EVIL QUEEN - Rebel Hart Page 0,102
the sliding glass doors of the balcony and slipped outside into the night. I looked around, making sure no one was looking. Then as quickly and as quietly as I could, I made my way down the fire escape. I rushed over to the SUV once I got to the parking lot and jumped into the vehicle, immediately pressing the button to start it. I was grateful for the hybrid, which had a near-silent engine and a built-in navigation system, and it seemed my luck was finally turning around.
I waited until I was free of the parking lot to press the button to initiate the navigation. “Where would you like to go?” it asked in a robotic tone.
“Emmesk Penitentiary,” I said out loud, and the navigation immediately hopped to attention, calculating the directions. I was about two hours away, but that was fine. Putting that distance between my babysitters and me would ease my tension bit by bit.
Traveling back into Maine put a knot in the pit of my stomach. I imagined the bright red At Large stamp next to my mugshot in the Maine Offender Database and knew that if I got caught by so much as a mall security guard, I’d be going back to prison for the rest of my life. If I had any other choice, I wouldn’t be doing this, but it was the only option I had left. Briscoe and Dante had taken everything from me, and I ripped up my contact list to keep them from getting it.
The only number I had memorized was Cherri’s, but she didn’t answer when I got the chance to call, not that I could blame her. She thought I was dead, so it probably just looked like a solicitor call to her.
I made my way further and further upstate until I was driving into the parking lot of Emmesk Penitentiary, the place that had been my home for the past couple of years. I swore on my life that I wouldn’t come back to this place, and I wished to any god listening that I had another choice. The only person who was bound to be more upset with me for being back here than I was upset with myself was the one person who I promised would never see me again.
Hopefully, he’d forgive me.
My heart pounded as I walked up to the front door of the building. Everything about it felt wrong, but I also knew that I was entering a sphere of influence that might keep me safe for a little bit longer. Still, I threw up my hood and kept my head down as I entered.
Inside, the place was as cold and unwelcoming as I remembered. It gave me a sense of dread, just standing in the lobby, and my anxiety was through the roof, knowing that if I made one wrong move, they would drag me back to a cell. Yet, I walked with confidence, right up to the front desk.
“Good afternoon, welcome to Emmesk Peni—” The man at the desk looked up, and his jaw dropped. “Deon.”
“Hey, Lupe,” I replied. “I need to talk to Venom.”
“He’s going to rip your throat out if he sees you here,” Lupe responded. “You’re on my fucking wanted list. What kind of balls do you have, man?”
“Do you think I’m here to take a walk down memory fucking lane?” I hissed. “It’s important.”
Lupe let out a deep sigh. “Fuck. You’re gonna cost me my job.”
“No, Venom will look out for you. Just bring me back.”
He stood up and motioned me toward the metal detectors. I held out the key fob. I didn’t have anything else on me or to my name. Lupe murmured a few words to the guards who were handling the metal detectors, and then one of them motioned me through. I passed through the metal detectors, and only after getting a thorough pat-down was I eventually ushered through the heavy, concrete doors. When they slammed behind me, my stomach lurched, and my head started to hurt. The murmur of prisoners and the tension of the guards settled around me, and I felt like I was going to be sick. It was familiar in the worst kind of way.
Eventually, though, I got to the visiting room. Lupe knocked on the door, and a guard opened it and looked out at me. He rolled his eyes, whispered, “Shit,” and then yelled into the room. “All right! Visiting hours are over. Say your goodbyes!”
A few people tried to protest, and I felt bad, knowing how much I yearned for visits from my mom. I hated it when they got cut short. Desperate times called for desperate measures, though.
I kept my head low as other guards led the outgoing visitors through the exit, and then I was led in and instructed to sit in the chair at the centermost visiting station. I was separated by a piece of plexiglass from the hell I’d lived in for two years, and it was doing a variety of things to my stomach and head. Even my vision blurred.
After about five minutes, the door on the other side of the plexiglass opened, and Venom came waltzing in. He was cuffed at the wrists and the ankles, and when he looked over and saw me, his eyes narrowed into a steely glare, but I smiled. For all the awful sensations, Venom’s tall, thick build, chocolate brown skin, and bald head were a sight for sore eyes.
They sat him down across from me, and he reached forward, pushing the maximum reach his chains and cuffs allowed to grab the phone and put it to his ear.
“Son, I don’t want you to think I ain’t happy to see ya, but I thought I told ya to stay away from here.”
Behind bars, people sometimes forged pseudo-families. My pseudo-dad was Venom.
“What’s goin’ on, Pop?” I asked. “And I know, but I need some help. I tried to use some of your contacts, but I had to come directly to the source.”
“What do you need?” he asked.
“Someone’s hunting me, but I need to find him first.”
“Who’s that?” Venom asked.
My eyes narrowed. “My father.”
IMPORTANT AUTHOR’S NOTES:
Thank you for reading Evil Queen! Don’t miss the final book EVIL VILLAIN from Deon and Cherri’s point of view. And if you loved this book, consider leaving a review on Amazon. Just 1 or 2 lines would be amazing. Thank you!
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Rebel Hart is an author of Contemporary and Dark Romance novels. All her books are FREE in Kindle Unlimited. Check them out at author.to/RebelHart.
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