Bleeding Heart
Authors: Alannah Carbonneau
Tags: #Literature & Fiction, #Erotica, #Romantic Erotica
Bleeding Heart
A Captured Miracle Novel
Book Two
By Alannah Carbonneau
Bleeding Heart
Copyright 2013 Alannah Carbonneau
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Table of Contents
Other Books By Alannah Carbonneau
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.”
“You would prefer me to sit?” He frowned, as though confused.
“Yes.” I didn’t understand how my request could confuse him. “I don’t like being watched. I understand that you can’t leave me alone, but the least you can do is pretend that you’re not watching me for Calix.” I settled back in the chair again and sighed. “You were talking to me yesterday, what happened?”
Neil moved hesitantly to the chair next to me. “I never should have spoken with you so openly, Nova. I doubt Calix would be impressed.”
“I have no one else I can talk to. He’s seen to it that I’ve been alienated from everyone I knew and loved, I need someone to talk to.” I felt a small ember of desperation building within my chest. “Please don’t stop talking to me because of him.”
“He is my boss, Nova. I don’t want to anger him.”
Closing my eyes, I pulled in a deep breath before standing. “I’m going back to my room. I have a headache and I think I’ll take a nap.”
“It’s only half past ten, Nova.” Neil sighed. “You can’t sleep your life away.”
Blinking away my tears, I replied. “Sleep is the only time in my life where I find peace.”
At the saddened expression twisting Neil’s features, I knew my words had hit a soft place in his heart, but I couldn’t convince myself to take the words back. As harsh as they may be, they were the truth. Calix had robbed me of every reason I had to live before shattering the illusion of happiness I’d so foolishly found with him. I had nothing left to live for. I was truly desperate for reprieve from my life, this existence I now knew.
As I moved through the wide halls of Calix’s extravagant house, I couldn’t help but feel claustrophobic within the fortifications. Calix ensured that I could move freely through his house, but I never went anywhere alone. No matter what I did, what movie I watched or where I swam, I was never alone. The only place I was allotted even a semblance of privacy was when I was in Calix’s bedroom. With him gone, his bedroom had become a place of sanctuary for me. Knowing he was due to return home today made me feel sick.
I hadn’t spoken to Calix since he’d told me my father was the reason for my capture. I hadn’t spoken to Calix since the new and foolish feeling of love I felt for him was set to flame and left to burn.
Turning, I faced Neil. “I’m sorry to make you sit in the hall like this, but I can’t stay awake with my thoughts. It’s too much.” I placed my hand on the door handle of the bedroom. “If you have a key to lock me in the room, you could leave me here. I don’t plan on coming back out today.”
“I’m not locking you in the room, Nova.” Neil scowled. “I have a chair here,” he pointed to the cushioned chair that had been positioned outside Calix’s bedroom for this scenario exactly. “Come out whenever you like.”
I didn’t say anything as I walked into the room, closing the door behind me. I hadn’t been lying to Neil when I said I had a headache or that I was tired. There really was a painful pulsing behind my eyes and even though it was before noon, I was physically exhausted.
I moved across the room and fell into bed.
I slept like the dead.
An uncomfortable weight settled down over my body and I moaned, before realizing that this uncomfortable weight wasn’t normal - or welcomed.
My eyes snapped open and I found myself looking up into Calix’s dark blue eyes. The room was dark, save for the amber glow of the lamp he’d turned on. I didn’t know how long he’d been home for, or how long he’d watched me sleep, but I did know he was mad. I could practically feel the heat of his anger seeping from his skin.
His expression wasn’t one I recognized and it set my heart to racing in my chest. I’ve done something to make him angry - only I don’t know what.
“Hello, love.” Calix sneered.
I steeled myself against the budding fear pooling in my limbs, encouraging me to fight a losing battle against this strong man. Instead, I lifted my chin and demanded. “What do you want, Calix?”
Bravery I didn’t feel sounded in the undercurrent of my tone and I felt proud for this small accomplishment. It’s really something. Bravery in this man’s strong, violent, frightening presence was an admirable feat.
“What do I always want, love?” He demanded, smirking a smirk that sent chills racing down my spine.
“I don’t know.” I did know - but I prayed I was wrong.
He tisked. “Lying to me again, Nova?” He sighed as he settled his heavy length over my body. “What do I always want from you when I return home from work? What is your duty as my fiancée?”
I didn’t respond and he growled low in his throat - an animalistic sound. His hand moved from where it rested on the bed beside my head, to grip my chin in punishing fingers. Oh God, he really was mad. “Answer me.”
“I don’t care what you want, Calix, or what my duties are.” I felt tears mist in my eyes as I stared up at the man I thought I’d been falling for.
I couldn’t have been more wrong.
Calix was a monster. He was a cruel man without a heart. “You can punish me, you can hurt me or force me - I don’t care anymore.”
For a moment, he watched me. His blue eyes were dark - like the night sky - and then his lips moved into a terrifying grin on his face. “I thought you would say something like that.” He lifted himself from where he’d placed his body against mine before standing beside the bed. Reaching down, he grabbed my wrist in his hand before tugging me from the bed.
I found myself thanking small mercies that I hadn’t changed out of my clothing before going to bed. What I really couldn’t believe was that I had slept the entre day away. I wasn’t exactly certain of the time, but judging from the dark sky and twinkling stars outside, it was late - or early. Jeez, to sleep so long, I would have had to be truly exhausted.
My wayward thoughts disintegrated as Calix’s hand tightened on my wrist. I realized with a lurch of my heart, that he was leading me to the sitting area of the bedroom. Good God, what did he want from me now?
I hadn’t seen the man in six days and this was the homecoming attitude I received? After our last conversation, this was how he acted toward me? He hadn’t said anything about my father. He hadn’t told me anything, apart from the fact that my father murdered his parents. The man, who gave not only me life, but my two sisters, wasn’t a murderer. It didn’t make sense. How could a man who loved my mother, a woman with such a gentle and loving soul, be a killer? It just - the link between the two hadn’t connected in my mind, and I seriously doubted that it ever would.
Calix led me past the chair before pointing to the stretch of a couch. On the coffee table, facing the couch was a silver laptop. It was open, but the screen was black - sleeping.
“Sit.” Calix commanded.
I obeyed. Something in his tone told me not to argue with him right now. I was all for pushing my boundaries and hoping I irritated him enough to let me go, but I also had enough sense to know when I needed to just sit quietly like the good girl he wanted me to be. This was one of those times. I could literally feel his frustration toward me as though it were travelling on electric currents, zapping me head-on.
I stared up at Calix as he peered down at me. For a moment, he looked unsure, and then he spoke. “I would have preferred a kinder reunion with you, Nova, but again, you’ve forced me into a situation I don’t wish to be in.”