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The Fantasy Worlds of C.G. Garcia
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Category:
Young Adult/Teen
Publisher: C.G. Garcia
ISBN-10: 0615948367
Type: Fiction
Pages: 320
Copyright: Jan 9, 2014
ISBN-13: 9780615948362
Price: $2.99 (eBook)
When Darrien Stathos saves eighteen-year-old Avery Morgan's family from the consequences of her estranged father's gambling addiction, thus begins her new life as the property of the man known as the lord of the criminal underworld, Kairos, where she learns a disturbing and dangerous truth about both herself and him that will shatter the foundation of her understanding of reality.
What would you do when every choice is the wrong one?
The moment a bunch of men with guns kicked in the doors of her house, eighteen-year-old Avery Morgan knew her estranged father's gambling addiction had finally caught up to her family in the worst way. On the brink of doing something unspeakable to save her little sister from being taken, she is interrupted by the sudden arrival of Darrien Stathos, a business mogul whose true persona is rumored to be the lord of the criminal underworld known as Kairos. Darrien announces that he is also there to collect on a contract with Avery's father—for Avery.
As she struggles with the reality of being the property of an alleged crime lord and the constant harassment of two FBI agents, several disturbing observations about Darrien's eyes and the frightening, inexplicable ways he stops a couple of would-be assassins make Avery rethink her initial dismissal of some of the more outlandish gossip that questioned his humanity.
Add to that learning a disturbing and dangerous truth about herself, and Avery is ready to break, especially when the truth of Darrien's identity is something that will shatter the very foundation of her understanding of reality.
Excerpt
CHAPTER ONE
“Hey! Wait up!”
Avery Morgan turned around and smiled as a hyper blonde girl all but bounced up to her, tugging Micah, her ever-present shadow and boyfriend, behind her.
“We heard from Sara and Kyle that you actually don’t have to work tonight,” her best friend, Angie, said excitedly.
“Yeah. The store sent me a text before last period that a main water line broke beneath the store around lunchtime, and part of the floor collapsed into a mini sinkhole back around the electronics section. So the store’s closed until they can get a city crew, insurance adjusters, and contractors to come out and get everything assessed and cleaned up,” Avery explained with a grimace. She worked for one of the neighborhood big box stores. “The boss told me that half the merchandise was ruined once the geyser of water started spurting through the hole. I hope to God it won’t take more than a week. The mortgage is due at the end of next week…”
Angie’s green eyes immediately flashed concern. “Damn. I just thought your boss had finally decided to have pity on you and give you a day off on your birthday. Sara doesn’t have to work tonight either, so we were hoping to take you out to that new club over on Fifth. They don’t sell alcohol at all, so you only have to be eighteen to get in. Our treat and everything.” She grinned mischievously. “Who knows, maybe the owner’ll sing you happy birthday…”
Avery rolled her eyes. “Yes because Darrien Stathos has nothing better to do on a Friday night than to embarrass some high school nobody at a club full of mostly college kids. I doubt he’s even been inside the place once since it opened.”
“Well, even if your boy toy isn’t there, you’ll at least get to listen to some really awesome indie bands,” Micah added with a grin.
“One time—one time—I said he was kinda good-looking, and now he’s suddenly my boy toy?” Avery grumbled. “I seem to remember Sara and Angie saying much the same thing, and I never once heard you call Stathos their boy toy. Who even says that anymore? You’ve been watching way too many chick flicks, Mic.”
Angie laughed at the look of disgust on her boyfriend’s face. “Methinks you protest way too much, Ave.”
Avery sighed noisily. “I give up.”
“So you’re going?” Angie asked eagerly.
Avery nodded. “Mom’s off tonight, so no worries about Ella.”
“Great! We’ll meet you there at nine. Hopefully there won’t be too long of a line like last week.”
“There will be now that you’ve jinxed it,” Micah teased as they turned to leave. He waved a hand at Avery. “See you.”
