Dethroned (Darker Places Book 3) Read online

  Dethroned

  Darker Places Book Three

  Nicole Cypher

  Copyright © 2019 by Nicole Cypher

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  For Kathryn, my sister-in-law and best friend.

  Contents

  Prologue

  1. Thirty-one years later

  2. Jake

  3. Laila

  4. Laila

  5. Laila

  6. Laila

  7. Laila

  8. Laila

  9. Laila

  10. Jake

  11. Jake

  12. Jake

  13. Jake

  14. Laila

  15. Laila

  16. Jake

  17. Jake

  18. Jake

  19. Jake

  Finish Jake and Laila’s story in Demolished

  Thank you

  Also by Nicole Cypher

  About the Author

  Prologue

  Tick… tick… tick.

  Vera flinched each time the second hand on the clock jerked. It was well after midnight, and all were asleep in the mansion. Or at least they should’ve been.

  She stared down at the baby’s sleeping form in her arms. Jacob. They’d named him without any care to ask what she, as the mother, thought his name should be. She didn’t attempt to fight it because it didn’t matter. He was of her blood, and they couldn’t take that from her.

  A soft knock sounded at the door, and Vera jerked once more. She stood from the bed and shifted Jacob to where he was most secure in her arms. They would be running soon.

  It was time.

  Her friend Madeline, or Maddie as she was called before coming to this hell, peeked her head inside the room and waved a hand to signal that the coast was clear. Vera tiptoed toward the door and cringed each time the wooden floor creaked. At least the hallways had tile.

  “Hey,” Maddie whispered and eased the door shut behind the mother and baby. Vera’s eyes darted around the hallways, expecting a guard to round the corner any minute. Maddie placed a hand on the her shoulder and gave a reassuring nod.

  “He’s asleep, and the guard outside is sweeping the front of the property. You need to go now.”

  “Maddie,” Vera whispered, shaking her head and glancing down at her baby, thankfully still asleep. “If anything happens to me—”

  “Nothing’s going to happen.”

  “But if it does…” She peered again at Jacob. She suspected Maddie knew what she wanted to ask of her. Maddie was a mother as well.

  “Guinevere, look at me.”

  It took everything Vera had, but she managed to tear her gaze from her son.

  “Jacob has you in him. Your heart. He’s not his father. There’s nothing they could ever do to change that.”

  “But you’d look after him anyway,” She said, tears stinging her eyes.

  Maddie squeezed her shoulder, a tear spilling from her own eye. “Of course.”

  Vera hugged Jacob to her chest and took a deep breath. He stirred and she shushed him before giving Maddie one last goodbye nod.

  She would take care of him.

  Vera repeated the words in her head, allowing them to give her strength as she shuffled through the hallways of the devil’s home. She imagined this was what purgatory felt like. Her heart beat furiously, and breaths came in pants. Jacob’s small cry echoed in the hallway by the basement, and she quickened her pace, allowing the tile to click with each of her steps.

  When they made it through the door, she took off in a dead sprint. Jacob was fully awake by then and fussed in her arms. He was moments away from bursting into a loud cry, but if she didn’t make it to the tree line soon it wouldn’t matter. She’d gotten lucky that two of the guards had been sick that day. Well, Induced food poisoning may have had something to do with it. But there would be other guards covering the property, and if she didn’t hurry, one of them was bound to spot her.

  “Shh, mommy’s got you,” Vera said, her voice cracking. She pumped her legs harder, and she was almost there. She could envision a life for herself and her son. It flashed in front of her like a fond memory more so than a fantasy. She would watch him grow, laugh, and play. They’d be a million miles from his sperm donor, and all of this would be a memory.

  It would all be worth it. It all was worth it. For her son, she would do it all over again. She’d meet the wrong man, allow him to fool her into getting into his car, and say goodbye to her parents for the last time. She’d do it all because she’d know without it, she wouldn’t be holding her miracle. Her love. Her everything.

  “Stop!” someone shouted. It must’ve been one of the guards. It sounded like they weren’t too far behind.

  Vera chanced a glance over her shoulder and forced herself to run faster. Her lungs burned and she tasted iron in her throat. Jacob’s cry filled the air, and she held him tighter against her, hoping to muffle him just for a minute.

  “We’re almost there,” she whispered, breaking through the trees. The gate was still a half mile away, and she couldn’t run as fast with Jacob in her arms.

  They weren’t going to make it.

  Footsteps sounding behind grew closer, and she realized there was more than one person.

  “I said stop!” the man yelled. Vera kept going, weaving through trees and just praying somehow they’d get away.

  Then a gun went off.

  She stopped so suddenly that she almost fell to the ground. She sensed the men as they came up behind her, but Jacob’s cries were all she concentrated on.

  It was over. If she went any farther, she’d only be endangering his life along with hers. She knelt to the ground and stared into her son’s green eyes that mirrored her own.

