Excerpt (unedited) His Word...Detraction

Good morning from the bloody cold Goldfields of Western Australia. The days are becoming nice (although they have been cold, the sun is coming out more), but the nights are still freezing - been around 2-3 degrees every night. Got to zero at one point the other night, so the fire is still going gang-busters. Nice and warm in this house, unlike other houses in this little town. We insulated in the roof - not many houses around who have done that, so they are freezing.

I have been writing - thought I'd give you all an excerpt to read from Book Two in the Shattered Series - His Word...Detraction. It hasn't been edited, so please excuse any mistakes you may find. I'm excited about getting this book out, but I'm careful not to post any excerpts that may give anything away. I could have ended it on an explosive situation at the end of Chapter 18, but I'll keep the story going for another 8-10 chapters. There will be a book 3 in the series, but it will be the final one. Everyone's story will end, whether happy or not. I bet some of you will hope two of the characters will get their just desserts. You'll just have to wait and see...

EXCERPT ... (this one is from Levi Webber)

Seeing that bitch first thing in the morning chased my appetite away and put me in a hostile mood. The anger I’d dispensed of using my bull whip at Seduction last night soared straight back up to ten and I took my anger out on my vehicle. Leaving a black mark on the pristine driveway and a cloud of blue smoke shrouding the front door didn’t make me feel any better. The gates were open by the time I reached them. Maybe smashing through them may have made me feel better. I wanted to break things. Destroy things and leave them in ruins. Just like she was doing to my fucking life.

Leaving so early, there wasn’t much traffic on the road. I made it into the parking garage within half an hour. Once the elevator arrived, I got in and selected my floor number. When the doors slid open, I exited and switched the light switches on as I walked through to my office.

In the quiet, my mind wandered to Angelica and the press conference that had been broadcast yesterday. My gut had been in a knot since Sebastian had come in and revealed just who Patricia Maddox used to be. Angelica’s surname is Williams. Reminding myself of that fact eased the knot a little. How in the fuck is she connected to Glasshouse? As I sat behind my desk, I pulled the drawer out and put Angelica’s photograph on my desk, then reached into my pocket to pull out my cell phone. Simon’s about to get an early morning wake up call.

“Levi?” he answered on the second ring, surprising me. I hadn’t expected him to be awake yet. “Where are you?”

“In the office. Why?” I asked suspiciously while my chest tightened with apprehension.

“You need to phone Sebastian and get him into the office,” he answered grimly. “I’ll meet you both in there.” The ball in my gut grew and my chest tightened to the point I found it difficult to breathe. Fuck. This isn’t good. When Sebastian answered with a croaky voice, I knew I’d woken him up.

“Yeah, Webs?”

“I just called Simon. He wants you to come straight into the office. He’s going to meet both of us here.”

“I don’t like the sound of this, Webs,” he stated, sounding more awake.

“Neither do I,” I conceded.

“I’ll be there as soon as I can.” When Seb ended the call, I placed my cell phone down on top of my desk and picked up the framed photo. Why the hell didn’t you reveal who you really are, Angelica? Why have you decided to come forward now? I’d noted the stress on her face … the slight shaking of her hands as she’d read from the piece of paper she’d clutched so tight, it had almost crumpled in her fingers. She hates being the center of attention with a passion. Why has she thrust herself right into the middle of the spotlight? Something big must have happened for her to take that step willingly.

My jaw clenched and my eyes narrowed. I bet fucking Anderson and Elaine know whatever it is that has made her take this drastic action. I decided to attempt to find out. Reaching for my cell phone again, I searched for the piece of paper that had that fucker’s number on in my top drawer. Once I found it, I tapped the numbers on my screen, then put it up to my ear, bracing myself for a barrage of insults once he answered and discovered who was on the other end.

“Anderson” he stated sleepily. I heard some rustling, then my blood ran hotter than a flow of lava from an erupting volcano.

“Chase?” What in the fuck is she doing in his fucking bed? “What is it? Is it the stud?”

“Anderson …,” I didn’t get more than his name out of my mouth.

“Fuck off. I have nothing to fucking say to you. Don’t call this number again,” he spat out, then ended the call. That went well, I groused. I looked back down at the piece of paper and tapped the screen with the second lot of numbers.

“Hello,” Elaine answered tentatively after several rings.

“Elaine, it’s …”

“I know who it is,” she snapped. I thought she would be more willing to talk to me and cut me some slack given our previous conversation when Angelica was missing with her knowing how I still felt about Angelica. Plus, I knew Toni had caved and told her about the bitch blackmailing me. Guess I thought wrong on all counts. Her reception was just as frosty as Anderson’s had been, minus the language. “What do you want?”

“I’ll cut to the chase,” the irony of using that pricks name didn’t escape me and I rolled my eyes as I shook my head. “I want to know why Angelica has come forward and put herself smack bang into the middle of the limelight when we both know she avoided that like the damn plague.” There was silence on the other end and I’m sure I heard her release a sigh. My hopes began to rise.

“That’s not for me tell. You want to know anything; you call her and ask her yourself.”

“If I had her fucking number, I would,” I growled impatiently, all hope I had building plunging straight down like a dropped rock into the pit of my stomach.

“Guess you’re going to have to wait just like the rest of the world, then,” she snorted flippantly, then hung up on me.

I had an instant urge to throw my phone at the wall, but I slammed it down on top of my desk, instead. I pushed my chair back and stood up. The amount of force I used sent the chair smacking into the jarrah cabinets behind me. Both hands curled back and forth into fists at my side as I paced the length of my office. I don’t know how many laps I did, but I was startled when Sebastian walked in through the door.

“For fuck’s sake … you’re going to wear a fucking track in your carpet if you keep that up,” he pointed out as he dropped into the seat of the Chesterfield he’d occupied the evening prior.

“I can’t fucking do anything,” I whined. “I’m about as useless as tits on a fucking bull.” After a few more treks up and down the length of my office, I stopped at the opposite couch and dropped into the seat. “I tried talking with Anderson …,”

“Did you get anywhere?” he smirked with one raised brow.

“No. And I didn’t fair much better with fucking Elaine, either. But at least I got more than just her name out of my mouth before she ended up virtually telling me to go fuck myself and hung up.”

“Where the fuck is your head?” he scoffed. “I don’t even know why the hell you bothered knowing how they were going to react to you. What did you call them for, anyway?”

“I tried to find out why Angelica suddenly decided to expose who she is and put herself squarely into the middle of a fucking viper’s nest.” Sebastian didn’t have time to make any comment when Simon stalked in through the doorway.

“Good, you’re both here,” he stated grimly, coming to a stop at one end of both couches. “You both need to know what I’ve discovered, and neither of you is going to like what I have learned.”

© Copyright 2021 Carol Delmornay