HEART THIEF
A Sinister Fairytales Novel
BY KER DUKEY
Contents
Books by Ker Dukey
Blurb
Author Note
Introduction
1. Mona
2. Mona
3. Mona
4. Mona
5. Mona
6. Mona
7. Mona
8. Mona
9. Mona
10. Colt
11. Cash
12. Mona
13. Colt
14. Cash
15. Mona
16. Colt
17. Mona
18. Cash
19. Colt
20. Mona
21. Colt
22. Mona
23. Cash
24. Mona
25. Colt
26. Mona
Epilogue
Sinister Fairytales
Acknowledgments
About Ker Dukey
Copyright © 2020 Ker Dukey
Cover Design: Black Widow design
Photo: Adobe Stock
Editor: Word Nerd Editing
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. This book contains material protected under International and Federal Copyright Laws and Treaties. Any unauthorized reprint or use of this material is prohibited. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by an information and retrieval system without express written permission from the Author/Publisher.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Books by Ker Dukey
Empathy Series:
Empathy
Desolate
Vacant – Novella
Deadly – Novella
The Broken Series:
The Broken
The Broken Parts of Us
The Broken Tethers That Bind Us – Novella
The Broken Forever – Novella
The Men by Numbers Series:
Ten
Six
Drawn to You Duet:
Drawn to You
Lines Drawn
Standalone Novels:
Lost
I See You
The Beats in Rift
Devil
Royal Bastard MC Series:
Love In Lockdown (Bad Neighbor )
Animal (June 2nd)
Rage TBA
Dukey’s Dark Delight titles. (Bite sized dark reads)
Stalk Her
Muse
Co-Written with D. Sidebottom
The Deception Series:
FaCade
Cadence
Beneath Innocence – Novella
The Lilith’s Army MC Series:
Taking Avery
Finding Rhiannon
Coming Home TBA
Co-Written with K Webster
The Pretty Little Dolls Series:
Pretty Stolen Dolls
Pretty Lost Dolls
Pretty New Doll
Pretty Broken Dolls
The V Games Series:
Vlad
Ven
Vas
KKinky Reads Collection:
Share Me
Choke Me
Daddy Me
Watch Me
Hurt Me
Play Me
Joint Series
Four Fathers Series:
Blackstone by J.D. Hollyfield
Kingston by Dani René
Pearson by K Webster
Wheeler by Ker Dukey
Four Sons Series:
Nixon by Ker Dukey
Hayden by J.D Hollyfield
Brock by Dani René
Camden by K Webster
The Elite Seven Series:
Lust – Ker Dukey
Pride – J.D. Hollyfield
Wrath – Claire C. Riley
Envy – M.N.Forgy
Gluttony – K Webster
Sloth – Giana Darling
Greed – Ker Dukey & K Webster
Blurb
Heart Thief
Monsters come in many forms.
Some want shiny new toys to play with—others want blood.
Mona Walters dreams of adventure, of a world beyond the shoreline she’s confined to. She yearns for vibrancy in her dull, mundane existence, but succumbs to the bleakness.
Until the necklace her sister wore the night she was brutally murdered shows up on her door wrapped in a neat bow, fueling her to run away and seek out the person responsible for stealing her sister’s life.
Mona wished for more—for color in her gray world.
What she didn’t realize was just how much more she would get.
And that the world outside her own was soaked in red—blood red.
The world she dreamed of is made of nightmares.
A rich, influential world of two brothers—and once they have her in their sights, they plan to keep her there.
Her father kept her secluded for a reason.
Be careful what you wish for.
There's a thief out there, and he's coming for Mona's heart.
Author Note
This story has dark themes with scenes that can be upsetting to the sensitive reader.
Please read with caution.
For the heartless souls and the assholes who made us this way.
Introduction
Heart Thief
by
Ker Dukey
I knew from the minute I met you you were the villain and the hero in my story.
You were a thief.
You stole my heart straight from the prison caging it.
One
Mona
Twelve years old…
Da-dum. Da-dum. Da-dum.
Closing my eyes, I listen to Clara’s heartbeat. It soothes mine into a rhythmic beat beneath the bone of the cage it’s sheltered inside. My eyes feel heavy, but I strain to keep them open, ignoring the burning.
“Sleep, Mona.” My sister’s words hum through her body, making her chest rumble beneath my cheek. I huddle closer, curling my body against hers.
“Will you be here when I wake up?” I ask, already knowing the lie she’ll give me.