“And this time don’t be late!” Angie scolded over her shoulder as she playfully swatted Micah’s arm.
Avery laughed and waved them off. Tempus Port would fall into the Gulf the day she managed to be on time for anything. It was like the universe was always conspiring with Fate against her because she was pretty sure no one should have as much bad luck as she did without it being deliberate. From dead watch batteries to ghost holes suddenly springing up just in time for her to turn an ankle, she had a thousand different reasons for being late in the past, and none of them had ever really been her fault. She wished to God she knew what she had ever done to piss those two entities off.
She turned her attention back to the lock she had been removing from the frame of her battered mountain bike. It had once been navy blue, but years in the sun and rain had faded the paint to a sickly purplish-indigo with the occasional rust patch. She stuffed the lock into her equally battered backpack and then slipped it onto her shoulders.
Avery was glad that her mother was picking up her little sister from school today. She could go straight home and finally get some sleep. She had worked until three in the morning, and then she’d had to get up at six in order to get Ella and herself to school on time. She wanted to be as rested as possible for tonight. Since it would take a minor miracle for her to get called into work tomorrow, today was one of the rare times she could stay out as late as she wanted. There was no way she wasn’t going to take full advantage of it.
Thirty minutes later, Avery was home and in bed. Her mom and sister had not made it home yet; her mom was likely taking advantage of her free evening as well to pick up a few groceries. Avery had scribbled a quick note on the dry board by the fridge to not be disturbed until after seven-thirty.
It seemed she had barely closed her eyes when her alarm started to shriek. Avery groaned and bashed her fist into the snooze button. She had already started to drift back to sleep before she remembered why she had set her alarm in the first place, and she was suddenly wide awake. Work and school warranted two or three presses of the snooze button; hanging out with her friends could always get her out of bed faster than the wail of a tornado siren.
Avery quickly showered and threw on a faded, black zip up hoodie and a worn pair of jeans she only wore around the house. After blow-drying her hair, she went back to her room to grab her phone to check for texts missed during her nap, deciding to pick out an outfit for the club after eating a snack and telling her mom her plans for the evening. She had skipped lunch today in order to do some Calculus homework she had not had time to complete during her dinner break at work the previous night.
Avery was halfway down the hall, frowning at the unusual lack of texts, when loud banging abruptly sounded out from the front of the house. For a split-second she froze, nearly dropping the phone, before a rush of instant fear and adrenaline had her sprinting towards the living room.
There were only two reasons why someone would be banging on their front door like they were trying to knock it down, and both of them meant that her family had only a minute or two to hide. There was a crawlspace beneath the house leading to a small “room” big enough to fit four people if they were lying down. It was accessible only by lifting a couple of floorboards beneath her bed. Her grandma had told her the previous homeowner had stored his valuables in it back in the fifties before their neighborhood had begun experiencing so many floods. It was apparently something he had built himself.
Avery raced into the living room where Ella had been watching a DVD on their ancient TV. The tiny blonde dashed into her big sister’s arms just as their mother came barreling from the kitchen towards them with blatant fear in her eyes. The pounding seemed to be coming from every direction now.
“We have to get into the crawlspace!” Avery said in an urgent whisper.
She tried to push a wide-eyed Ella towards her mother, but her sister only clung to her waist more tightly, refusing to leave her side. Instead of arguing, she just rushed Ella towards the small writing desk against the far wall near the hallway.
“Avery…” Ella whispered fearfully as the sound of shattering glass came from the direction of the kitchen, seemingly trying to melt into her sister’s side as Avery yanked open the desk drawer to grab Grandpa Frank’s .22 colt revolver she kept loaded inside for this very scenario.
“Hurry!” her mom urged frantically, tugging at her arm.
Just as her hand closed around the butt of the gun, the back and front doors exploded open almost simultaneously. Men dressed all in black, fatigue-like clothing and tactical vests began pouring into the house from both directions, and Avery cursed harshly as she backed her family against the wall next to the desk and urged them down into a crouch.
