Total pages in book: 116
Estimated words: 118042 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 590(@200wpm)___ 472(@250wpm)___ 393(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 118042 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 590(@200wpm)___ 472(@250wpm)___ 393(@300wpm)
I knew what it felt like to reach rock bottom.
To do things I could never repent.
To want things I could never absolve.
I’ve wanted to die for so long.
I deserve to die for what I’ve done.
But not until I finish this.
Not until I atone.
And so, I make a decision.
A cascade of decisions that will bring about the end of my world.
The darkness wants to be fed.
So I’ll feed it.
With blood.
THE FINAL BOOK IN THE JEWELRY BOX SERIES!
Triggers on every warning possible.
This is dark, explicit, and will push every boundary that exists.
Be warned....
And to all those dark souls out there...welcome to The Jewelry Box
*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************
Prologue
………………………….
Ily
MY LIFE DIDN’T FLASH BEFORE my eyes.
I didn’t dissociate or float away.
I couldn’t look away from Henri as a guard moved to his side at Victor’s orders.
I couldn’t stop trembling, bound on the altar, as Henri fisted the diamond-handled dagger and sucked in a tattered breath.
Every moment we’d shared.
Every night, every kiss, every whisper.
We’d tried and failed.
Peter would die after me. The jewels would be punished. And Henri…he might truly lose himself.
He shifted and pressed one hand on my belly, where Victor told him to cut through my ribcage and rip out my heart. His other hand brought the knife to my throat as he bent over me and whispered one final time. “Forgive me.”
Tears spilled down my cheeks, trickling beneath the crystal-adorned mask.
I nodded as he caught my stare.
I hoped he sacrificed me to save the others.
I hoped he’d come to the same conclusion I had; it was over for me and Peter, but not him. He could go on and save them. He could finish this.
With my heart winging and adrenaline racing, I gave him a watery smile. “Forgiven.”
His eyes flared behind his black tourmaline mask.
For a moment, it looked as if he’d kiss me.
But then he stood to his full height.
Strangled the knife.
And cut—
Chapter One
………………………….
Henri
I WASN’T IN CONTROL OF MY actions.
Barely conscious of my body, thoughts, and feelings.
I shut down.
That icy darkness that’d prowled through me when I’d stumbled through the caves returned. The pressure of it. The utter annihilation of it.
I didn’t feel human.
Which was good because what I was about to do was definitely not human.
Spinning in place, I attacked.
I aimed wild.
I slashed with the dagger.
I gasped as blood sprayed.
The heat of crimson, the taste of metal.
Victor roared and backpedalled, holding his bleeding chest. “You motherfucker!”
I smiled.
I went to leap on him—
The closest guard grabbed my throat and shoved me back.
Darkness drowned me as I repaid the favour.
The guard had strangled me; I cut his windpipe.
Blood fountained over me.
The guard gurgled and tripped, his fingers loosening around my neck. His jugular kept pumping blood as his knees buckled.
Victor scrambled farther away, hiding behind a wall of guards. “Disarm him. Immediately!”
For a moment, no one moved.
And then, everyone moved at once.
Loud shouting as I stabbed a different guard.
I only managed a glancing blow before another one crowded me. Shoving him away, I aimed my attack at the closest Master.
I only had minutes before my life was over.
And I intend to take them with me.
I funnelled all my strength into my arm and let loose.
I didn’t know which Master it was with his black mask and cape, but I drove the tip of my dagger right through his gristly throat.
He dropped with a gurgle.
I stabbed another.
The knife twanged with obstruction as the blade struck bone.
I pulled it out of his sternum and aimed for his belly.
It went in easily, smoothly.
He screamed and fell backward, clutching the new hole I’d given him.
The other Masters scattered, trying to get as far away from me as possible.
The monster inside me stalked and slobbered for blood.
So…I fed it.
I hunted them.
Three guards charged me.
I parried and slashed, trying to incapacitate them so I could slaughter every monster in this cave. I didn’t stop to wonder if these men were the guards who Stewart and Ben had been liaising with.
I didn’t care.
I smashed my chains, freed the darkness, and as Ily’s gentle wonderful voice echoed in my head, forgiving me for so many sins, I took my final breath as Henri and became something else.
Barrelling through the wall of guards, I launched myself at Victor. His eyes flared in panic as I managed to get through two of his protectors. But then three more grabbed me, throwing vicious punches and knocking me to the ground.
I didn’t stay down.
Adrenaline fed me.
Fury ignited me.
I lost it.
Springing upright, I threw myself into war.
Just like the fugue that came over me the night of the treasure hunt, everything happened in a blur. I kicked, punched, stabbed, and slashed.
Blood and screams.
Bellows and pain.
The entire chamber erupted with violence.
“Someone stop him!” Victor snarled.