“Of course.”
Liar, liar, tongue on fire.
She breathes, stroking her finger down my arm. “When you’re old enough, I’m going to steal you away from here. Show you all the wonders that live beyond this island,” she whispers, cautious not to be caught speaking of such things.
My mind drifts to the shoreline. Visions of our day play like a movie in my head. My sister dipping her toes into the water, my excited squeals as Eli gave chase, pretending to be the beast that lives in the depths of the waters.
“Daddy says we’re to take over as leaders once we’re old enough.” I sigh, hating the idea of having to stand up and preach words I don’t believe in to worshippers blinded by the promises our father gives them.
I feel her exhale, the chest I lay upon deflating. “Do you not want to see what’s beyond our life here, Mona?”
I do. So much. The water calls to me in my dreams, urging me to explore, to discover if the world beyond ours is truly as bad as father says.
“I want adventure,” I utter, hiding my smile against the fabric of her nightgown. Her small hand strokes through my hair as she says, “And you will have it. I promise. We’ll have it together.”
Looking around the dull gray room we share, nothing but a bed and dresser filling the
space, I breathe, “When?” I stare up into her brown oval eyes. Delight dances in them, making them almost appear amber.
“When you’re old enough, I promise.” She shifts. “Speaking of…” she says enthusiastically, moving me to sit up, pulling something from beneath the pillow, “I got your birthday present.”
Excitement warms my cheeks, tugging my lips into a grin. “But it’s not until next month.”
“Since when do I follow the rules?” She quirks a brow, her dark curly locks falling around her face. “Close your eyes,” she instructs in a giddy tone.
Doing as I’m told, I close my eyes and hold my hand out. Bumblebees buzz around my stomach, making me bounce a little on the mattress with anticipation.
A gentle weight placed in my palm alerts me to open my eyes.
Her long, unruly curls bounce around her shoulders as she becomes animated. “Go ahead, open it.”
With shaky fingers, I creak the lid open, my chest pounding. My stomach dips as I roam my eyes over the two silver chains sitting on a velvet pillow. Jewelry like this isn’t something you can get on our island. This must be from the city.
“Whoa,” I gasp, looking down at two silver chains with heart pendants hanging from them. They’re beautiful.
“There are two?”
“Yes,” she says, taking the box and pulling the chains free. “One for you, and one for me.” She unclasps one of the chains. “So no matter where I am, you know you own my heart and I love you.”
“Are you leaving me?” I choke out, the bees starting to sting instead of flutter.
“No. I’ll never leave you, Mona.” She leans forward to clasp the necklace in place around my neck. The small silver heart sits at the center of my chest, a little shiny red jewel twinkling in the corner of the heart. It’s then I notice the letter carved into the metal: C.
“C for Clara.” She smiles. “And I have M for Mona.” She slips the other necklace free and fastens it around her neck. My hand strokes over the C, joy beaming from inside me.
“I love it. Thank you.” I hug her tight and soak in the warmth of her embrace.
She lays back down and pulls me onto her chest again. I accept I’ll have to hide this from Father. The last girl to be found with jewelry from the outside world spent a year in father’s prison.
“Sleep, Mona. The darkness won’t consume you while I’m here,” Clara assures me.
My nightmares have been haunting me of a storm approaching.
Not tonight, though. She was right. Dreams of happiness and contentment fill my head as I drift to sleep.
But I was right too. She wasn’t there when I woke up.
Two
Mona
One month later…
Sand sinks beneath my feet, leaving echoes of my existence within the grains. Water swells and crashes, splashing my shins. The sun teases the horizon before heating my skin, bringing a glow to my flesh. I envision Clara looking up at the same sunrise, a smile on her pretty lips and an empty ache in her heart from missing me.
It’s been a month since she left in the night and didn’t return. I clutch the necklace she gave me, praying on the wind she’ll return for me.
“Mona.” I startle when Eli calls my name. I place the necklace back in the pocket of my dress as he comes racing from the tree line, his arms entangling around my waist, dragging me backward until we both fall into the sand, the sounds of our surprised chuckle tickling the air around us.
Father would disapprove of our playfulness, calling it frolicking. He calls Clara an unruly child, and I discern he’d use the same names for me if he saw how at ease and relaxed I am with showing my skin and being in Eli’s arms. Contact makes me feel alive, human. My father would see it as a flaw, an insult to him. With all his beliefs and rules, both his children want to escape him, can he not see how ironic that is? He keeps us secluded on an island in order to preserve our purity, and it only makes us want freedom.
