 by Dani Rene.jpg)
Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 66980 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 335(@200wpm)___ 268(@250wpm)___ 223(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 66980 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 335(@200wpm)___ 268(@250wpm)___ 223(@300wpm)
Danger. Deceit. Death.
I was promised to the leader of the Lawless Princes. I don’t have a choice, obeying their rules will keep me alive. But they hold a secret that could bring their perfectly glimmering world crashing down.
As much as I hate them, Judah, Valen, and Malachi are now my protectors.
But there is no happy ever after in this life.
The Princes will soon become Kings, but not before they learn what the title means.
*************FULL BOOK START HERE*************
PROLOGUE
JUDAH
Five Months Ago
My world came crashing down the day I watched my father take his final breath. It’s a moment I never want to relive, but the vividness of the memory makes it far more difficult to forget. It replays at times without warning. I grew up in his shadow, but I also looked up to him. A hero with the hands of a devil. He taught me everything I know.
With every step I take towards the dungeon under the Venier mansion, I feel more alive because I know what’s about to happen.
Black Hollow has become my salvation. With my best friends, I rid the world of anyone who isn’t loyal, who doesn’t keep the secret code we hold so dear.
Omertà.
Silence, as they say, is golden, and our hands silence those who can’t keep their tongues from spilling secrets.
“Why am I here?” the arsehole questions when I step into one of the interrogation rooms.
My great-grandfather designed the dungeon. It comprises a long, underground corridor, stretching from the western edge of the house to the east, with interrogation rooms and holding cells spread out along both sides.
Implements adorn the walls of the fifteen interrogation rooms, which can cause the greatest torment to their occupants. Each of the cold concrete rooms has been designed for a specific type of torture. Depending on the crime, the punishment fits perfectly, and what’s left of the tortured body is used as an example to those wanting to run their mouth off.
I secured our current guest against the wall in metal cuffs that hang from the ceiling. The bindings at his ankles keep him in place with his legs spread wide. As he glares at me, I can see his face is already bloody, but I don’t feel there are enough wounds for what he’s done. There should be far more. His one eye is slowly swelling shut, and I can’t help but smile.
“I think you know why you’re here, Angelo,” I tell him as Valen takes my left and Malachi stands to my right. “We need you to tell us about all those dirty little stories you’ve been spilling.”
“I have said nothing to anyone,” he spits back, anger and rage dancing a seductive symphony in his tone. Lie number one. “You may think you know me, but you don’t.”
“Oh,” I say with a shrug, “I know plenty.”
“I understand the need for secrecy,” he tells me. “Please. The Lawless don’t have to do this,” he says…rather, he pleads.
I love to hear people beg for mercy. Mostly because I never show any. The thing is, once you offer one person any kindness, it leaves a poor example to any others who might consider breaking the rules in the future.
“Your little girlfriend has been taken care of by some friends of mine,” I tell him. “But then again, she wasn’t yours, was she?”
He knows what I mean. His family hired her to infiltrate my home. Females are much better at hiding their true intentions by using their powers of seduction. That’s the reason women weren’t allowed on the island in the past, but since those rules changed, things have become a lot more interesting. The little whore came into my home and stole secrets from me, and I have no doubt in my mind she told Angelo everything.
“She didn’t mean—”
“When a woman walks into this house,” I interrupt him. “She signs an agreement never to disclose anything that goes on here. The rules are clear.”
“I know, I know,” he mutters with a nod. “She didn’t tell me anything.” Lie number two.
It’s so easy. Men like Angelo make my job far too fucking easy. It’s as simple as stealing candy from a baby—there’s no fight. It bores me. I much prefer when they spew venom back at me.
I pick up the pliers, and stepping towards him, I pinch his fat, lower lip between the metal teeth and press down until blood begins to spurt. His cries of pain are like music to my soul. Releasing the now torn skin, I step back and glance down at my shoes.
“You’ve made a mess, Angelo,” I tell him, and there’s no humour in my tone.
Lifting my gaze, I meet his cold, angry glare. There we go, the fighter is lurking inside him.
“I-I didn’t do anything,” he mumbles, his wound making it difficult for him to speak properly.
“I have witness accounts that tell me you’ve been talking to your girlfriend. You see, I’m not a stupid man, Angelo. I’ve been doing this for far too long to allow anyone to fuck up what I’ve built, and what I’ve earned.”
“I wouldn’t break the rules of the Lawless,” he tells me. Lie number three.
When I stepped onto this island for the first time as a student, along with Kai and Valen, I didn’t want to follow the rules that were in place for the students. And my two best friends didn’t either. We became what the professors called Lawless, and the name stuck. When Emilio and Jordan joined us, we indoctrinated them into our group and easily fell under the same moniker.