  “I’m so sorry.”

  1

  Thirty-one years later

  Jake

  My tie was crooked.

  I lifted my hands for what seemed like the hundredth time and adjusted the silk until it hung in a straight line down the middle of my chest. My palms gleamed with sweat, but it was nothing compared to the perspiration underneath the perfectly tailored suit I wore. With one last glimpse in the mirror, I wiped my hands on my slacks and exited the bathroom.

  My father had been waiting for me in my study for the last ten minutes. In the decade I’d spent on the other side of the country building my own empire, he’d shown up here maybe once or twice. Today, he’d arrived without warning, and that could only mean one thing. I was in deep shit.

  Uneven breaths came in and out of my lungs as I walked the halls to my slave’s room, but when I stood outside Isabella’s door, I managed to level myself. My heart beat at a dangerous rate, while my expression remained calm.

  I knocked before stepping inside. Annoyance flushed through my system when I saw Isabella wasn’t alone. My guard, who was also Isabella’s lover, sat on the four-poster bed with his arm wrapped around her.

  They both glanced at me, but neither stood. Even more irritation flared, and I had to force myself to let it go. Now was not the time to worry about formalities.

  “Maddix,” I said with a nod.

  With one last worried glance at Isabella, he stood. “Is everything all right, sir?”

  I shrugged instead of ringing his neck as I would’ve liked. No, everything wasn’t all right. Obviously. It hadn’t been all right in months, and I had a feeling I was about to pay the price. Profits had plummeted, the employees of an entire department had been murdered, a
nd the police had us underneath a microscope. None of that had to do with my fucking slave, though, so I could do without the hysterics.

  “Nothing that’s any of your concern.”

  “Why is he here?” Maddix asked, referring to my father.

  I popped my neck and glanced at my watch. I didn’t have time for this. “Get out.”

  The aura of calm I’d sought to exude vanished. Maddix nervously glanced to Isabella and leaned down to whisper something in her ear. She nodded and turned to press her lips to his, all the while I stood back trying not to vomit. Maddix straightened his shoulders and left without making eye contact.

  “Your boyfriend’s a little dramatic,” I said, stepping up to Isabella after Maddix had gone.

  She lifted her hair and spun around as I pulled the collar from my pocket. We’d been through this ritual so many times over the six years she’d been my slave that I no longer had to give her commands. She knew what I expected.

  “If you had any idea what it was like to think about anyone other than yourself, you’d understand.”

  I fastened the collar tighter around Isabella’s neck until she choked. “Oops,” I gritted, loosening the band.

  She allowed her long blonde hair to fall in waves over her back and shoulders before turning toward the mirror above her dresser and grazing her fingertips over the collar. Real fear showed so clearly in the blue of her irises. It made me pity her, if only for a moment.

  “It’s going to be fine,” I said, placing my hand on the small of her back. She tensed but didn’t move away. “You’re a status symbol, Isabella, nothing more. You know how to behave.”

  “He scares me.”

  I inhaled her lavender shampoo as I sighed. I’d taken her back home with me to my father’s estate a few times. She knew him very little, but it was enough for her to understand he was dangerous, and his presence here made him even more so.

  “I know… but it’s going to be all right.”

  “Because you’re going to protect me.” Her voice cracked on her last words, but her eyes remained dry. Isabella was strong. She always had been, and it was the single thing that made our arrangement work.

  “Of course,” I said, although we both knew it was a lie. My father was also my boss, which meant he could do whatever the hell he wanted. She knew that. It wasn’t as if he’d have much interest in my slave, though. He was here for business.

  Isabella nodded and forced a small smile in an attempt to humor my lie. I let my gaze roam over her, taking in her pale skin wrapped in pink lingerie. She’d perfected her posture with her shoulders squared and head tilted down in submission. I smoothed my hands through her hair, drawing more of it to the front to frame her face.

  No part of me was aroused as I took in the gorgeous half-naked woman before me, but I wasn’t supposed to be. I needed her to be the perfect symbol of my status, and nothing more. When our eyes met I realized my actions were too calculated as Isabella always seemed to claim, and I donned a mask of adoration.

  "You look beautiful," I said with a warm smile. She didn't bother faking her own, and instead I watched as her jaw tightened.

  I pulled the leash from my pocket and attached it to Isabella's collar. "Ready?"

  She closed her eyes a moment and swallowed. "Yes, Master."

  “You’ve done this a million times before. My father’s presence doesn’t matter.”

  “I know,” she replied. “Eyes on the floor. No sudden movements. I’m a silent bystander, I got it.”

  I caressed a strand of her hair. “I know you do.”

  With the leash loosely around my fingers, we exited Isabella's room and headed down the stairs. The manor was huge, and Isabella preferred her privacy, so it took us some time getting to the study. It didn't help that Isabella's feet seemed to move slower today. Her heels clicked behind me as we wove through hallways and descended to the first floor.