She crammed her free hand inside the pocket of her hoodie in search of her phone, flipped it open, and frantically pressed the buttons for 911. Thank God it was an ancient model with raised buttons and not one of the newer touchscreen smartphones that she had been salivating over. She had never been so glad to be dirt-poor in her life.
They were surrounded. There was nowhere left to run.
Praying the call went through, Avery brought the gun up just as a middle-aged, balding man in a dark blue business suit stepped forward, flanked on either side by several of the dark-clothed men wielding a mixture of handguns and rifles.
“You are Avery, I presume,” the man said, a touch of amusement coloring his words. His eyes flickered over to her mom. “And Mrs. Morgan. James has told me so much about you two.”
He waved a hand behind his back, and two of his men brought a cowering blond man forward—or more like shoved. Avery instantly saw red as she recognized the paunchy figure of her father.
“Get him out of here!” she hissed.
“Such poor manners, and to your father, no less,” Blue Suit said with a chuckle.
“Get out!” Avery repeated, her hands shaking so much that she was having a hard time keeping the gun aimed at the man.
He shook his head. “I’m afraid it’s you and your mother that will have to leave. This house now belongs to me.”
Avery stared. This was not at all what she had been expecting.
“You’ll let us leave? Just like that?” she asked suspiciously.
Blue Suit laughed. “Of course. The Hayes Group has no claim to you two.” Suddenly his smile was predatory. “Little Ella however…”
Avery’s heart stopped.
The boss waved his hand forward, and four of his henchmen started moving towards them. Avery waved the gun wildly before her as if that alone would keep the goons away.
“Don’t come any closer!” she warned, her voice tight and steadier than she ever thought possible considering how she was screeching with fear inside. “Don’t think I won’t shoot!”
“Just give us the little girl, kid,” the boss (Mr. Hayes?) said irritably as if he were faced with a rebellious child and not a teenager waving a loaded gun. “Do it while I’m still willing to overlook this little bit of defiance.”
“Avery—” Ella whimpered, the terror so embedded in that one word Avery felt it almost like a physical blow.
However, she didn’t dare take her eyes off the ten men spread out in a semicircle before them to comfort her.
“She’s not yours to take!” Avery growled, her hands instinctively tightening around the gun until her knuckles turned white.
The probable Mr. Hayes waved a piece of paper before her. “This contract I have with your father says differently.”
“Screw that! That sorry piece of trash doesn’t own her either! This isn’t the 1800s! We’re not slaves to be bargained away like property! He can try to sell us off all he wants, but once the police get here, the only thing that piece of paper will be good for is to wipe your ass!”
Hayes laughed. “The police?” he sneered. “Do you honestly think 911 is on the other end of that cell phone you’re hiding in your pocket listening to all of this? We jammed all outgoing signals from this shack before we even kicked down the doors. No one is coming to help you.”
Avery felt the angry flush in her cheeks drain away as the bastard shattered the last of her hopes. There were ten men with guns and God-only-knows how many clips against her six bullets. There was no way she would walk away once she fired the first shot. Maybe her mother, too.
“That asshole has no right to her!” she repeated more forcefully. “If it’s money you want, then why don’t you sell the bastard’s kidneys or something? His debt has nothing to do with us!”
“You ungrateful little bitch!” her father screamed, trying to lunge at her even though his arms were being firmly held by two very big, very scary henchmen.
“Your little family drama means nothing to me,” Hayes remarked in a bored tone. “I’m a business man, not a shrink, so the only thing I care about is the collateral owed me. Your father’s in the hole a couple million dollars. Even if we sold every piece of him, we would barely recoup even a quarter.”
“Again, not our problem,” she hissed through her teeth. “Mom divorced the jerk ages ago. Make him dig ditches or something for the rest of his life to pay you back.”
Once again the boss laughed. “Why would we do that when we could easily recoup the losses with your sister within a couple of months? You wouldn’t believe the price a man would be willing to pay for a safe, completely anonymous, uninterrupted night of fun with such a cute little girl…”
“You sick bastards!” Avery screamed, rage and fear warring within her body until she felt like she might puke.
