Innocence (Tales of Olympus #1)
Stasia Black & Lee Savino
I’m king of the criminal underworld.
I always get what I want.
And she’s my obsession.
Cora is new to the city of sin.
Her innocent blue eyes beg for me to claim her.
But I’m not the billionaire she thinks I am.
There’s a darkness within me.
And Cora is a shining light.
She’s beautiful. A virgin.
I’m ruthless. A beast.
She found me for a reason.
She’ll be my queen.
I’ll give her everything that her heart desires.
Except for one thing.
Her freedom.
She’s mine to keep, and I’m never letting her go.
Prologue
Cora knew she was dreaming.
She stood on the rooftop of a high-rise, goosebumps rising on her skin at the glorious view. Beside her stood the man who gave her everything, his face shadowed.
“It’s beautiful.” The city lights glittered like jewels in a black velvet night. The whole world laid at her feet.
“It’s mine,” Marcus told her. “Everything you see belongs to me.”
She wore a red dress and heels with slender straps winding up her legs. Her wrists bore silver cuffs. Her ring flashed red as she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.
“Everything?” She leaned against the ledge, striking a pose. The old Cora, country girl Cora would never be so brazen. The old Cora was a sheltered virgin, sweet and naive.
The old Cora was dead.
Marcus’s footsteps echoed as he stalked to her. “Everything.” The lines beside his grey eyes crinkled.
He grasped her hips and lifted her onto the ledge. Giggles escaped as her chest tightened. Before her stood the man she loved. Behind her, a dark expanse. An endless chasm.
“Marcus.” She clutched his broad shoulders. The wind ripped at her garments and tugged her golden hair.
He caught her wrists and forced her hands back.
“Do you trust me?”
“Yes,” she whispered. Her fingers fluttered. The garnet in her engagement ring caught the light.
Marcus moved closer as if to kiss her. She angled her face towards his—
—and he shoved her off the ledge. Her hands reached for him, her dress streaming around her floating body as Marcus grew further and further away.
The night rose up, surrounded, swallowed her. The city lights swirled, a dizzying kaleidoscope. One by one, the lights went out and Cora tumbled into darkness.
Cora jerked awake. Marcus’s dark head was on the pillow beside hers, the shadows under his eyes lighter with sleep. The sight of him anchored her, grounding her spinning senses, the weightless sensation. If she closed her eyes, she was still falling.
Smoothing her pillow, Cora settled in. In the dark confines of Marcus’s bedroom, she was safe.
Safe from everyone but him.
One
3 months earlier…
Cora sat coloring with little Timmy when his parents started up in the other room. Again.
“You know I hate this shit, Diana. I don’t see why I have to go.”
“Maybe because I expect my husband to support me when my firm wins a big case!”
Cora grabbed her phone and turned on the playlist Timmy loved best. He was three years old and apart from the occasional tantrum, he was a sweetheart. It wasn’t his fault his parents didn’t know how to use their inside voices.
The opening strains of I’m Walking on Sunshine started pounding out of her phone’s surprisingly good speakers, drowning out the parental dramatics in the other room.
“Rolly monster time!” Cora said, grabbing Timmy out of his chair and lifting him in the air. Whew, she was getting some serious ab and arm muscles out of this job.
Timmy giggled and she breathed out in relief. Distraction managed.
She put Timmy on the floor and he immediately assumed the position, laying down on his back in the center of the play room. Cora cleared out the toys around him so he had a clear space to move and wouldn’t hurt himself by rolling over stray Legos and magnatiles.
“Cora rolly monster, too,” he demanded, except he couldn’t say his ‘r’s so it came out sounding like ‘Cowa wowy monsta too.’
Cora pursed her lips like she was thinking about it, but she grinned and dropped to the ground, lying down next to him.
“You ready?” she asked.
“Yes!”
“All right. Staaaaaaaaaaaaaart rolling!”
They both started rolling across the floor. The giggles began immediately. The playroom was huge, especially considering the Donahues lived in the prime real estate of the Upper East End. They could afford a live-in nanny like Cora, so they obviously weren’t hurting when it came to the bank account. Too bad the money didn’t seem to be able to buy them happiness.
Timmy finally reached the wall and Cora kept on rolling until her body smashed into his. “Uh oh! Collision! You know what this means.”
Timmy squealed when she started tickling him.
“You gotta escape and start rolling again. That’s the only way out.”
She shifted him so he could wriggle over the top of her and off the other side. He started to roll away.