  As we made our way past the main entrance, Maddix came into view at his post by the door. He shifted nervously and cleared his throat to get either my or Isabella’s attention. I wasn’t sure which because my gaze remained in front of me. Isabella's movements slowed, eliminating the slack in the chain and jerking her forward. My jaw tensed and ears grew hot, but I kept my mouth shut.

  Her steps quickened, slackening the leash once more. As we approached the den, the guard standing outside opened the doors, and conversation filtered into the hallway.

  I forced my lips into a grin as we stepped into the room, interrupting the tense conversation between the two men who occupied my study. My father, along with a man I didn't recognize remained in their seats as I approached.

  "Gentlemen," I said with a smile. I shook the unidentified man's hand and then held my palm toward my father.

  He stared at it a moment before moving his disappointed gaze to me. "Have a seat, Jacob."

  The smile slowly vanished from my face as I lowered my hand and took the chair diagonal to my father. Isabella strode across the room and poured me a glass of brandy before handing it to me and kneeling by my feet.

  "To what do I owe the pleasure?" I asked, not succeeding in keeping the sarcasm from my tone.

  My father’s eyes managed to narrow even more as he leaned forward. "Tell me, son. What the fuck is it that you've been doing down here?"

  “My job.”

  He shook his head and laughed dryly before running a hand through his peppered hair. I was pushing it. His face turned red, and if I didn’t do something to ease the tension now, he’d burst.

  “Everything is being taken care of,” I said, forcing confidence into my words.

  He sighed and sat back in the chair, tapping his leg. "Are you under investigation?”

  Silence filled the air, but voices in my head screamed so loud I wouldn’t have been able to tell. My mind searched, as it had for the past three weeks, for some excuse of how this could’ve happened. I was fucked. My position in the organization was to oversee the Utah branch. Everything here was my responsibility, and three weeks ago the State Bureau of Investigation had dug up over twenty bodies at one of our burial sites. They'd been given the location by the same man who had shot the head of our human trafficking ring, along with several others. To say things were a mess was a drastic understatement. All production had to be put on hold immediately, and to top it off, I hadn't called my father.

  “Yes.” It was the simplest answer and the one he expected, but it still seemed impossible to make the word come out. The storm brewed behind my father’s eyes, and I shifted in my seat. "The man responsible is being taken care of."

  "You are the man responsible!" my father yelled, sending his glass of liquor shattering against the wall.

  Isabella flinched at my feet and a brief assessment revealed tension wound tight in her muscles.

  "It's being handled," I said in a calm voice, returning my gaze to my father.

  "Not by you, it isn't."

  "What's that supposed to mean?"

  He didn't say anything for several moments—only glared at me as if he were willing his eyes to turn into lasers. My gaze flicked to the other man, wondering what his role was. He sat there staring with hard eyes and mouth in a tight line.

  "You know, Jacob, ever since your brother left you to handle the business down here on your own, things have gone to shit. You've been making the company half as much as you did a year ago, and now this?" He waved his hand around the room as if the problem engulfed us all. "It's become quite clear to me who was responsible for running things. I’m not letting you fuck it up further."

  Realization of who the other man in the room was came crashing down like a bowling ball to my gut. He was my fucking replacement.

  "Sir, that isn’t necessary."

  "Quiet," he snapped. "This is Dravin Hines. He's going to help run things until the smoke clears. Then we'll reevaluate your position with the company."

  I couldn't bring myself to respond for several moments.

  "Is that fucking cle
ar enough for you?" he asked, vein bulging from his neck.

  "Yes, sir," I said, swallowing my pride. A sour taste filled my mouth as I replayed his words. I itched to tell him all the good my brother had done while he was here. How the man responsible for all this was my brother's favored employee who’d apparently been unhappy with his job after my brother had decided to take off without notice, leaving me with the shit storm he'd created. Fuck my brother. Still, family loyalty glued my mouth shut as my father stood.

  "Well, I'll leave you to it then," he muttered, walking toward the exit and pausing at the door. "Don't fuck up again, Jacob. Being my son only gets you so many passes." His voice dripped with animosity. It wasn't a bluff.

  I nodded, waves of anger emanating from me. After my father left, I turned my attention to the other man, Dravin. "So, boss. How's this gonna go?"

  Dravin stood, setting his glass on the end table beside him and eyeing Isabella too long for my liking. "Stay the fuck out of my way while I clean this shit up."

  Laila

  "You headed out soon?" my partner, Anthony, asked.

  I glanced up from the illuminated computer screen. The deserted office engulfed us in darkness, and behind Anthony I noted the lack of light shining through the window.

  "What time is it?"

  Anthony sighed, taking in my current state. "It's ten, Ashby. Jesus, how long have you been looking at that screen?"

  "I'm just going to be another minute," I lied.

  Anthony rolled his eyes and shook his head. "All right, well, I'll see you tomorrow."