struggle to find it. Touching along the panels above and beside me, I can’t locate the small handle that’s supposed to be there.
“It won’t be there, little girl.” I freeze at the voice. I recognize that voice.
“Please let me out, Tristan.” He’s an older boy at my school. He has asked me out a number of times, but I’m not allowed to date, and even if I was, I've always gotten a bad feeling from him. He cornered me in the bathroom at school once and tried to force a kiss on me. He touched me inappropriately, and when I fought back, he slapped me so hard across the face I had a black eye.
My older brother, Holden, got so angry when he found out. He’s always watched over me; same with two of the Petrov-Corelli boys, Seven and Severo. They’re the twins of Danika, Dimitri, and Daniel and have always been by my side whenever I've gotten sick. I felt safe with them, so I confessed what had happened.
Tristan spent a month in the hospital after that, swearing a blue streak that I would pay for it. That was almost four months ago, though, and I don’t understand why he's doing this now.
“You’ll never see the light of day again, you little cock tease.” I was never a tease. I’m only fourteen, and he’s about to turn nineteen. I wouldn’t have been interested no matter what.
“You don’t have to do this. Please let me go, and I won’t tell anyone,” I beg, openly crying. I can’t find the latch, which might mean it’s an older car.
The loud whoosh of oxygen being sucked into something and the smell of fire invade my senses, and I scream. “Let me out!” Smoke quickly fills the trunk, and I know it won’t be long before I pass out and burn to death.
“See ya, cock tease.” Tristan’s laughter fades as he leaves me to die.
“Daddy!” I scream over and over until my throat is hoarse and I’ve lost my voice. “Holden!” My brother has always been my savior. From the time I was born, I was the princess. And everyone treated me that way.
“Daddy, please!” I cry again.
I can see flames licking at the seat behind me, and a new idea strikes. Turning my body so my feet are pressed to the back seat, I begin kicking with all the strength I have. Inhaling more and more smoke with every labored breath.
The smell of burned metal and leather makes everything so much worse. The chemicals permeate my lungs, so I can barely breathe; my throat feels like it’s on fire. My eyes are swelling shut. The heat of the inferno scalds, and I can feel it chasing my legs with every kick.
When the seat finally gives way, a sense of relief rushes through me, and I scramble to turn myself, ignoring the searing skin as I crawl through the tight opening into the back seat of the car.
The vehicle's interior is almost completely engulfed in flames, so when I cover my head with my arms and hurl myself at the back window, flying through fire and broken glass, I can feel my body burning. The side of my face gets the worst of the pain as I fight to free myself of my clothing and roll around in the dirt.
I was right. It’s dark out. The only light comes from the engulfed car just feet from me as I try to pry my eyes open. The cool breeze across my nearly naked body makes me shiver. The sound of the owl plays on, my personal, devastating symphony, as his prey eludes him.
Pain soaks into my flesh like a wet sponge, and as I drift into the darkness, my focus has settled on a broken rose. A lonely flower of one, singled out by the burning light of the fire.
CHAPTER1
Aria
PRESENT DAY.
Scars may heal, time will pass, but memories? Memories last a lifetime. And mine? They haunt my every waking moment of every single day.
Tristan Walker took everything from me four years ago. He stole a life that never belonged to him, and I’ll never learn why. As soon as Seven and Severo Petrov-Corelli saw me in the hospital bed, they went on a rampage even their fathers couldn’t control.
Tristan was found, piece by piece, for weeks.
I was haunted with pain.
Nobody knew who committed the heinous act. But I did. I saw it in the boys' eyes every time they would look at me. I can't understand why they did what they did and probably never will, but I’ll be forever in their debt.
“Aria?” My mom knocks on my bedroom door. My family is…different. I’m one of the girls, so I don’t get exposed to the darker aspects of my father’s business, but I know not all of it is on the legal side of the law. My mother keeps Daddy from going off the deep end. Or so I’m told. I think, sometimes, it might be the reverse.