The Dark Secret of the CEO by Sofia de Orellana

“You’re holding up better than I thought,” Bart says, leaning against my bedroom’s door frame.

I sit on my bed, feeling a bit numb.

I had changed into my nightgown after going up to my room, while all the others either went to theirs, or decided to go and hunt. Apparently, Richard’s order was for them all to reside here, but they are free to move around London City. I think Rebecca, Anna, Grace and Cecily went to party downtown, while the others decided to hunt on their own or ruminate in their rooms. I can hear Lancelot a floor below, probably on the phone with vampires on the other side of the Atlantic. I lie down in the middle of my bed. There’s no way I’ll be able to sleep though. My vampire heart is back to beating slowly, but if it was still a human one, I can tell it would be going crazy from everything that unfolded. I feel like everything that was said within the last couple of hours is just some crazy movie of somebody else’s life…Daily Latest update www.noveljar.com

“…It doesn’t feel real,” I mutter. “All of this. It’s as if I just… dreamt the two last days, and I’m going to wake up in that cold hotel room by myself.”

“Well, sorry to disappoint you, Baby Vamp, but that just won’t happen.”

“I think I’m… hiding. Hiding behind a thin, thin wall before it all crashes down and the truth comes to hit me.”

He closes the door and slowly walks over, taking a seat at the end of my bed, fingers interlaced on his lap.

“…Is it hard to believe?”

“It’s insane,” I scoff.

“You said you never loved that guy. But you loved your ex. So why do I feel like I’m missing the bigger picture there?”

“…Something happened,” I mutter, unable to look him in the eye. “Rick and I had to… go our separate ways. We belonged to different worlds, and it became… harder and harder to just stick together. I made some mistakes… Things I did and I couldn’t undo. …And Charles was there for me. It’s as simple as that.”

“Sounds like a lot of regrets.”Daily Latest update www.noveljar.com

“You have no idea.”

Every single glance back on my life, I see regrets. Every time, someone I didn’t hold back, something I didn’t say, somewhere I didn’t go. Perhaps Bart was right. Perhaps this whole new life is so easy to accept for me because I’m afraid, scared to look back on June Starr’s pathetic life and for reality to hit me like a meteorite crash. I hate being questioned, because I can’t even bear to question myself. I picked every bad road and the deeper I got into the woods, the harder it was to admit I wanted to run back.

“Why do you think Richard is so focused on looking into my death?” I whisper.

Bart frowns faintly, visibly deeply pondering as well. He glances at the door, and slowly shakes his head.

“It’s hard to know what an Overlord thinks, Baby. My guess is, there’s got to be something bigger around your death that Richard wants to look into. First, I’m curious as to why he bothered to go to New Amsterdam for you.”

“You mean New York City.”Daily Latest update www.noveljar.com

“Whatever. Richard never goes overseas, Hera. Never. The last time I ever saw him go anywhere was France, and that was in the eighteenth century. Overlords don’t typically leave their territories, it’s just… too dangerous. They usually stick to their own while all of us pray it stays that way. Vampire wars are ugly. Grace, Lance and the others have friends in every country, and we’re free to go around, but Overlords stick to their own territories, and I’m pretty sure some of them still use good old-fashioned letters to stay in touch.”

like I was Richard’s…

that prompted Richard to not create more of us and wait to see what the humans were doing for a while. Some Heartgraves have never reappeared since World War II, Hera. Juliet was the last child transformed before you, and I thought Richard was done making new vampires, to

“Then, why…?” I mutter.

we might get more clues. To

I had kind of

terrified,” I suddenly blurt

clutch around my throat, and that heavy feeling in my heart.

manipulated until I killed myself. How

you’re the victim

lost my mom when I was four, and I loved her. I was young, but I remember I was happy with her. I lost her and I had to move into a cold, big house with complete strangers who couldn’t bring me the smallest comfort. After that, I lost my only best friend, and I lost the one man I ever loved. I even… I even lost my cat! I lost… every single person who mattered to me. Every time I had a chance at happiness, it vanished. I thought I’d never get better, but I had Charles. Charles was always there, and I had been holding on to that, thinking perhaps I’d work something out, that maybe we’d be okay, until it wasn’t enough anymore. Now,

grief, Baby,”

jaw almost drops, and I can’t help but glare. Is he for real? He’s giving me the psychoanalyst

just how it is. They’re not… a hundred percent accurate for everybody, but you’re definitely in denial

“Fuck you.”

“You wish.”

roll my eyes, not amused at all. Bart tilts

your ex-fiancé being your potential murderer was not what

hit the nail right on the head. I stare at the dark sky outside the window. I still get my heart doing crazy jumps whenever I dare to think about Rick…

suddenly pushes me down

to bed before you think

think I can sleep,” I groan, feeling

a pain in the butt… Then what do you want to do? You’re not thirsty

I shake my head.

we play games?” I

raises an

threw at me all

surprised by my request, but he still goes to grab a couple of consoles, and we lay down side by side on my bed,

I? It’s too much, it’s too big. I keep replaying all the memories of Charles and I. He always said he loved me, but no matter what, I couldn’t force my heart to shift in that direction.

eat. Charles had recommended I stay inside, to ignore the bad press, but there were always gossip magazines left around. I couldn’t go out without telling him… At the time, he always reassured me those were for the better, for me. Then, how come there was absolutely nothing that made me feel better, in all this time? I had asked him to go to Montana, but the house was being renovated, it was a no. I wanted to go back to California, but every time, he canceled at the last minute, telling me some fans had found out about our trip, or he had something come up at work. I literally had nobody else to turn to. Everytime I tried to work again, the answer was that the agency didn’t have any offers for me. My previous manager had quit, so

the more the Heartgraves’ words make sense. The more I replay our memories together, the more I realize just how much it doesn’t add up. …And the angrier I get. I try to focus on the monster to beat up, my fingers furiously smashing the console’s buttons. Bart gives me a glance. I don’t see that stupid monster on the screen, I

“Baby.”

crying, grunting, raging against the mattress who didn’t ask for so much, while Bart just stares and waits. It’s like all my anger, my pain and