Cruel Crown: A Dark Romance (Sekten Book 2) Read online

  Cruel Crown

  C. Lymari

  Contents

  Also by C. Lymari

  Authors Note

  Playlist

  Foreword

  Part I

  Preface

  1. Gideon

  2. Daphne

  3. Daphne

  4. Daphne

  5. Daphne

  6. Gideon

  7. Gideon

  8. Authors Note

  9. Gideon

  10. Daphne

  11. Gideon

  Part II

  12. Daphne

  13. Gideon

  14. Daphne

  15. Gideon

  16. Gideon

  17. Daphne

  18. Gideon

  19. Daphne

  20. Gideon

  21. Daphne

  22. Gideon

  23. Daphne

  24. Daphne

  25. Daphne

  26. Gideon

  27. Daphne

  28. Gideon

  29. Daphne

  30. Gideon

  31. Daphne

  32. Gideon

  A Few Months Later

  The End

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  Cruel Crown Copyright © 2020 by C. Lymari. All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the publisher, except where permitted by law.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters, and incidents are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously.

  www.clymaribooks.com

  Editor: Sandra, One Love Editing

  Cover Design: Cat from TRC DESIGNS

  Proofreader: Zainab, Heart Full Of Reads Editing Services

  Also by C. Lymari

  It’s Not Home Without You Hoco #1 -Available Now

  (Second Chance/ Forbidden)

  The Way Back Home Hoco #2- Available Now

  (Friends-to-Lovers)

  You Were Always Home Hoco#3- Available Now

  (Enemies-to-Lovers/ Second Chances)

  For Three Seconds- Available Now

  (Forbidden/ Sports Romance)

  Falcon’s Prey- Available Now

  (A Dark Romance)

  THE SEKTEN SERIES

  Savage Kingdom- Available Now

  Authors Note

  The Sekten Series is a dark romance series that needs to be read in order. It is intended for mature audiences since there is a lot of graphic content and situations that might make you uncomfortable, and it might not be suitable for you if you are easily triggered. Some books will be darker than others, but all are triggering none the less. This is a dark world, so read at your own discretion.

  This is a world of fiction, so I took a few minor liberties when it came to medicine and techy spy stuff, just like Hollywood does.

  Now that you’ve been warned, enter at your own risk.

  Love,

  Claudia.

  Playlist

  “Crazy In Love,” Beyonce

  “Haunted,” Beyonce

  “River,” Bishop Briggs

  “Serial Killer,” Elizabeth Grant (Lana Del Rey)

  “Hurts Like Hell,” Fleurie

  “Seven Devils,” Florence + The Machine

  “Castle,” Halsey

  “Start A War,” Klergy, Valerie Broussard

  “Dead,” Madison Beer

  “Lonely Nights,” Njomza

  “Goodnight Gotham,” Rihanna

  “Set Fire To The Third Bar,” Snow Patrol

  “Often,” The Weeknd

  “Dusk Till Dawn,” ZAYN, Sia

  Savage Kingdom Full Playlist -PLAY

  Sekten Series Playlist-PLAY

  Here’s to breaking our own hearts because sometimes there is no other option.

  Foreword

  Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown—Henry IV, Part II.

  Part One

  Light is easy to love. Show me your darkness.

  R. Queen

  Preface

  Once upon a time, there was a boy who built castles in the sand. He had dreams and a future that shined so bright.

  His parents loved him, but the worst of society fucked him.

  He grew lonely.

  He grew cold.

  He was a devil with no compass pointing north.

  Then one day, he met a girl—a queen with a heart of stone. She didn’t fear him. She didn’t run. She looked past the demons, looked past the blood, looked past everything that made everyone else cower and hide.

  He thought he knew love, but he was betrayed.

  He thought he found his match, but she pulled his beating heart out of his chest.

  For he was a devil, and he was going to make the cold-hearted bitch that betrayed him kneel and beg.

  Now the question remained: Did he want her alive, or did he want her dead?

  Location: Colombian Jungle

  Any second now, my legs would give out on me. When you are a predator, the worst feeling in the world is immobility. When you are incapacitated, you can’t chase nor run; your body—your ultimate weapon— betrays you. My body was weak, my ribs were in pain, and every time I took a breath, it felt like I was inhaling flames.

  More shouts echoed, and I gritted my teeth, pushing past the pain I felt. I was not going to die like this. Not in some fucking jungle—not before the cold-hearted bitch paid.

  “Parcero, solo queremos hablar.” Friend, we just want to talk, the guy mocked.

  There was a glow in the sky from the fire the bombings had caused. Shots and yelling could still be heard, so I knew I hadn’t gotten very far. The paramilitary groups were fighting for the cocaine that was on the premises. I knew my chances for survival were slim, but never underestimate a man with revenge on his mind. The jungle was a scary place, and I didn’t want to face a jaguar. I just prayed the paramilitary group that resided in the area would have chased them off.

