The Prologue
Eleanor Blackheart
Everyone has their own interpretation of the world, I love to think of it as one big stage and we’re all actors, putting on an act for whoever cares enough to see. People aren’t always who they seem, they lie, deceive and cause each other tremendous pain. There are two types of pain in this world, the one that hurts and the one that alters. I'm not sure which one I was going through at that moment. Lying in bed of my motel room in my baggy T-shirt, trying so hard to hide my shame from the rest of humanity. Staring through the ceiling my mind was roaming in the land of “I told you so” and regrets. At twenty-five I was already divorced ,broken and battered in the battle field of life by a blatantly barbaric entity called love. The man for whom I gave up everything to be with threw me out on the streets with nothing but a copy of our divorce papers and my life of course knowing how short it was now that we weren’t together. Having identified as a member of his gang I was vulnerable, the rival mafia groups would have used me for blackmail or tortured me for intel. Even then, I didn’t feel safe. Chances were I was being hunted by anyone on the long list of his bloodthirsty enemies.
Looking back at how I ended up alone and lonely so torn from the world, it wasn't anyone's fault but mine. Hell bent to rebelling against my conservative family since childhood I always got attracted to the bad boys and it all culminated to seeing light in the dark eyes of a gang member who promised me a new world where all my dark desires could come true and convinced me to throw away my old one and for him I abandoned my family and friends. Fell head over heels in love with him and even at that moment when my world was in shambles somehow a part of me wanted to see him, run to his arms and cry my heart on his shoulder.
A loud knock on the door interrupted my stream of thoughts. I turned to look at my phone on the bedside table, it was eight in the evening. Another day spent behind closed doors and proof that I really was a train wreck. The intruder was persistent, it had to be the manager or one of the staff members. No one else within my small circle knew I was there and I had ensured I wasn’t followed. But still I couldn’t take any chances.
"Coming!" I grabbed my gun from under the pillow, rolled off the bed, slid into my fluffy sandals and slowly walked to the door then waited to hear and feel anything. After I was convinced it was safe I hid the gun and opened the door, his muscular frame was standing before me and I froze from both anger and surprise, shut the door in his face and opened it again hoping it was a memory lapse. Unluckily it wasn’t he cracked a forced smile and I felt all the anger and resentment seep through my sweat pores.
"I keep tabs on you, I know you don't want to ever see my face again after how we ended things but I didn't have anywhere else to go"
Suddenly he looked terrified, so unusual for a man who could get away with almost anything on the streets of Fort canon city.
"What do you want Damon? And where are your men" I finally found my voice.
"You're the only one I trust and time is a luxury I can't afford right now" he looked around suspiciously, "Can we please talk from inside it's not safe out here"
"What's going on?" I asked this time with more concern.
He pushed me back inside and shut the door behind us. His touch made my skin crawl with nostalgia. I avoided his Intense grey eyes lest I be tempted to grab his tattered bald head and chew those lips off his face.
"I'm being followed by very dangerous men. And if they catch me I'm dead. Take this" he gave me a silver chain with a cross and peeped through the window, "they are here. Dress up and leave through the fire escape. Now!"
I was still very confused but the intense with which he spoke and based on the fact that I once trusted him…still did…I quickly put on my trousers grabbed my purse shoes and a leather jacket.
"Don't trust anyone with that. I'll hold them off and give you time to run" he took out his gun and checked the mag, "Go! Run and don't stop until you're far away from this city"
"Please, be careful. You should get out when you still can. Let's run together we can go somewhere they can't find us"
"I didn't choose this life I was born into it. I thought by treating you harshly you were going to leave on your own volition and you didn't so I divorced you to give you a way out. I'm sorry for dragging you back in again. If I don't make it. I'm sorry for everything" he pushed me out and shut the sliding window.
As I ran down the fire escape what would be his last words echoed in my head until the guns started blazing. I stopped and thought of running back to help him after all it was for better for worse until death, to tell him that we could still make it work but I saw his bloody face on the window pane with a smoking hole in his forehead and it still screamed at me to run. So I ran because my life depended on it. That’s how I ended up being number one on the most wanted list of the underworld. Trust me, as much as it sounds fun that’s a list you don’t want your name on because anyone and anything could end your life in a second.
In the penthouse of one of the tallest and most guarded buildings in the city, a team of half naked masseuses was working on a huge tattered back of a bald man. They massaged his body with precision of a sculptor and all he did was groan. The room was decorated with Japanese décor from the curtains, utensils and the furniture. There was a soft knock on the door and a massive armed piece of a human being walked in dressed in black. With him was a ringing burner phone.
“Who the Fuck is it?”
“He says it’s important”
The man lying on his belly rolled off the bed grabbing a towel. He signaled the ladies to leave the room. He took the phone and dissappeared through a secret back door to his office where he poured a drink from his mini bar and stood right in front of his floor to ceiling window giving him a clear view of the beautiful night skyline with a few stars sneaking out, the sprawling city was sprouting back to life. He took a sip of his drink and exhaled slowly. Clearly, he knew what the call was about. With a heavy heart he called back pacing up and down like a caged lion.
“Speak!”
“He is dead”
“And the dossier?”
“It’s not here. Looks like he gave it to someone…”
He angrily smashed the glass on the wall.
“Who? I want it found, I don’t care if you have to burn this city to the ground use all the resources at your disposal to find it or it’s over for us and most of the families you hear me? Who is the someone?”
“A lady. We don’t have a name yet…”
“Emily Dawson. He never got over that bitch. Find her. Put a word out there I want her found. You get the dossier kill her without it I want her alive I’ll reap it our of her!” he angrily hung up an screamed like a bear.
It was a war cry.