Bleeding Heart (Captured Miracle Book 2)
Chapter 1
Revenge is the determination that feeds a broken soul, but revenge, even once enacted, lacks the capacity to heal a past pain. A wound inflicted upon the soul is never medicated with revenge, but rather, it is further blackened by its poison.
I haven’t seen Calix for six days. I haven’t seen my captor, the owner of my heart, the keeper of my body and the seducer of my soul, since he told me why I was here. Because of my father’s actions - actions I couldn’t believe were truly enacted by the man who’d helped to give me life - I was here in Calix’s house.
For six days, I’d moped around Calix’s property with Neil always on my trail. The first few days had been horrible. Apart from Gabriella’s insistent gabbing at the dinner table, I’d really had no one to talk to. Neil was around, but he didn’t really say much. He answered all my questions with one-word answers and didn’t maintain much in the name of eye-contact.
Calix had called, twice a day, every day, but I hadn’t accepted. After that fateful evening in his bedroom when Calix admitted to me the reasoning for my capture, I hadn’t seen or spoken to him. I don’t really know what happened that night. All I knew was that I passed out. The information he’d given to me, so bluntly, had literally sent me over the edge. My mind, already so stimulated by the stress of my situation simply short-circuited. Everything had gone black and when I awoke, I was alone and the night sky was a painted canvas of ominous ebony. Even the stars were absent of their twinkling.
That morning, I’d jumped at the sound of a knock at the door only to open it to find Neil standing sheepishly on the other side. He’d informed me politely that Calix had gone away to work and would be back as soon as possible. By the time the third day had come and gone, I’d asked Neil when Calix was planning to return. He informed me politely that Calix would arrive four days before the wedding.
Our wedding.
My wedding.
Yes, by the end of the week, I would be married to my captor.
Over the last few days, Neil had opened up to me a little. All my questions (and there had been many) had resulted in me knowing that Neil was the youngest of five brothers. He’d grown up defending himself - his food, toys, and clothes. That was why Calix had hired him. Neil had an uncanny way of winning every fight he found himself in. It was this ability that Calix found valuable and it was also why Neil had been placed with the burden of watching me.
I’d thought it was because he was the youngest of Calix’s men, the one he could most afford to lose, but in truth, Neil was his best soldier and that was why Calix had appointed him with the responsibility of guarding me. When Neil explained this to me, I found myself speechless.
I didn’t understand Calix. The man literally boggled me. I wasn’t an interesting woman. Actually, I was quite boring and embarrassingly predictable. I simply didn’t understand why he wanted, so desperately, to marry me. I didn’t understand the revenge he would find by forcing my hand. I simply didn’t understand why he thought this would hurt my father, the man who I’d literally spoken to a handful of times during my twenty-one years.
It just didn’t make sense.
Over the last six days, that thought was one I entertained hourly.
“Are you swimming today?” Neil asked and I shook my head of my thoughts.
Glancing up from my coffee, I saw that he was watching me from the patio doors. The morning air was pleasant and warm. It was refreshing in comparison to the stifling air in the dining room where Gabriella unfailingly had her morning coffee. I didn’t particularly dislike Gabriella, but I wasn’t entirely favorable of her either. I didn’t understand the woman. She knew I had been kidnapped and yet she refused to acknowledge that fact. It was eerily disconcerting how easily she turned a blind eye to her grandson’s actions.
Actually, it was disconcerting how everyone in this house turned a blind eye to the horror’s Calix enacted. I never could have thought one could find staff so loyal - but maybe they weren’t loyal to Calix. Maybe they were in the same boat as me, sailing the same rocky sea. I mean, I didn’t know if he was hanging his employee’s loved ones lives over their heads in a twisted demand to acquire unfailing loyalty.
“No.” I shook my head in reply to Neil’s question, focusing my gaze out over the land. “What time do you expect Calix to be home?”
“All I know is that he has plans to return today.”
I didn’t respond to his reply. Instead, I said. “Why don’t you sit with me, Neil? You don’t have to stand, hovering over me this way. It’s,” I shivered. “It’s unnerving.”
