Heart Thief Read online

  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.

  It’s a small black jewelry box with the words Shiny Jewels by Ward Brothers blazoned across it in a squiggly font. My eyes widen, going between the box and my sister’s beautiful face.

  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.