The door to Ty’s apartment feels like my last final hurdle of the night. I’ll rest and regroup. Then, tomorrow, I’ll be on the next leg of my journey.
Disappear with Della.
I knock on the door and then reposition Della’s sleeping form. She’s heavier than usual now that she’s completely passed out and isn’t holding on like before. I’m exhausted and my muscles are on fire. I could sleep for days, though I don’t have days.
Footsteps thud toward me from the other side and then the lock disengages. Ty opens the door and takes a long look at me.
But it’s not Ty.
No, concerned blue eyes don’t stare me down. There’s no smile or shimmering dark blond hair. No kindness or worry or even relief.
I’m staring at the darkness.
A void.
Deep and soulless.
It’s sucking me in though I’m mentally begging my worn-out feet to run.
Black shirt. Black jeans. Black boots. Black soul.
“F-Ford?” I choke out in confusion. “What are you doing at Ty’s house?”
Are they friends?
Dark eyes, like melted chocolate, flash at me. There’s something sinister in the way he smiles. Triumph. I can see it written all over his handsome face. He’s achieved something. I’d seen the same look on his face when he fingered me in the school bathroom, rough and cruelly, and yet I still begged for it. Came all over his fingers shamelessly.
“I don’t understand,” I murmur.
Move your feet, girl. Run!
“You will soon.” The deep timbre of his voice reverberates through me. “Come inside.”
I try to take a step back but my sore muscles don’t allow me to move. So he takes the step for me, clutches a possessive hand on the back of my neck and guides me inside. My heart flipflops inside my chest. I want to feel relieved at being in Ford’s presence, but something’s off. Something’s really wrong.
He has secrets.
Dark ones.
Twisted ones.
I know this. I’ve always known this. I just never understood them. Never could make sense of what they were.
The door closes behind me with a click of finality. It sends a shiver down my spine. Maybe, if I keep him calm long enough, I can get Chevy to surface. I almost sob at the thought of him holding me right now through the anxiety and overwhelming stress. I need that. I need him.
“Who was at the door?”
The voice is Ford’s but he’s not speaking. He simply watches me in an expectant way. Like he’s waiting for a bomb to drop and to see my reaction. My stare finds the man entering the space behind him.
Ty?
Stupid, stupid girl. You know better.
Ford gapes at me. Confused. Horrified.
He has a twin. He has a freaking twin. It makes sense now. All those times when he’d mention his brother…
But that means he’s been playing me.
Lying to my face.
Switching out with his brother.
I’m going to be sick. A low mewl crawls up my throat. I’m paralyzed. I can’t move and don’t know what to say. Betrayal is a knife to my chest—stabbing over and over again, puncturing my lungs and my heart both.
I can’t breathe.
I’m dizzy.
“Sully!” one of the Fords shouts.
At first I think he’s talking to the one in front of me, but then the unthinkable happens. Another Ford appears. This is a joke. I’m dreaming. I’m stuck in some horrible nightmare.
They’re triplets.
Terrible, terrifying triplets.
“What the fuck did you do, Scout?” the one who just entered, and who I think is Sully, snarls. “What the fuck did you do?”
Sully approaches me and I start shaking my head. Tears are spilling down my cheeks, but I’m unable to stop them.
“Hey, honey,” Sully says. “Let me take Della. You look like you’re about to fall over.”
He reaches for her, but my grip tightens.
“Don’t touch her,” I hiss. “Don’t touch me either. Where’s Ty?”
“Ty.” Scout, the evil one, grins. “He’s at home, I guess.”
He’s playing with me. I’m nothing but a game. A freaking toy.
“Sparrow,” Sully growls at the other brother. “Snap out of it. We have to deal with this.”
Sparrow, with eyes like dark maple syrup, stares at me with a mixture of shame and disappointment. Like he’s given up on something. I want to shake him and smack him.
Sully is closer now. When he grabs Della, I don’t have the strength to keep her in my arms. I watch, helplessly, as he tugs her away from me and disappears with her.
No.
This can’t be happening.
Scout grabs hold of my backpack and roughly drags it off my body before tossing it into the floor.
“Chevy,” I whisper, pleading with Sparrow. “What’s happening? Why are you doing this?”
He closes his eyes and bows his head.
“Don’t worry, prickly princess, we’re going to take real good care of you,” Scout says, his rumbling voice behind me. “Be a good girl and don’t scream.”
I do scream.
But the second I do, his hand clamps over my mouth while his other one hooks around me, pinning me to him. I kick out and struggle, fighting this man who’s holding me captive—who lured me here by using Ty somehow.
My foot connects with something, or someone in this case. Sparrow’s eyes fly to mine. I expect him to pounce on his brother and rescue me because we slept together. We had a connection. He cares about me.
But he does nothing.
Watches me as his brother drags me away kicking and fighting with everything in me. Scout’s limp is pronounced, but it does nothing to deter from his strength. The last thing I see is Sparrow turn his back to me. Then, with a sinister slam, Scout closes a door between us.
I’m trapped with a monster.
Again.
* * *
Thank you for reading TRIPLE THREAT!
Find out what happens once next for Landry in DEATH WISH…
All I wanted is for my little sister Della to be safe and happy. And maybe, in brief stolen moments, I dreamed of a happy ending for myself with a brown-eyed man. That hope has turned into sharp, bright fear. There’s only survival now.
I’m the daughter of a controlling and cruel billionaire, so I understand about power. But I find myself fighting anyway. I find myself testing them.
I have claws and I bite. I’m not going down without a fight.
It’s like I have a death wish.
I used to have one monster in my world. Now I have three. They’ll destroy me in every way…unless I can use them to find my true place in this world.
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Want to know how the Terror Triplets got their start?
Read about them with their step-sister Ash—who ends up with Winston Constantine. As the head of the Constantine family, he’s used to people bowing to my will. When he discovers the one woman who doesn’t wither under my gaze, but instead smiles right back at him, he’s intrigued.
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Love forbidden romance that will push your boundaries?
As Father Magnus Falke, I suppress my cravings. As the headteacher of a Catholic boarding school, I’m never tempted by a student. Until her…