Page 112 of Burn for Her
“Now look at what you did.” Her mother’s tone cut into her spine and made it soften.
“I’m sorry.”
“You’re always sorry. I wish we never had you. So much trouble for so little reward. You cost us billions.”
“I didn’t ask to be born.”
“We made a mistake having you. You bring shame to our name.”
“I’ve built your legacy into something better!” And Lena had. She invested all the money she could into people who were following their dreams. Making ripples, movements, shaping communities and bettering life for others. Scholarships, small businesses, community centers… “I made your name worth something more than a ski slope.”
Silence rang in her ears. Tears spilled down her cheeks, hot and angry.
She wasn’t worthless, but her mother never saw it that way after she’d lost her family that property in Vermont. They had a child for the wrong reasons. Maybe her mother was right… she should have never been born.
Her mother vanished.
“I want one person to love me as I am,” she said into the void. “I’m not a teacup. I’m not delicate and fancy. You can’t paint flowers on me and call me something else.” Her throat tightened. She stared at her feet. Porcelain fragments lay scattered across the floor in blood. “I’m too strong for your world…” She slowly lowered to the ground. “I don’t even want to be in your world.” She wasn’t even sure who she was talking to at this point. Her mother? Herself? Someone else?
It didn’t matter. Lena dropped down and braced herself on hands and knees. She stared at the blood on the floor, a terrible desire rising out of her. Everything fell away except for the red on the ground. Lena leaned down and froze.
Her heart hammered. Her emotions ran amok.
Then, the two Lena’s fused together. The one floating and watching fell into the other on all fours. She sucked in a deep breath and smelled…
Dorian.
His name was a balm to her aching heart. “Dorian.” On all fours, in her ruined pink dress, Lena lowered her face down to the floor and licked the blood, not giving a shit about anything else. Not the shards of porcelain, not the opinions of others, not her past, not her present. Nothing mattered except getting exactly what she wanted.
That. Blood.
She dragged her tongue across the floor, letting the spilled blood coat her tongue. Sitting back on her haunches, she ran her fingers through the puddle and made lines across the pristine white floor. Her dress soaked it up like a sponge, turning from pale pink to a deep crimson.
Dorian.
She tipped her head up, expecting the sun to hit her face. “Dorian?” she called out into the nothingness.
Heat bloomed in her center and spread through her body. An aching hollowness was carved into her heart. She clasped her chest and whimpered with longing. Rising, she had to find a way out. “I don’t belong here anymore.” Lena stumbled away from the broken cup and her broken past, searching the void for a way out.
“Dorian,” she cried. “Where are you?”
Surrounded in silence, Lena didn’t know how to get out.
“Lena,” a deep voice stole the air from her lungs. A mirror appeared in front of her. Dashing towards it, she saw she was no longer wearing a blood-stained pink dress, but a black gown of pure lace which hugged every curve she possessed. A deep, plunging neckline showed off her breasts. The flare of her hips was enhanced. Her hair spilled in waves around her face, dark and thick.
“Lena.” The voice haunted her. Echoed in her bones.
“Where are you?” She braced her hands against the mirror’s frame. Her eyes glowed. Lips full and blood red. “I can’t find you.” Her heart lost its beat, tormented and aching. “Where are you?”
“Find me,” the voice purred. “Find me now…”
Ripped from her dream, Lena’s eyes popped open, and she sucked in a ragged breath, preparing to scream.
“Hey, hey!” Dorian was perched on top of her, cupping her face. “You were having a nightmare.”
Holy crap, that was terrifying. Lena clutched her chest, still feeling the echo of aching longing. Tears sprung from her eyes. She really needed to get a grip on herself, this was starting to wear her down.
“I lost you.” She gripped Dorian’s arms. And…. Ohhh God, he looked so scared for her.