  It was hard to see where I was going only with one fully capable eye, but somehow, I was managing. Another step and more excruciating pain followed. It was still dark, but soon dawn would fully break, and I knew that in the light, I had no chance in hell of surviving.

  The fucker who was chasing me started shooting at random in hopes a stray bullet would hit me. I grabbed the nearest tree for support and put my weight on it, trying to stay up. With my forearm, I wiped the blood that was dripping from my eye. With all the pain everywhere else, the sting of the cut took a back seat.

  I was pissed as fuck. I was in this mess for thinking with my fucking dick. I knew there was something Daphne wanted. I knew it was connected to Franco Estacado. I just didn’t think she would double-cross everyone and steal the Estacado bitch for her own personal gain.

  When I woke up and looked up at her from bound arms, I couldn’t even speak. I gave her permission to kill me, but silly me for thinking she wouldn’t go ahead with it. she was a pretty faced bitch who knew how to kill. Just because I had seen some of her humanity, it didn’t mean she knew how to use it. Hell, I wasn’t so sure I knew how to either.

  When she kissed me, she passed a razor blade between our mouths. She gave me the kiss of death and hoped I lived because that was the whole point of that fucking kiss—a chance at surviving.

  Only myself, Sergio, and three of his most trusted guards knew in what part of the camp the Estacado girl was being kept. That meant Daphne must have followed me, or someone else at one point.

  Another grenade went off somew
here, and I gathered all the strength I had and sat straight against the bark of the tree.

  I leaned my head back and silently laughed. Rivera and Sergio leaving was no coincidence—not with Daphne around. Whatever she poisoned me with made my body weak and she knew it would. That’s why she gave me the blade, in case someone else came to the room before my limbs worked adequately.

  And they had. I had just pulled my hands away from the mattress, barely taken the binds off when they barged into my room: Robinson, Sergio’s right-hand man, and another guy I had seen around camp.

  “Where’s the mafia whore?” Robinson asked me in his heavy accent.

  “In her tent?” I said lamely, careful not to open my mouth and reveal the blade that was on my tongue.

  “Funny, other than us, you were the only person who knew?”

  “Maybe she got bombed?” I shrugged.

  He looked at his partner and then at me. His eyes slid down my body, noticing I was naked. He looked back at his partner. “El sabe algo.”

  I knew something.

  Daphne knew I would never rat, and not because of any type of loyalty I felt toward her, but because if someone was making the bitch pay, it was me and not them. So, if I didn’t talk, they had no use for me, and if I were of no use to them, then they would want me dead. I was alone, just me, myself, and fucking I, so there was no one to have my back. It came with the territory of being a lone wolf.

  Just as they made a move to get me, I brought my hand to my mouth and grabbed the small blade. When the guy came near me, I swiped it on his face, cutting across his cheek and upper lip.

  “Hijo de puta,” he screeched.

  I didn’t know how I got the strength, but I kicked him. As he fell, I got up and noticed my trousers on the edge of the bed from when I stashed the object I’d carried around my neck. Robinson pulled his piece out and pointed it at me.

  “Adonde vas, cabron?”

  I raised my hands. “Just putting my jeans on, mate.”

  He allowed me that much, but as soon as the trousers were on, I lunged for him, knowing it was my best chance. He matched me in hand-to-hand combat, getting more blows in since I was still feeling disorientated. We fell to the floor, my back hitting the edge of the bed, making me howl in pain. I threw his gun across the tent, which saved me from getting my brains blown off. With the blade in my hand, I tried slicing his throat, but I was weak, and he was over me in a second.

  He grabbed me by the throat and brought his hand down from my brow bone to part of my lid when another grenade exploded close to us, causing the tent to collapse. It was sink or swim time, so I elbowed and kicked. I found the blade Daphne had tied me up with and a gun. I fired a shot for the sake of shooting as I pulled my way out of the tent.

  Robinson was still down, and I hoped one of the bullets had at least grazed him. With the chaos around, I ran for the dark part of the jungle, knowing that was my best chance of survival.

  When someone turned to look at me, I didn’t think, I just shot, and now, here I was in the dark with everyone as the enemy.

  I held on to my ribs as I gathered the strength to get up. If I could just make it to the river, I could have a fighting chance. At this point, going in the water and letting the water flow carry me out of here was my fastest option of getting some distance between us.

  Five more minutes, then I would get up.

  When I closed my eyes, I heard her. Fuck, I hated this. I hated when I was vulnerable because that’s when she crept in. Suddenly I was three years old again. You’d think I was too young to remember, but somehow it was still vivid. Sometimes some aspects were brighter than others. My childhood house was dark with only the light from the hall illuminating the room.

  As soon as my parents heard the robbers breaking in, my dad went to check. When they shot him, my mom ran and hid me in her armoire. “Stay here, baby, and whatever you do, don’t come out.” Then she grabbed my cheeks lovingly with tears in her eyes and kissed them.