“Take me instead!” her mother cried desperately almost in the same instant, pushing Ella firmly against Avery’s back and out of everyone’s line of sight as the older woman moved forward on her knees.
“You?” the boss said incredulously. “Your mile-wide cooch isn’t even worth ten bucks a lay. I’d make more money screwing your older daughter with a hairbrush and selling tickets to the event than I would with you in your entire lifetime!”
The rest of the men snickered as her mother covered her stricken face with her hands and wept.
Avery could feel her sister’s face burrowing into her back, the thick material muffling her sobs. She felt sick that her ten-year-old sister was forced to hear such cruel, disgusting words from that pig in a business suit, and it was at that point that a terrible thought crossed her mind, unbidden.
Maybe I should just turn the gun on her, on all of us, and force that asshole to clean up his own mess. Death would be a kinder fate for Ella. A bullet in the head and she would probably not even feel any pain…
“Well, well, what do we have here?”
The sound of several gasps had Avery flicking her eyes towards the smooth, unknown voice that had suddenly cut through all the laughing. She felt her trembling body freeze even as she almost lost her grip on the gun in her shock.
A tall, black-haired man in a black, expensive-looking suit stood in the threshold of the destroyed front door, arms crossed, and eyes gazing over the entire room with the narrowed expression of a parent catching his children doing something naughty. She knew this man of course; anyone who had lived longer than a day in Tempus Port would have been hard-pressed not to, seeing as he owned about fifty percent of the city.
Darrien Stathos—the business mogul—as well as the lord of the worldwide underworld known only as Kairos. That last title was something people only dared whisper in the shadows. Not that anyone would ever have the guts to call him that to his face in public or on camera. It was said that he even outright owned the police department and at least half the members of the state senate. Avery had even heard that both the FBI and IRS were keeping an eye on him but had yet to pin any charges on him. He had even had a run-in with Interpol a few years back that had also amounted to nothing.
He was also the very man her friends had been teasing her about earlier. She had always thought of him much in the same way she considered any other public figure or celebrity—interesting to talk about but someone who lived on a plane of existence she would never touch, like a character in a movie. What was such a man doing here at their house?
Stathos casually stepped into the room as if it wasn’t currently filled with a bunch of men with guns. He was immediately followed by at least a dozen men dressed as impeccably in black suits and shirts as their boss. However, whereas their boss was visibly unarmed, Stathos’s men all carried a variety of guns, and all were pointed at the other men, including Hayes.
“Mr. Stathos…” the other crime boss, loan shark, or whatever he was ground out as if the words were forced from his throat unwillingly.
“David Hayes. You’re a long way from home,” the Lord of the Underworld remarked in an even tone as if he were merely commenting on the weather.
Hayes flinched like the other man had pressed a gun between his eyes.
“Forgive me, Lord Kairos. I meant no disrespect. We were merely tracking this runner,” he said, nodding towards Avery’s dad, whose wild eyes looked like they were about to pop out of their sockets with fear. “We tracked him here to this house where conveniently his collateral was hiding.”
Avery felt a shiver go down her spine as Stathos’s uncanny, mismatched eyes suddenly flashed with something dangerous even though his attention was focused solely on the other crime boss. Rumor was that the man was an albino who dyed his naturally white hair black but kept one eye red and wore a brown-tinted contact on the other in order to unsettle his rivals. His skin, as smooth and pale as the finest porcelain, certainly added to that evidence.
Still, others insisted that the red eye and not the hair was the illusion, just a custom-made contact worn for much the same reasons as the other rumor. Some of the more outrageous rumors claimed that he was an ancient vampire who had grown tired of living in the shadows of humanity and was in the process of taking over the world, doing it one city at a time. After all, it was said that he owned various properties and businesses in major cities all around the world, and no one could fathom how one man who was still in his late twenties could have amassed such an empire in such a short period of time if he wasn’t something supernatural.
