Just Love Me Darling

The Scars She Hid From The World

REGINA MCBRIDE

The heavy iron gates of the Wilderness Correction Camp groaned as they released me after three years of state-sponsored hell. I stood on the dirt road, clutching a plastic bag that held my entire life, waiting for the family that claimed they sent me there for "rehab." My brother, Brady, picked me up in a luxury SUV only to throw me out onto a deserted highway in the middle of a brewing storm. He told me I was a "public relations nightmare" and that the rain might finally wash the "stink" of the camp off me. He drove away, leaving me to limp miles through the mud on a snapped ankle. When I finally dragged myself to our family estate, my mother didn't offer a hug; she gasped in horror because my muddy clothes were ruining her Italian marble. They didn't give me my old room back. Instead, they banished me to a moldy gardener’s shack and hired a "babysitter" to make sure I didn't embarrass them further. My sister, Kaleigh, stood there in white cashmere, pretending to cry while clinging to her fiancé, Ambrose—the man who had once been mine. They all treated me like a volatile junkie, refusing to acknowledge that Kaleigh was the one who planted the drugs in my bag three years ago. They wanted to believe I was broken so they wouldn't have to feel guilty about the "wellness retreat" that was actually a torture chamber. I sat in the dark of that shed, feeling the cooling gel on the cigarette burns that covered my arms, and realized they had made a fatal mistake. They thought they had erased me, but I had returned with a roadmap of scars and a hidden satellite phone. At dinner, I didn't beg for their love. I simply rolled up my sleeves and showed them the price of their silence. As the wine spilled and the lies crumbled, I sent a single text to the only person I trusted: "I'm in. Let them simmer." The hunt was finally on.

Modern Revenge Scheming

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CHAPTER 1

*I'm getting married to Lucia.You have to be happy for me.Her family's fortune will change my life.You have nothing to offer me,Daphne but I still love you.I want you to secretly be my mistress.*

Those were the words of her boyfriend of five years.

Those words reverberated in Daphne Howard's head over and over again.

She thought her family's background didn't matter to him.She thought he had loved her,unconditionally.Were the memories?Was everything they went through together so easy to throw away?

How could he do this to her?

And he had the nerves to suggest she becomes his mistress?!

His other woman?

His dirty little secret!

Daphne might not be a perfect woman but she knew her worth.She had great self esteem and would never settle for less.She had bluntly told Jacob that it was over between them.She would never be his mistress or anything to him ever again.

But the pain of the break up was still very fresh in her heart.She leaned against the window,devastatingly.She was in a cab when she caught sight of a club.

She sat up and quickly told the driver to pull over.She just wanted to distract herself.Do anything to get over this pain.

Daphne hurried up to the entrance of the club but she was stopped by two bouncers.

"The club's having a mask party tonight.Everyone has to be on masks."They informed her.

Sighing,she bought a mask by the side,put it on and walked into the club.She immediately went to the counter where she sat and order some alcoholic drinks.

She downed bottles after bottles,wanting to drink her sorrows away.Vaguely,she noticed a man sitting beside her.

He was also on a mask and elegantly sipping his glass of wine.

Daphne's drunk senses took notice of how gorgeous he looked in his suit.She instantly had a feeling that he must have a very handsome face.

As she continued to gush over him,she longed to be in a man's arms tonight.

Without thinking twice,not that she would be able to think twice in her alcohol filled brain,she got off her chair and staggered closer to him.

"Hello there."She purred."Wanna spend the night with me?"

The man only stared at her for a second and to her surprise,he nodded.

**********

Few minutes later found them walking into an hotel room.

As the man turned on the light,Daphne closed the distance between them,stood on her toes and kissed him.

He wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed her back,passionately.

As he took nibbles after nibbles of her lips,Daphne thought about how much she had loved it when Jacob kisses her.