Page 77 of Embrace the Darkness

Vincent’s brows shot up. “Yeah. Have you been there recently? Seen anything out of the ordinary?”

I shook my head. I hadn’t been to that warehouse in seven years. I released a shuddering breath and set my now empty mug on the coffee table. “Can you send me that invoice to look over?” I asked. He nodded. “Good work, Vin.” I stood tiredly. “I’m going to get ready for the day and pass everything you’ve found to Stefan.”

“Speaking of Stefan,” Vincent started. “He signed all the checks to that contractor.”

I sighed. “I’m sure he’s going to be thrilled to find out he footed the bill so my uncle and cousin could steal from him.” Today was going to suck. I could already tell.

Stefan was out of the house until almost dinner time. Alone in his study, we went over what Vincent found. I supplied him the invoice with my uncle’s address and the warehouse address highlighted. After reviewing it, he frustratedly tossed the invoice on his desk and slumped back into his chair. He did nothing to hide the mixture of pissed off and possibly hurt he was feeling as he stared off into space.

Crap, now I felt like an insensitive ass. I’d been so determined to prove my uncle was guilty, I didn’t stop for a minute to think of how his betrayal might be affecting Stefan. Even though Samuel was a dick, he was still Stefan’s brother.

I stood from my chair. His eyes caught my movement and followed me as I made my way around his desk. He swiveled his chair to the side, reading my intentions. I took a seat in his lap and hugged him. “I’m sorry, Daddy,” I whispered. His body was tense at first. He slowly relaxed, then tightened his arms around me.

Stefan and I left his study together around dinner time. We ran into Asher in the foyer. He was waiting on Dean and Vincent as they made their way down the staircase.

I held back with them while Stefan continued on towards the dining room. “I don’t plan on going anywhere for the rest of the night if you guys want to take off?” I said. Dean and Asher took me at my word and both left, leaving Vincent and I alone. He fiddled nervously with the hem on one of his sleeves. He was invited to dine with us tonight before one of Stefan’s goons drove him back home after. Up until tonight, we’d been taking all our meals in the sanctuary of my room. Sadly, our partnership was coming to an end and it was time to rejoin civilization. At least for me it was. I slung an arm over his shoulders, hoping to provide comfort. “You can sit by me.”

Entering the dining room, we were greeted with a feminine giggle. My steps faltered. Stefan was seated at the table, wearing a frown as he stared across the room at the couple standing by the liquor hutch. Except it wasn’t a couple, or they shouldn’t be, because Jamie was mine, not Angela’s. By the body language alone, they could have fooled me.

There was very little space between them as his hand was rested intimately on her hip. They were smiling as they talked in hushed tones. The way they looked at each other made it seem like the rest of the world didn’t exist. Jamie reached out to grab a lock of her golden hair, twisting it around his finger as he leaned in to kiss her cheek. When she blushed, something in me fractured, sending all the pain straight to my heart.

I went dark. I not only let my darkness surface, I relinquished everything to it. My will. My sanity.

I stormed towards Skank Barbie, fisted my hand around her beautiful golden hair, and yanked her backwards to the floor. She let out an ear piercing shriek. Still holding her hair, I straddled her stomach on the floor and just started swinging. I delivered closed fisted punch after punch. I barely registered my knuckles splitting, but I definitely felt her nose crunch. It gave me a fucking high. It made me wonder what else I could crush. I released her hair to wrap both hands around her neck and squeezed until the muscles in my arms shook.

“Maura, that’s enough,” I heard Stefan say. I ignored him. “Alright, Jameson. You may intervene.”

Arms wrapped around my waist and ripped me off of her.No!I kicked and struggled. I dug my nails into the arms around me, drawing a hiss from my captor.

Stefan stepped into my line of sight, blocking my view of Skank Barbie, who I thought looked a lot better with a bloody face. “Take a deep breath,” he ordered.

I didn’t want to listen to him. I wanted to kill her. Bleed her dry as I watched her pain and fear. So I fought by kicking and hitting. My captor grunted when I landed a kick to his shin and my hand smacked flesh behind me.

“Maura!” Stefan roared, startling me. “Regain control.”

I didn’t want my control back. Be it a split psyche or a split soul, regardless, my other half was doing what it was created for. To protect me from what I couldn’t handle. I didn’t want to face the reality that another man had betrayed me. Except this wasn’t just another man. This was Jamie. The last person I’d ever assumed would hurt me. I trusted him more than anyone. I love—no. I wouldn’t say it and I’d never admit it. There was only one thing in common between my relationship with Tom and what I'd had with Jamie. Me. I was the reason they'd left me. If Jamie could do this to me, it proved it.

Stefan stood before me, refusing to back down until I did.Damn him.

With no other choice, I relented. While holding my father's eyes, tears pooled in mine. My pain surfaced first, slowly followed by everything else. Rage. Sadness. Thelonger my sight was cut off from Angela the more in control I felt. I looked over Stefan’s shoulder and saw Vincent standing by the dining room entrance. He was wide-eyed and his face was a little pale. With Stefan and Vincent in sight, that told me Jamie was the one holding me.

I grit my teeth. “Put me down.” Stefan looked over my shoulder and nodded at Jamie, who slowly released me. I stepped away from him, still giving him my back. “I warned you,” I said over my shoulder, refusing to look at him. He didn’t deserve to see me like this. “If you touched her, I’d kill her. You’re lucky Stefan let you stop me, or she would be dead.” I took in another calming breath, but it was futile. “Whatever we had, it’s over. I don’t want to fucking see or speak to you again.” I glanced at Stefan. The shift of my eyes caused the tears to fall. He was hiding what he was feeling as he watched them roll down my face and drip off my chin. “Get your whore out of my house.” It was the last thing I bit out before I stormed out of the room.

I had to leave the house. I couldn’t be there with him and I didn’t want Stefan hunting me down to talk about it either. So I left. I got in my car and drove around for a while until I found myself at Louie’s. Jamie’s old condo. I didn’t know why I'd ended up there. Maybe I just needed a friend. I sent a quick text to Stefan telling him where I was, then decided to send a text to Dean and Asher as well. That way I’d hear zero bitching later for running off on my own.

I numbly knocked on Louie’s door, ignoring the sting of my split and swollen knuckles. I’d been crying nonstop and had no doubt I looked like it. At the moment I couldn’t find it in me to care.

Louie opened the door, surprised to see me. He took one look at me and pulled me into his arms. After crying for so long, thinking I had no more tears left, another dam broke within me and I sobbed into his chest.

He scooped me up, carried me inside, and held me until I calmed down. Once I was able to speak without hiccuping, he quietly listened as I told him what had happened. We were sitting on his couch in his living room. I was curled up, hugging a decorative pillow, while he sat hunched over, feet planted on the ground with his elbows perched on his knees. He occupied himself by picking at the label of a beer bottle he had been drinking before I'd showed up.

“Are you going to offer me one of those?” I asked.

He smiled down at the bottle. “I think you need something stronger than this.”

“I think you’re right.”

He jumped to his feet and made his way into the kitchen. I heard cabinets opening and closing before he returned with a bottle of whiskey and two glasses.