Revenge is the determination that feeds a broken soul, but revenge, even once enacted, lacks the capacity to heal a past pain. A wound inflicted upon the soul is never medicated with revenge, but rather, it is further blackened by its poison.
I haven’t seen Calix for six days. I haven’t seen my captor, the owner of my heart, the keeper of my body and the seducer of my soul, since he told me why I was here. Because of my father’s actions - actions I couldn’t believe were truly enacted by the man who’d helped to give me life - I was here in Calix’s house.
For six days, I’d moped around Calix’s property with Neil always on my trail. The first few days had been horrible. Apart from Gabriella’s insistent gabbing at the dinner table, I’d really had no one to talk to. Neil was around, but he didn’t really say much. He answered all my questions with one-word answers and didn’t maintain much in the name of eye-contact.
Calix had called, twice a day, every day, but I hadn’t accepted. After that fateful evening in his bedroom when Calix admitted to me the reasoning for my capture, I hadn’t seen or spoken to him. I don’t really know what happened that night. All I knew was that I passed out. The information he’d given to me, so bluntly, had literally sent me over the edge. My mind, already so stimulated by the stress of my situation simply short-circuited. Everything had gone black and when I awoke, I was alone and the night sky was a painted canvas of ominous ebony. Even the stars were absent of their twinkling.
That morning, I’d jumped at the sound of a knock at the door only to open it to find Neil standing sheepishly on the other side. He’d informed me politely that Calix had gone away to work and would be back as soon as possible. By the time the third day had come and gone, I’d asked Neil when Calix was planning to return. He informed me politely that Calix would arrive four days before the wedding.
Our wedding.
My wedding.
Yes, by the end of the week, I would be married to my captor.
Over the last few days, Neil had opened up to me a little. All my questions (and there had been many) had resulted in me knowing that Neil was the youngest of five brothers. He’d grown up defending himself - his food, toys, and clothes. That was why Calix had hired him. Neil had an uncanny way of winning every fight he found himself in. It was this ability that Calix found valuable and it was also why Neil had been placed with the burden of watching me.
I’d thought it was because he was the youngest of Calix’s men, the one he could most afford to lose, but in truth, Neil was his best soldier and that was why Calix had appointed him with the responsibility of guarding me. When Neil explained this to me, I found myself speechless.
I didn’t understand Calix. The man literally boggled me. I wasn’t an interesting woman. Actually, I was quite boring and embarrassingly predictable. I simply didn’t understand why he wanted, so desperately, to marry me. I didn’t understand the revenge he would find by forcing my hand. I simply didn’t understand why he thought this would hurt my father, the man who I’d literally spoken to a handful of times during my twenty-one years.
It just didn’t make sense.
Over the last six days, that thought was one I entertained hourly.
“Are you swimming today?” Neil asked and I shook my head of my thoughts.
Glancing up from my coffee, I saw that he was watching me from the patio doors. The morning air was pleasant and warm. It was refreshing in comparison to the stifling air in the dining room where Gabriella unfailingly had her morning coffee. I didn’t particularly dislike Gabriella, but I wasn’t entirely favorable of her either. I didn’t understand the woman. She knew I had been kidnapped and yet she refused to acknowledge that fact. It was eerily disconcerting how easily she turned a blind eye to her grandson’s actions.
Actually, it was disconcerting how everyone in this house turned a blind eye to the horror’s Calix enacted. I never could have thought one could find staff so loyal - but maybe they weren’t loyal to Calix. Maybe they were in the same boat as me, sailing the same rocky sea. I mean, I didn’t know if he was hanging his employee’s loved ones lives over their heads in a twisted demand to acquire unfailing loyalty.
“No.” I shook my head in reply to Neil’s question, focusing my gaze out over the land. “What time do you expect Calix to be home?”
“All I know is that he has plans to return today.”
I didn’t respond to his reply. Instead, I said. “Why don’t you sit with me, Neil? You don’t have to stand, hovering over me this way. It’s,” I shivered. “It’s unnerving.”