Butterflies & Vicious Lies (Fractured Rhymes Book 1)

I’VE KEPT tabs on her over the years. She may have deleted her social media when she fled from me, but I found ways to stay up-to-date on what Posie Davenport had been up to. I know all the ways she’s changed her hair over the years, and I know the names of each of the ballets she’s performed in. I know the names of the friends she left at Juilliard, and I know the names of the men she kissed after me. Even if there were only two.

All my calculated planning made me ready for this moment. I was prepared to come face-to-face with her after all this time.

Or I thought I was.

No amount of planning could have prepared me for what it would be like to be in a room with the girl that destroyed my life. The anger that rages in my soul flares and the flames burn just beneath my skin. There is a plan—my plan—in place for her, but I’m so close to saying fuck it to all of it and dealing with her now.

The thing that stops me is knowing that it would be too fast. She needs to feel the pain she caused for herself, and she needs to experience the same kind of havoc she inflicted on me. On my family.

I want to see her break just like she broke me.

She’s shorter than I remember her being, but then again, I’ve grown not only in height but in muscle mass since we were last in the same room together. She’s also thinner than she ever was, but her lean muscles felt defined under my hands when I pulled her in here. The intense training and dedicated workout routines have made her strong.

Her straight, light-brown hair has more blonde at the ends than I remember, and it’s several inches longer than she used to wear it. I’m not complaining, the long strands make it easy for me to hold her in place, and the harsh traction on her scalp keeps her from fighting too much.

The one thing that hasn’t changed is the sugary citrus scent that clings to her skin. It fills my nose, assaulting me with memories of our tainted past. There were times I would dream of her and her betrayal and wake up smelling it faintly in the air.

I never tried to forget her or force myself to move on. Instead, I clung to those memories and used them to fuel me. They were like kerosene for my anger. While it raged on, it pushed me to work harder and become what I am today.

And that’s why I laugh when she says my name like she still has any idea who I am. She doesn’t know me. Posie doesn’t know the man she forced me to become. This version of me wouldn’t exist if it weren’t for her treacherous actions.

“I’ve waited so long for this,” I growl, taking in a deep lungful of her intoxicating scent to stoke my flame-like fury. “What did I tell you that night on the street?” The night everything changed.

My hand increases pressure on her skull, pressing her harder into the drywall. The small whimper of pain delights me, encouraging me to keep going. When she doesn’t immediately answer me like I want, I decide to do just that. With my free hand, I twist her arm behind her back and manipulate it as far as I can without popping it from its socket.

Posie cries out louder this time, tears running from her pale honey-colored eyes and down her cheek.

“What did I tell you?” I grit out.

“That you … hate me,” she chokes between broken sobs.

I laugh at this. “Of course, that’s the part you’d fixate on.” She was supposed to be the one person I could never hate. Instead, she’s become the one thing I despise the most. “What else did I tell you, Posie?”

Her tongue swipes out, wetting her bottom lip, while she takes strained, panting breaths. That’s it. Breathe through the pain, Butterfly. It’s a skill I’m well acquainted with myself.

Finally, she repeats, word for word, the threat I’d spoken that night while surrounded by police cars and rain soaking through our clothes. “That I better enjoy the time I have away from you, because one day you were going to find me and I was going to pay for what I did.”

Releasing the hold I have on her, I spin her and force her spine to press against the white wall. The panic and dread in her eyes satisfy the sadistic monster purring inside of me. I feel alive staring down at her, something I haven’t felt in so long. Her terror awakens the pieces of me I thought were long dead.

My head dips toward her and her chin tips up, as if on muscle-memory alone. This position is so familiar, but it doesn’t feel like it used to. The air that crackles between us is full of sinister intentions and hatred.

“You’re out of time, Butterfly. Welcome home.”

The nickname I’d given her early in our youth no longer holds sweet sentimental value as I say it. It’s said with venom and a deadly promise. Taking hold of her jaw, my fingers dig into her skin as I force her to remain still. She tries to pull out of reach as my tongue wipes away the salty tears on her cheek. “Delicious,” I praise. “Your tears now mean more to me than you ever did.”

The pain shines across her pretty face, and when she tries to look away from me again, I allow it. “Raff, you don’t have to do this…” Her voice is scratchy as emotion continues to fill her throat. “I know you don’t want me here, but I have a year left of school and then I’ll be gone. You never have to see me again. I’ll stay out of your way, you won’t even know that I’m here.”

I tsk her and take a step back from her small frame. She wipes at the cheek I just licked, like she can remove the invisible burn left there.

“Bargaining isn’t a good look on you. It’s also a waste of both our time.” In the fray of getting her inside this classroom, her leather shoulder bag had fallen to the ground. Her things are scattered around our feet. The toe of my well-broken-in leather boot kicks a yellow envelope across the tile floor. “And who says I don’t want you here? You’re precisely where I need you to be.”

Her eyes widen at this. She has no idea the strings I’ve pulled to put all this in motion. And each one was so worth it. I’d call in all the favors I’ve collected over the years to have her right here with waves of fear seeping from her pores.

“I’ll be in touch soon, Posie,” I promise darkly. “But in the meantime, be a good girl and stick to yourself. After all, you’re not here to make friends or enjoy your time.”

The stubbornness and strength I remember so clearly settle in her flushed face as she glares at me. “Who the fuck do you think you are telling me what I can or can’t do? You have no right to order me around, Rafferty.”

Charging forward a step, reclaiming the space I’d just allotted her, I slam my fist against the wall beside her head. “I know exactly who the fuck I am, and you’re about to fucking learn yourself.” Eyes flicking over her once more, I back away toward the door. “Just one last warning before I go; stay the fuck away from my brother. You’ve caused him enough pain.”

Posie’s actions had many repercussions but watching what it’s done to my brother has been the hardest part of all this. While that night changed me, it destroyed the person my brother once was. It made him an empty shell of a human.

I have no interest in hearing her speak anymore, so before she can argue, I spin around and exit the room. Excitement and rage create a dangerous mixture in my bloodstream as I leave the building.