  “No nos vamos de esta puta selva hasta que lo encontremos.” Robinson’s voice snapped me out of my memory. They wouldn’t be leaving the jungle until I was found.

  The effects of the poison had worn off, but now the pain was getting stronger. I pushed myself off and kept walking carefully to stick to the darkness of the trees. My steps made more noise than I would have liked since I was putting most of my weight on one side. If it weren’t for the war that broke out, they would have found me already.

  As I ran, I saw my mother through the opening in the armoire since she didn’t fully close it. I saw the man who smiled at her; the way he threw her on the bed.

  Fuck.

  Baby, close your eyes.

  I closed my eyes as I ran, and that was my mistake. Acute pain was the first thing I felt in my nose as I got punched. The pain fucking burned. My already damaged eye took the burn of it all. I was in no condition to fight. I had barely any strength, and I fell backward.

  “A donde vas?” Where are you going? the fucker who punched me mocked.

  When I fell, my side hit a rock. My grunt pierced the air. They had me caged, and they knew it.

  I stared up at the man who hit me, then Robinson came. He looked a bit bloodied but other than that, he was fine. He looked down at me, and with the little light from the moon, I could see he was smiling at me.

  He pulled out a curved blade, and right away, I knew what his intentions were. Robinson liked to play with his food. He would start by using the tip to cut my neck, and then he would dig the blade until he pulled out the tongue from there. And as for me, I would scream like a little bitch before I bled out.

  “Donde esta la puta?”

  “Cual puta?” Which whore? I played dumb.

  There was Daphne, and then there was the captive girl. Not that she was a whore, but at this point, semantics didn’t matter. Robinson crouched and put one of his knees on my chest, making it hard to breathe. He leaned in, and I shivered the moment the tip of the blade touched my neck.

  This was it. I was about to die, wasn’t I? I refused to let myself think about her betrayal, but fuck, knowing that my time to meet the ripper had come, it made it hard to avoid. It fucking hurt what she did to me. It was a strange feeling that I thought I was never going to experience.

  The blade passed my neck slowly, close enough to pierce my skin.

  “Fuck,” I screamed when he got the hook in. The curved blade sunk into the delicate flesh.

  This was it.

  I was going to fucking die.

  “Please, baby, please don’t look.” My mother’s screams would follow me to the afterlife.

  Through my darkest times, there’s been revenge, and then, there’s been you.

  Then I opened my eyes, but I didn’t see Robinson, nor the man he was with. I saw wolf eyes staring back at me. Gray, bright—cold, and I was going to die with hate in my veins, regretting the time I spent with her, regretting that she ever made me feel like I was alive and breathing for the first time in years.

  Being fifty thousand feet above in the air really put things in perspective for me. The way the jungle seemed so small like I could comb it with my fingertips if I reached out. My hand touched the windowpane, my fingers tracing the outline of the trees. The jungle seemed to go on for miles. I closed my eyes, and I felt them drop something warm—tears.

  My hand slowly came up to my cheeks, and I wiped one away, bringing the liquid up so I could see that I indeed had the capacity to cry. Then I brought my finger to my lips where I could still feel the cut, another little reminder that would cause me discomfort every time I spoke.

  Monsters didn’t have hearts because they set you back. When you had a heart, it was hard to rip someone else’s heart out of their chest. I looked at my hands, and although I couldn’t see the blood that stained them, I could feel the weight on them. Years and years of blood on my hands, and not once had a life meant so much to me.

  Not able to stand this silence, I got up and made my way to
the back to the jet’s master bedroom. The Sekt had its own private jet for higher members to use at their pleasure. Usually, I preferred to charter my own jets so that Damian wouldn’t exactly know where I was going.

  This time Damian wanted the same thing since he’d chartered his own ride and left the jet for Bas and me to use. I opened the back door and watched the broken girl sleep. She would wake up soon, and I knew she would beg me to kill her. The shame would be too much, and she would rather quit living than have to take another breath with the demons they put upon her.

  It was the same all the time. I had seen it time and time again. Sometimes I wondered if I had been older when my father sold me, would I have turned out the same? Had I been older, would I have killed myself at the first opportunity?

  Shaking my head, I walked to the bathroom. When I turned the light on, I looked at myself in the mirror. My hair was a knotted mess. Sex and running through the jungle would do that to a girl. There were streaks of blood and dirt on my cheek. I held on to the small sink for support before I bent my head and cleaned my face. Things had gone exactly to plan, yet I didn’t feel victorious.

  I was in my mid-twenties, but sometimes it felt like I had already lived a thousand lives. I didn’t know why people craved immortality when one life was more than enough. The amount of effort it took to stay three steps ahead of everyone was starting to take its toll on me. It was exhausting, but what choice did I have?