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PROLOGUE
STELLA
KAI: Are you coming tonight Dollface?
Gasping for air and with trembling fingers, I nervously type my reply.
ME: Yes, I'll be there. Getting ready now.
KAI: See you there, Dollface.
There it goes again, my heart skipping a goddamn beat.
I can’t stop myself from smiling down at my phone, rereading the text messages repeatedly like a giddy teenage girl, while I sit on my bed in nothing but my pink fluffy bathrobe, fresh from the shower I abruptly ended when I heard my phone chime go off.
Desperate and pathetic.
I knew it would be him. No one texts me but him.
Instead of sitting here naked and anxious, I should get ready for this party I’m supposed to be going to. After all, being a member of the Silver Dynasty, I must make myself presentable for every event, no matter where I go. You never know who I might run into.
I can meet the fucking Queen of England for all I care. All I can do is sit here rereading the messages, contemplating how horribly tonight will go if he ends up showing up with someone else.
It’s all I’ve been able to think about lately.
Malachi Saint has taken up residence in my mind and isn't planning on leaving soon. Like a bothersome pest infesting my every thought, or that second cousin twice removed who’s overstayed their welcome. It’s not like I’m planning on evicting him either. For once in my life, my mind isn’t vacant, though instead it’s overwhelmingly filled with wild thoughts of the dangerous boy with the crooked smile.
What would happen if I told him how I feel? What would he do if I let him see my crazy?
Would he run away or stay and fight? Would he save me from myself?
All these terrifying questions run rampant in my mind, but I am even more afraid of finding the answers to them than I am about actually saying them out loud.
What if he doesn't feel the same way? What if he sees I'm not worth the effort?
I’ve probably blown this entire idea up in my head, concocting stories that don’t exist, and scenarios that will never occur.
I'm nothing special. I've never been more than a shadow taking up space, silently lurking in the background, alone and out of the way. An inconsequential being, someone no one would miss were I to disappear. Sure, some would note my absence, but in the end, they’d move on. An empty seat at an already vacant dinner table, a lonesome chair in a classroom full of fifty plus students, one less spoiled teenager who’d lose out on her daddy’s trust fund. There is no one on this fucking Earth that my inexistence would maim.
Malachi is the type of person who would definitely be missed. He has his choice of female companions wanting and waiting, in a line a mile long, who’d ache for him. Few, but faithful friends. No family except the one he found for himself, which turned out to be everything he was searching for. It’s like he demands attention wherever he goes. The wicked bad boy disguised as a sweet boy next door, except hidden under the cheeky smile, lies a tortured soul almost as melancholic as mine.
We hide it well yet are an open book. Oh, the irony.
He shines bright, while I fade into darkness.
Why would I be different to him when I'm invisible to everyone else?
The answer is I'm not, and he's nothing but my friend. That’s all he’ll ever be because I won’t dare fuck this up.
I can’t.
Darkness flows through, consuming the surrounding light. Harsh wind’s force nearby branches to tap vigorously against my window, foreshadowing the impending events of tonight.
“Stella!”
Suddenly I hear him yell angrily from downstairs, the perturbing tone of his voice instantly making my body tremble in fear. It’s like my muscle memory kicks in, my brain alerting my body of the incoming danger, sending me into fight-or-flight mode.
Before I answer, I look over at the digital clock on my nightstand. 9:00 PM. This can’t be good. He’s usually out and about, wreaking havoc at one of his casinos until well past midnight.