“Why do you play near the water? You realize this will upset your father,” Eli whispers into my ear before releasing me. I crawl onto my knees as he swats the sand from his slacks.
“My father wants us to fear the water, so we never leave this place,” I state the truth. Even paddling is forbidden here. There are tales of a monster living in the ocean’s depths to stop us from wanting to cross it. Our island is a privately owned land bought by my father’s father over sixty years ago.
Despite us being only a couple of hours from a major city by boat, it feels like its own world. Most of us born here have never left this place. All outside influence is kept away. If it weren’t for the books snuck in by a few who get to leave, I wouldn’t understand anything about the outside world.
“This place is our home, Mona.” Eli exhales.
He hates my curious mind. He loves this island and me trapped on it.
My home is with Clara.
Reaching forward, he swipes a strand of hair from my cheek and smiles fondly at me. The silence tightens my stomach. Eli has always cared about Clara and me, but there are lingering looks when we’re alone that encourage me to think he sees me as more than a friend despite our five year age gap. Eli loves our life and believes in my father’s vision, all but when it comes to touching me when he shouldn’t. He scolds me for rule breaking, yet he breaks the worst one.
My eyes dip to his plump lips, my mind pondering what it would be like to kiss them, be kissed by him. Would it be like the storybooks? Enchanting? Life-altering?
“What are you thinking about?” he asks, his tongue swiping out to dampen his lips. I’ve been brought up to believe my thoughts are un-pure and my chastity should be kept for my husband only, but there’s a nagging voice inside me telling me my life is mine and I should do what I feel, not what I’m forced to.
Every thought that isn’t in line with the scripture tells me I’m unruly, but maybe there’s nothing wrong with that.
My father calls it darkness expelling God’s light. Corrupting the pure. What’s so great about being pure? We’re prisoners to his light, not the darkness.
“I wonder what it would be like to be kissed.” I shrug a shoulder, and a smile hooks the corner of my mouth when his eyes widen and appear to turn to glass.
“Do you want to be kissed?” He edges forward, blocking out the sunlight.
My body tilts toward him, my face an inch from his. Every exhale is his inhale. His lips part as his chest rises and falls more rapidly.
I open my mouth and whisper, “I do,” before pecking his nose, getting to my feet, and darting from the sand into the tree line.
“Brat,” he calls, giving chase.
My laughter sends birds flying from the treetops, my feet crunching leaves and branches beneath them as I run. I hear his approach and screech when he collides with me, taking me off my feet and spinning me. He deposits me against a large tree trunk, pushing my back against the bark.
He’s too close. Fire fills his eyes. “You know I can’t kiss you,” he says, but his body tells me something else.
“It’s my birthday,” I remind him. Reaching up, I pull his lips down on mine, and he doesn’t fight it.
The touch is sloppy, uncoordinated. Teeth clank against teeth, our inexperience apparent.
The earth doesn’t move, and my belly doesn’t dip. My life isn’t altered.
Disappointment sprouts roots inside me…and they slowly begin to grow.
Three
Mona
The house is quiet when I return. A sense of dread fills my belly every time I step over the threshold. Our house is on the border of our island, so close to the harbor, I can see it from my bedroom window. Many nights, I’ve thought about running, hiding on one of the food supply boats that go to the city to collect stock for the market we have here, but fear holds me hostage.
What if I were caught? Would father imprison me? Cleanse me of my sins? What if I wasn’t caught and made it to the city? Would the monsters father speaks of find me before Clara did?
Sadness blossoms in my chest as I creep within the house. I’m halfway through the living space when my father’s voice startles me. “You missed scripture reading this morning.” His words are as sharp as the edge of a knife. My heart kicks against my ribcage. I expected him to be at the church.
“I’m sorry, Father. I wanted to see the sunrise. It reminds me of Clara,” I murmur. Her name always evokes the same darkening of his features, a storm threatening in warning of its unpredictability. She’s his own flesh and blood, yet the pure disdain he had toward her, you’d think I was talking about a sinner from the outside world
Boom. Boom. Boom.
“Your sister broke our law. By leaving us, she invited sin into her heart.” His tone remains remarkably calm and controlled, sending a scurrying of goosebumps over my flesh. He’s the most dangerous when he tricks you with his serene demeanor. It’s so you let your guard down and don’t see the devil within.