The way he was looking now, the shadows of the house practically clinging to him as if he were a black hole incarnate, Avery could readily believe he was a demon of some sort. Apparently, so could David Hayes because he was visibly beginning to sweat just as much as Avery’s father.
“Collateral?” Kairos repeated softly. His eyes flickered briefly over to Avery, and the teen almost choked on a breath. “Do you mean the girl so bravely pointing her gun at you?”
“No, no!” Hayes said hastily. “This man’s contract was for his youngest. If you have business with their father as well, then we’ll just take the little girl and leave him to you.”
Kairos laughed, a sound full of razor sharp edges. “Such bold words! It’s been a while since a man has dared dictate my business to me, and within the heart of my city with one of my citizens no less.”
Hayes took an involuntary step back. “I meant no insult! I would never deem to do business with those who are not of my jurisdiction! This family does not live in this city! Their current address is an apartment in Shreveport. This house belongs to Morgan’s mother. They thought to hide from their debts by believing we would not follow them into your domain! I had every intention of paying my tithe to you for stepping into your city! As soon as we collected the girl, we would have headed to your office to present the contract as per your laws!”
The Lord tsked. “You didn’t do your homework, Mr. Hayes. Nancy Morgan died six months ago and willed the house to her granddaughters, whom had been living with her, along with their mother, for the past five years. I currently hold the original mortgage lien on this home. As for James Morgan, he has lived in my city since his birth. He’s run afoul of some of my lenders and casinos several times. In fact, that’s why I’m here. Imagine my surprise when my assistant told me that an outsider thought he could take what was mine, what was promised to me over a year ago…”
Avery suddenly found herself pinned by the full intensity of Stathos’s eyes like a mouse before a viper. She couldn’t have looked away even if her life had depended on it.
Hayes was suddenly on his hands and knees, prostrating himself before the crime lord. “I swear to you, my lord! I swear I had no idea that James Morgan was one of your citizens, that he was indebted to you when I took him on as a client!”
Stathos didn’t even spare the babbling man at his feet a glance. He continued to stare at Avery, eyes slowly raking over her body as if determined to memorize her. Her back couldn’t have been stiffer if it were a marble column.
Then he raised a pale hand towards the teen and held it out, palm up. “Come, Avery,” he commanded gently, “and bring your sister and mother.”
Avery nearly had a heart attack hearing that man say her name. Oh my God! Why does he even know my name? Did my piece of shit dad…no!
Of course he did. Avery had been wondering why the bastard had used Ella rather than her or even both of them to pay off that Hayes prick. Apparently, Avery had been living as the property of the Lord of the Underworld for a whole effing year, and she hadn’t even had a clue!
When she remained frozen, the crime lord merely smiled patiently and beckoned her with a crook of his fingers again. In that moment, Stathos no longer looked like someone who shared traits with something out of her nightmares but just a man—albeit an unusually intense man with an eye like the Terminator. She didn’t believe it for a second—a wolf in sheep’s clothing if she ever saw one.
There were no good choices here, the teen suddenly realized, but if the choice was between Ella’s life and her freedom, then God help her, a slave she would become to this enigmatic lord of the criminal underworld.
Avery reached behind her and blindly grabbed her sister’s small, clammy hand—all the while thinking that no ten-year-old child should have to go through this kind of trauma. Ella was such a gentle soul. She would probably have nightmares for years. Probably need therapy. Avery slowly lowered the gun to her side as she stood, her eyes nervously darting over Hayes’s henchmen as she half-expected them to take a shot at her, Kairos or no Kairos.
“Avery! No!” her mother sobbed, grabbing the hand Avery had curled tightly around Ella’s with both of hers and tugging her back desperately.
“It’s okay, Mom,” she said as steadily as she could. She flashed her mom a pained smile. “Everything’s going to be okay; you’ll see.” She hoped to God that that was true, though a darker, more cynical side of her knew her words were just empty platitudes.
Swallowing past the enormous lump that had suddenly formed in her throat, Avery forced herself to relinquish her only weapon before she could chicken out, the small pistol hitting the ground with a louder thud than she thought it should. Then she purposely walked towards Kairos, Ella squeezing her hand so hard it was starting to hurt and her mother still sobbing quietly beside her. She was careful not to look into those demon eyes, certain that she would lose her nerve and bolt the moment she did.
She placed her free hand into that outstretched hand, surprised that it wasn’t shaking. His skin was practically scorching against her ice-cold skin as his hand closed firmly around hers, so much so that it was almost uncomfortable. It was only then, when she could no longer easily run, that she dared raise her eyes.
The man known as Kairos was still smiling that same gentle smile down at her, but his eyes—something unnamable swirled within, something unnerving, something—
—something hungry…
“But—” Hayes abruptly sputtered below them, making the teen jump, “I thought—the little girl—”
“—was not James’s to bargain with,” Kairos finished, his eyes narrowing sharply as he looked down at the other crime boss. That dangerous gleam was back in his eyes. “However, this unfortunate misunderstanding has left no one the worse for wear and given me my prize a week earlier than expected, so I’m feeling generous. With Avery and her family now in my possession as agreed, I’m willing to call my lien with Mr. Morgan paid in full and release him into your custody as well as the deed to this house. I expect ten percent of his contract with you as your organization’s tithe to me by the end of this month. I’ll turn over the deed to you then.”
Without another word, Kairos turned on his heels and strode out, tugging Avery, Ella, and their mother behind him like some bizarre human train. Avery imagined that they probably looked ridiculous, especially since none of the three were even wearing shoes. Kairos’s hired suits followed at a slight distance, guns still drawn and ready.
A black stretch limo and an entourage of four black SUVs were parked in a line in front of their house. The teen totally expected to see a crowd of neighbors standing in their yards gawking at her house. After all, the tires of a limo had probably never driven over their pothole-covered street in its entire existence, but the block was conspicuously empty. She wondered if the crime lord had anything to do with that.
A large, dark-haired man standing next to the limo, dressed in a suit identical to the others, immediately strode down to the end of the vehicle and opened the door as they neared. He looked more suited to playing tackle for an NFL team rather than a chauffeur.
Still gripping her hand tightly, the crime lord waved over two of his nearest men.
“I leave them to you,” he said, gesturing to her mom and Ella.
Her mother started to open her mouth to probably loudly protest, but Avery caught her eye at the last second and shook her head.
“It’ll be okay,” Avery repeated firmly. Maybe if she said it enough, she would start to believe it.
“A-Avery…” her mom moaned, the older woman’s voice tight with anguish as her eyes darted from Avery’s face to the possessive hand Darrien Stathos still had on her oldest daughter.
Avery could guess what her mother was thinking, something she refused to allow her own mind to acknowledge. She would fall apart otherwise, and that was a luxury she couldn’t afford right now.
“Ella,” she said, looking down into chocolate-brown eyes still wide with fear. Avery squeezed her hand gently. “I have to go with Mr. Stathos now. You and mom take care of each other, okay.”
The way her eyes shimmered, Avery could tell that Ella wanted to say a lot of things, but the little girl merely nodded, her lips trembling as if she were a breath away from crying. Ella held onto Avery’s hand tightly until one of Stathos’s men took her arm and gently pulled her away towards one of the SUVs, followed by the second man and their mother. The teen felt the separation as keenly as a scab being ripped from a wound.
Her mother’s tortured eyes did not leave Avery until she entered the vehicle, and even though Avery could see nothing beyond the tinted windows, she knew that her mom was still watching her. She knew that her mom was crying.
“Come,” the crime lord said firmly, tugging on their joined hands as he walked over to the open limo door.
Another of Stathos’s men handed Avery a pair of her sneakers before she was ushered into the vehicle first. The sound of the door closing was like the final bang of a coffin lid falling shut, sealing what had been her life within forever.
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